December’s Delightful Freebies for Kindergarten Learning and Fun!
With December here and routines well-established, I’m excited to share some amazing resources for the holiday season! This post features 25 free, December-themed downloads that will keep your kindergarten students engaged all month long. From whole-class activities to small group sessions using decodable books, engaging printables, independent learning math centers, themed phonics centers, and crafts these resources add festive fun to your classroom. Scroll through the post and download the files you need to engage your learners throughout the month.
Decodable December Books for Early Readers
Start December with a set of three free and engaging December-themed decodable books! Perfect for early readers, these stories use phonetically controlled CVC words to boost reading confidence. The fiction books also support letter recognition and beginning sounds, making them ideal for small groups or independent practice. They’re a fantastic way to lay a strong foundation for essential reading skills, preparing students for success as the school year continues. Plus, I’ve added an extra bonus book for those still mastering letters and sounds!
This themed free download provides you with (1) beginning sounds-based book and (2) cvc-based decodable books. You will have fiction and nonfiction decodable books. Students will be able to read from the standard fold and flip decodable books, MINI decodables, and all-in-one passages. Access this free download HERE.
This December, bring a festive touch to your classroom with these interactive, hands-on December-themed centers! Packed with free resources that support math, literacy, and fine motor skills, these activities are perfect for keeping your young learners engaged throughout the month. Fun and adaptable, they’ll add a joyful holiday spirit to your lessons and keep your classroom buzzing with excitement!
Explore a variety of interactive math and phonics centers inspired by festive December themes! These hands-on activities will fill your classroom with weeks of engaging learning, giving your students plenty of opportunities to build and practice essential skills in an exciting way.
Kick things off with a set of math centers focused on developing number sense up to 20. Students can roll, search, and solve, boosting their confidence as they work through fun and meaningful math challenges. Click on the images to download.
This free download offers math counting sequence puzzlers. These puzzlers are offered for varying number sets. The free download includes puzzlers for numbers 1-10 and numbers 11-20. Access the free download HERE.
This free download offers 2 hands-on math skills and covers numbers 0-10 and 11-20. Center 1 covers number ordering and missing numbers. Center 2 is an adorable “count the matching set” hands-on option. Both centers are equipped with “I can” cards and response sheets. Access the free download HERE.
Hands-On and Engaging December Free Downloads (Centers Continued)
Next up, dive into an assortment of December-themed free downloads that make skill-building both fun and engaging! Begin with interactive number sense activities that bring a festive flair to math practice. You’ll also love the creative sensory bin ideas tailored for December, featuring themed cards and recording sheets. Additionally, students can work on strengthening their phoneme-grapheme connections with word mapping exercises using holiday-themed mats for CVC words, digraphs, blends, and CVCE words. Best of all, extra resources come in a DIGITAL format, giving you even more flexibility!
This free download includes 10 phonics-based chip and swipe mats. Students will work on identifying beginning sounds, middle sounds, ending sounds, and sounds in all positions combined. You also have access to recoding sheets. Access the free download HERE!
Science of Reading Aligned December-Themed Phonics Centers
Do you incorporate phoneme-to-grapheme mapping in your classroom? This essential practice helps students connect sounds to letters, laying a strong foundation for reading and spelling skills. These free December-themed all-in-one phonics mats are perfect for engaging your students in saying, tapping, mapping, and writing phonics words. By turning skill practice into an interactive experience, these activities keep students actively involved and excited about learning!
This free download offers 4 skill levels of December-themed task cards. For beginning sounds, students will search and cover the matching letters. For the word level, students will build the word sound-by-sound. Access the free download HERE.
Speaking of mapping, check out these adorable bow-themed mapping mats. I snagged these mini bows at the Dollar Store. They are a perfect blend of seasonal learning fun!
This free download has multiple uses. First off, it’s completely DIGITAL. You can use these December-themed slides to build fluency in skill-based words. You can also print the resource as flashcards. I also include blank versions for generic mapping mats. Access the free resource HERE!
I also created an additional set of digital + print fluency slides for ABCs and high frequency words. These follow the Guided Phonics + Beyond scope for high frequency words. You can mix the slides up as needed for your reviewing purposes.
Students will love these engaging December-themed magnetic letter mats. Students can build words, map words, or simply work on letter recognition. The freebie includes color and black and white versions to choose from.
December-Themed Printables for Phonics and Math Skills
Managing a busy classroom can be tough, but this collection of December-themed printables is here to make things easier! Filled with engaging math and phonics activities, these resources are perfect for reinforcing key skills. Whether you incorporate them into group work or independent practice, these versatile worksheets are a fantastic addition to your December classroom toolkit.
This free download offers 50 engaging Holidays Around the World sheets.
Access INSTANT printable handwriting practice for both letters and numbers below and along an additional set of December-themed phonics and math printables.
This free download offers you beginning sound and CVC “scenes” for the students to label. This is another teacher and kid favorite. Students will label the items with the matching beginning sound/CVC word and then play “match it” along the side of the page. Access the free download HERE!
Pip the Pup is a classroom favorite. Enjoy this free set of seasonal Pip the Pup coloring sheets. Students will get to enjoy seeing Pip throughout the seasons and exploring fun topics. Access the free download HERE!
BONUS December Free Downloads!
Check out this BONUS free download. In this download, you can access two tree fine motor mats. One is directed with the circles and the second mat is open-ended. Students can choose to use poms or any other fine motor material to explore with the mats. Access the free download HERE!
December-Themed Free Downloads
Thank you so much for visiting to check out these 25 fantastic December-themed freebies for your kindergarten classroom! I hope these resources bring extra joy and a festive spirit to your activities this month. Be sure to stay tuned for more exciting and free downloads every month—there’s so much more to share, and I can’t wait for you to see it all! Don’t forget to bookmark the blog so you never miss out on a new set of seasonal goodies. Keep inspiring your students, and see you soon! Happy teaching!
Thanks so much for downloading the December themed free resources. Reach out with any questions.
Tara West – Little Minds at Work
littlemindsatworkLLC(at)gmail.com
