It’s almost time to bring out your classroom elf! Can you believe it? It’s the holiday season, and there’s no better time to teach about kindness and giving. Having an elf on the shelf in your classroom does not need to be complicated or time consuming. The most easy classroom elf activity that you can do each day with your students is a December Kindness Challenge.
What I Do With My Classroom Elf
So how do you use the classroom elf? Start with an intro letter that explains to your students what it will do. Make it fun by moving your elf into new places each day. Try different spots like your desk, classroom library, cubbies, and even hanging down from the ceiling! Print the kindness challenge cards for your classroom elf to bring and remind the students of ways to spread kindness each day. See how many good deed challenges your students can complete!
No Elf? No Problem!
Don’t have a classroom elf? Not looking to add another thing to do each day? No worries! You already have enough to worry about! You can also use this December Kindness Challenge as a bulletin board display. Use the included double sided pages to spread kindness throughout your classroom and school. Students will be excited to choose a card and see what their challenge will be.
December Kindness Challenge
Wondering what some of the elf kindness challenge ideas include? Here are a few examples:
- “Show kindness by giving 3 specific compliments today.”
- “Show kindness by making a holiday card for someone.”
- “Spread kindness by leaving a sticky-note with a positive saying on it in a place for someone to find.”
With these classroom ideas for the Elf on the Shelf you can easily spread kindness and holiday cheer!
However, there are a few other elf ideas that take a little extra planning but are totally worth it. For example, a Book Exchange. Students can send in a book or 2 that they no longer want or read, and then they will be able to choose a new book to bring home. To make it easy, I’ve included prepared letters for you to send home to families explaining these more in depth kindness challenges.
Making an Elf in Your Classroom Easy
Finally, at the end of the Elf Kindness Challenge resource, you will find some black and white printables. These are for you to use as needed to implement various kindness challenges. Some of the pages can be used alone, and some are sized to be used inside cards made from folded construction paper. This resource is jam packed with a variety of easy to implement classroom ideas for the Elf on the Shelf.
If you like this Elf project be sure to check out my math projects!
