Stay Mappy and Bright This Holiday Season with K-12 Resources
This time of year is for celebration, reflection, and learning. It offers unique opportunities to engage students in a wide variety of educational activities that also incorporate festive cheer.
During this time, why not take your students on an exploration of the world, from the origins of Christmas trees to the infrastructure that supports Santa’s global journey? This range of interactive and engaging K-12 resources are available to help students connect with the holiday season in a fun and meaningful way.
Here’s a roundup:
- Explore Your Neighborhood: Understanding Local Geography
Let’s begin with the Explore Your Neighborhood StoryMap. This resource encourages students to map out and discover the geography of their own neighborhoods. Through this interactive tool, students learn about local history and important locations in a fun, visually engaging way. They can also explore community maps, learning how to use geographic information systems (GIS) to understand the world around them.
As part of the holiday spirit, students could be encouraged to research and document holiday traditions or even historic sites associated with local festivals, integrating community exploration with a sense of holiday pride.
- Vacation Locations: Geography Meets Travel
Going somewhere warm and fun this holiday season? For students with a curiosity about travel, the Vacation Locations StoryMap provides a fantastic opportunity to learn about different holiday destinations. This tool invites students to explore various vacation spots around the world and understand their geography, climate, and cultural significance.
As part of a holiday-focused lesson, students could research how people around the world celebrate the holidays in different locations. Teachers can even organize a "holiday world tour" where students pick a vacation spot and dive into how the traditions and festivities in that location compare to their own.
- Where Do Christmas Trees Grow? A Geographic Exploration
One fascinating aspect of the holiday season is the Christmas tree – a symbol of celebration in many homes. But where do Christmas trees grow? The Where Christmas Trees Grow resource on Maps.com offers a detailed, interactive guide that shows the locations across the U.S. where Christmas trees are grown.
It’s an excellent resource for teaching students about the agricultural industry, the environment, and how seasonal plants like Christmas trees are grown in different climates.
- GeoProjects: Learn and Create with Mapping Tools
The GeoProjects resource provides an opportunity for students to engage with map-based projects. Through this resource, students can use GIS tools to create their own maps, exploring a wide range of topics, from natural features to human infrastructure.
- Make Globe Ornaments: A DIY Geography Project
What better way to bring the holiday spirit than by creating festive ornaments that also teach valuable geography lessons? The Make These Ornaments Please blog introduces an exciting project where students can choose a globe-themed holiday ornament to create at home or in the classroom using simple materials.
This is a perfect hands-on craft activity for students. They can decorate globes to represent different countries, marking places where the holidays are celebrated in unique ways or tracking the paths of Santa’s global route!
- Santa’s Infrastructure: Mapping the North Pole
For another holiday-themed geography lesson, check out the Santa Infrastructure Blog explaining how technology is used to map and track Santa’s Christmas Eve journey across the globe. Students can learn about the infrastructure that supports Santa’s magical trip, including how data, logistics, and GIS technology would be used to ensure he delivers gifts worldwide in a single night.
- Mappy Holiday Collection: Celebrate the Season with Stories and Maps
Lastly, the Mappy Holiday Collection from the Esri ArcGIS StoryMaps team is an excellent resource that brings the joy of the season to life through maps and stories. This collection includes holiday-themed StoryMaps that allow students to explore holiday traditions worldwide.
It’s an educational yet festive way to explore geography, culture, and the importance of holidays in global communities.
Wrapping Up: The Gift of Learning
As the holidays approach, these K-12 resources offer a unique opportunity to combine holiday fun with important educational lessons. Whether you’re mapping your neighborhood, creating holiday-themed ornaments, or exploring global holiday traditions, these resources provide a fun and interactive way to engage students and think creatively.
Dive into these resources and gift your students the experience of learning and discovery in a festive way!
Share with us in the comments some of the activities you have planned with your students! We hope you have a mappy and bright holiday season.