The holiday season is a perfect time to bring culture, creativity, and language practice into your French classroom. Whether you teach Core French, French Immersion, or mixed-level students, these French Christmas activities are designed to get your students excited about Noël while practicing their language skills.
Here are 10 fun and educational ideas for your French lessons this holiday season:
1️⃣ French Advent Calendar: Christmas Around the Francophonie 🎁
Immerse your students in the magic of French Christmas traditions with this interactive Advent Calendar. Each day, starting December 1st, students discover facts about how different Francophone countries celebrate Christmas — from France and Canada to Belgium, Senegal, and beyond.
Ways to use it in class:
Daily cultural exploration: Reveal the card each day to spark discussion about traditions.
Classroom bulletin board: Pin each day’s card to create a festive, informative display.
Writing or speaking prompts: Inspire short writing assignments or oral presentations comparing customs.
French Advent Calendar: Christmas Around the Francophonie
2️⃣ Christmas Craft: Personalized Ornaments ✂️
This no-prep craft works for all levels and gets students engaged in the holiday spirit while practicing French.
How it works:
Print templates and prompts like:
Pour Noël j’aime manger…, Mon film de Noël préféré est…Students color, cut, and glue their creations.
Choose from 10 ornament templates and 8 French prompts to make each ornament personal. A fun, creative way to decorate your classroom while building vocabulary!
3️⃣ French Christmas Escape Game 🔑
Perfect for beginners! Organize this escape game in minutes: students solve 7 different tasks to crack the code and find out where Santa is to save Christmas.
Included: Teachers’ notes, answer key, student lock sheet, location cards, hint cards, puzzles in French and English.
Activities students complete:
Connect sweaters to descriptions
Decode messages
Unscramble letters and tiles
Color according to instructions
Solve a maze to help Santa find his house
French Christmas Escape Game
4️⃣ French Christmas Idioms Posters & Activities 🖼️
Teach authentic French expressions with 8 Noël-themed idiom posters and 4 student activities: matching, sentence creation, comprehension questions, and creative writing.
Why it works:
Builds vocabulary
Deepens cultural understanding
Encourages creative language use
French Christmas Idioms Posters & Activities
5️⃣ Christmas Paper Quilt 🎨
A collaborative project where students create quilt squares featuring French Christmas vocabulary, cultural symbols, and festive artwork.
Includes:
30 pre-made squares with French sentences
10 blank templates for student writing
20 Christmas-themed coloring squares
Two display headers (secular and religious)
Perfect for a visual, hands-on classroom display while reinforcing vocabulary and culture.
Christmas Paper Quilt
6️⃣ French Christmas Chat Mat 🗨️
Boost speaking confidence with a no-prep chat mat featuring French Christmas vocabulary, high-frequency verbs, and structured sentence starters.
Why teachers love it:
Encourages pair or group discussion
Works for all proficiency levels
Ready to print and use for bell-ringers or speaking stations
French Christmas Chat Mat
7️⃣ Christmas Reading Comprehension: Histoires de Noël 📖
Engage students with three holiday stories adapted to beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels:
Le sapin
Les petits gâteaux
Les cadeaux
Students expand vocabulary, practice reading comprehension, and answer questions in French. Print-and-go for easy holiday planning!
8️⃣ French Christmas Mime Cards 🤶
These 32 mime cards are a fun way to practice French Christmas vocabulary and present tense verbs. Students act out actions while classmates guess — perfect for movement-based learning and active participation.
9️⃣ Letter to Santa Christmas Craft ✉️
Students choose a festive template, write a letter to Santa in French, and decorate a pennant.
Skills practiced:
Writing wishes in French
Vocabulary building
Creative expression
Includes 10 templates, a letter draft, and vocabulary/wish ideas. Use completed pennants to decorate the classroom!
🔟 Christmas-Themed Question du Jour Cards
Start your day with a daily conversation or writing prompt. These 20 bell work cards include seasonal visuals and accessible prompts for beginner and intermediate learners.
Formats included:
Printable PDF (full page & task card format)
Google Slides for digital use
Encourages spontaneous French conversation, daily fluency practice, and builds confidence — all no-prep!
Christmas-Themed Question du Jour Cards
💡 Tips for Differentiation
Beginners/Core French: Focus on coloring, labeling, and guided sentence starters.
Intermediate students: Add short writing or research assignments.
Advanced students: Encourage presentations, storytelling, or creative projects.
🎁 Make It Easy With Ready-to-Use Resources
Many of these activities, like the French Christmas Collaborative Poster Bundle, are ready to use with minimal prep. Students explore Christmas markets, legendary figures, and French holiday foods while creating a colorful classroom display — perfect for mixed-level groups.
Explore the French Christmas Collaborative Poster Bundle!
Grab your FREE French Christmas cards here — a fun, no-prep way for students to color, write, and spread holiday cheer en français!