This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you if you decide to make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission on qualifying purchases.
Discussing different holidays around the world is a great way to introduce and learn new vocabulary words in your speech and language sessions. During the fall and winter months, there are tons of wonderful traditions and celebrations that occur around the world. Check out these engaging crafts and activities to not only build exposure to a variety of holidays, but also create a strong background knowledge for vocabulary acquisition and development.
Before jumping in, I have a quick holiday story to share.
All throughout elementary school, I attended a daycare before and after school. I LOVED my daycare director because of her love of the winter holidays (really all holidays!).
I have vivid memories of getting to dress up as St. Lucia and serving my friends sticky buns and hot cocoa while wearing a candle head wreath, white dress, and red sash. Seriously so fun!
The best part about this story is I am not even Swedish! But delivering sticky buns to my daycare buddies is one of my strongest childhood memories. Being immersed in the tradition has had a lasting effect on me!
So how awesome if we could recreate these memorable experiences for our students!?
In this post, we cover the following winter holidays: Diwali, Saint Lucia Day, Soyal (Winter Solstice), Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Los Posadas, & Chinese New Year.
Each holiday has a corresponding craft or activity plus a focus list of target vocabulary to make your planning easy. Also be sure to join our FREE Resource Library to have access to all kinds of awesome and useful freebies by clicking here.
Diwali
For our first world holiday, we discussed Diwali or “The Festival of Lights”. This five day celebration coincides with the new moon and last harvest of the year typically in late autumn.
On the first day of Diwali, families clean their homes. On the second day families light candles or lanterns to guide the goddess Lakshmi into their homes in hopes of a prosperous new year. Prayers and fireworks take place on the third day followed by visiting family and friends on the fourth day. On the last day, brothers visit their married sisters to have a big feast together! Lots of preparation goes into these festivities!
After locating India on a map, my son and I created his very own candle holder while discussing the traditions of Diwali. We glued colored beads onto plain glass candle holders then lit small votives. The finished product was so beautiful!
Around The World Holiday Vocabulary: Diwali
- India
- Goddess Lakshmi
- Festival
- Lantern
- Fireworks
- Decorate
- Prosperous
- Feast
- Preparation
Saint Lucia Day
As I shared above, this particular worldly holiday will always have a special place in my heart. I loved recalling my memories with my son and teaching him about the holiday!
Saint Lucia Day is celebrated on December 15th every year mainly in Sweden. St. Lucia was an actual person who would deliver food to Christians hiding in Rome and obtained sainthood for bringing hope to so many in need. To recreate the experience, a girl in each family dresses in a white dress with a red sash in addition to a candle lit wreath on her head. She delivers Lussekatter rolls and coffee/cocoa to her family members. The chosen Saint Lucia daughter is a symbol of hope and light during difficult times.
Of course we had to make the traditional sticky buns or Lussekatter for this holiday! Click here for the recipe we used. While this recipe was a bit more involved, doing a modified or simpler cinnamon bun recipe would be a great time saver if completing at school, but still targeting lots of speech and language skills!
Around The World Holiday Vocabulary: Saint Lucia Day
- Sweden
- Wreath
- Lussekatter
- Hope
- Deliver
- Saint
Soyal: Winter Solstice
For this next holiday around the world, I admittedly did not know much about until researching for this blog post. But I am so glad I included it because it was fascinating to learn about!
Since the Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, the Southwestern Pueblo, Hopi, and Zuni Native American tribes perform a ceremony to coax the sun back and begin a new year. This ceremony, also referred to as the Soyal Solstice Ceremony or Great Feast of the Winter Solstice, is held on December 21st.
As part of the tradition, great warriors are tasked with dancing to entice the powerful Kachina spirits to return the sun. Kachina spirits are often depicted as colorful dolls and present during these carefully planned ceremonies.
To honor the Soyal tradition, my son made a beautifully colored Kachina doll with feathers. We used a small cardboard tube plus another small piece of cardboard for the head. He decorated the doll with colorful feathers, leather, and string similar to some of the Kachina spirits we saw online here. He was very proud of the final product and thought it looked like a hawk!
Around The World Holiday Vocabulary: Soyal
- Southwest
- Pueblo
- Hopi
- Zuni
- Native American tribe
- Winter Solstice
- Kachina dance
- Kachina spirit
- Warrior
- Coax
- Ceremony
Hanukkah
Hanukkah is another very widely celebrated holiday around the world. This Jewish holiday begins on the 25th day of the Hebrew calendar’s month of Kislev which typically falls in late November to late December. According to the story, the Maccabees, a small group of young men, had risen up against and defeated their oppressors resulting in a miracle. As they reclaimed their temple, there was only enough oil to light the candles for one night. Since it took eight days to make more oil, they lit the candles for one night. But instead the candles stayed lit for eight nights. They declared it a second miracle resulting in this holiday known for light, hope, and perseverance.
To celebrate, people light a one candle on the Menorah for each of the eight nights. In addition, families say prayers, give gifts, eat oil based foods, and play games. Mandy and her family celebrate each night after dinner by lighting their candle. Throughout the eight evenings, they open small gifts plus a bigger gift on the last night!
As part of our around the world Hanukkah discussion, we played the dreidel game with golden chocolate coins called gelt. Even my 20 month old enjoyed this activity (or maybe just the chocolate part!). This was a super easy and fun way to experience the excitement of this holiday and include everybody in the family.
Around The World Holiday Vocabulary: Hanukkah
- Hanukkah
- Maccabees
- Oppression
- Miracle
- Menorah
- Hope
- Perseverance
- Dreidel
- Gelt
Looking for a fun Hanukkah activity to target additional vocabulary? Check out our Hanukkah Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt here!
Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a holiday celebrated by many African-American families across the United States and is modeled after many harvest festivals that take place in Africa. There is often a large meal among community members to celebrate and share everything that was grown over the past year. It is a holiday of community, coming together, and honoring heritage.
The colors of red, green, and black are often associated with this holiday along with the following seven principles: Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith. Over this seven day holiday, every night a discussion is held about each one of the principles while lighting a candle.
We made a Pan-African flag to learn more about the rich symbolism of this holiday. Red represents blood, black for community, and green for the wealth of Africa. We used tissue paper on top of clear contact paper. I laid a piece of black construction paper over the top to make the outline of the flag. We were able to hang it in the window and have the sun shine through it!
Around The World Holiday Vocabulary: Kwanzaa
- Kwanzaa
- Community
- Heritage
- Symbolism
- Principles
- Harvest
- Candle
Christmas
For our families, Christmas is one of the best times of the year. This is a Christian holiday recognized around the world as the birth of Jesus Christ. It falls on December 25th each year and is celebrated by many different festive traditions. Growing up we would give gifts and have a huge meal with immediate and extended family.
With my own children, we are finding our own ways to make this time of year special which includes attending a church service, eating lots of cookies, listening to Christmas music, and visiting with family and friends. On Christmas Eve, our boys open matching pajamas to wear.
Some families who celebrate Christmas count down the days until the holiday during a time called advent. Mandy and her crew enjoy opening a Christmas book to read together each night in December. They also have a little elf that visits each day and brings a little activity or craft to complete. On Christmas Day, everybody wears matching pajamas too!
In both of our houses we decorate a Christmas tree with keepsake ornaments and lights. Out at my parents’ house, they typically cut down a tree that we decorate as a family as well. On Christmas morning around the world, children wake up to gifts under the tree from Santa Claus.
To help decorate our tree and house this year, we made a keepsake handprint wreath decoration. Grab green construction paper, red pom poms, a colored ribbon of your choice, and a willing participant to trace a hand!
We traced my son’s hand and made 12 handprints. I let him practice cutting out one of the handprints while I cut the others. We arranged the cut out hands in a wreath shape then I let my son add the glue. Once the hands were glued together, he added the red pom poms and red paint dots wherever he wanted. Then we added the ribbon at the bottom and hung up the wreath with a magnet on the fridge!
Around The World Holiday Vocabulary: Christmas
- Christmas Tree
- Ornament
- Advent
- Wreath
- Decorations
- Elf
- Santa Claus
- Pajamas
Need another fun Christmas themed vocabulary activity? Click here to grab our Christmas Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt today!
Los Posadas
Los Posadas is a Christian celebration primarily in Central America. For this around the world holiday, there is a festival leading up to Christmas day reenacting the journey Mary and Joseph took to Bethlehem before Jesus was born.
For the nine nights leading up to Christmas, children of the community dress up as Mary, Joseph, shepherds, wisemen, and angels. They proceed to knock on various houses asking to be let in and being refused. On the final night through a back and forth song, the chosen inn keeper or home allows the group inside. Once inside, a big party with food, gifts, and piñatas is held for all!
To learn about this holiday, we made a piñata! We simply decorated a brown paper bag with different colored tissue paper. Once covered, we filled it with left over Halloween candy and loosely tied it with string. My husband graciously held the bag up so my boys could take turns trying to break it open!
Around The World Holiday Vocabulary: Los Posadas
- Central America
- Journey
- Reenactment
- Bethlehem
- Shepherds
- Inn Keeper
- Refuse
- Piñata
- Community
Chinese New Year
Our last holiday from around the world is the Chinese New Year. The date of the new year is determined by the Chinese lunar calendar. On New Year’s Eve, families dress in nice clothing and travel to relatives homes to honor and respect the families’ ancestors. If children are on their best behavior, they may receive a red envelope with a small amount of money under their pillows that night.
On New Year’s Day, families say a variety of lucky phrases and avoid other words and actions to be sure their new year is full of health, prosperity, and all good things. To celebrate, there is often fireworks, huge meals, and lion or dragon dances over the course of 15 days. Every new year is associated with a different animal too!
We made a dragon to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. My son painted a small cardboard tube green and added eyes. We glued red and orange tissue paper along the inside as fire and then had our very own dragon dance!
Around The World Holiday Vocabulary: Chinese New Year
- Ancestors
- Honor
- Respect
- Luck
- Prosperity
- Dragon
- Dance
- Calendar
So that is our celebration of holidays around the world! We loved learning about different cultures and traditions during this magical time of year. One thing is resoundingly clear though…this time of year is about coming together with family and friends and spending quality time with those you love.
We hope you have enjoyed learning along with us and are able to incorporate some new holiday themed vocabulary into your speech and language sessions or time at home.
Do you celebrate one of the holidays we discussed above? Let us know below your traditions or if we missed anything! We are always open to learning more and sharing new experiences. We wish you a very happy holiday season regardless of what your family celebrates!
Happy holiday, SLPs!
Talking Mama Bears