During the Christmas season, the excitement of the holidays will be on all the children's minds. Rather than fighting against it, you can include some of the Christmas mood in your lessons, such as seasonal math activities. Engaging holiday themed math problems will keep the children interested while they learn.

Christmas Math Word Problems
Creative word problems for the children to solve can include a holiday twist. How many reindeer would pull Santa's sleigh if half of them were sick? If one elf can make two gifts an hour, how many can three elves make? Give the children a chance to create their own word problems and swap them with each other. If they need help, have them copy one from the board and fill in their own numbers and names. If they need to draw diagrams to help solve the puzzles, provide blank paper.

Clipart
Teaching children patterns can be made festive using holiday clipart and diagrams. Use stripes on stockings and have the children figure out the next number in the sequence, such as 2, 4, 6 or 1, 2, 4, 8. The visuals will help the children come up with a solution. Addition and subtraction problems can also be aided with holiday pictures. Adding snowballs onto a snowman, or crossing off presents under the tree until you reach the correct answer.

Candy Cane Games
Candy canes are a cheap and colorful way to create engaging math activities during the holidays. Attach different paper numbers to each candy cane, depending on the activity. Use double digits and have the children order them from highest number to lowest. Attach smaller numbers and have the children create addition and subtraction problems. Having somewhere for the children to hang the candy canes as they work can add to the experience. A string across your blackboard would work well.

Counting Charts
Simple graphs can be Christmas themed and help the children learn counting and graphing skills. Have the children come up with as many variations of Christmas cookies as they can. Get the children to vote on favorites and then record the number of votes for each. Using a pre-made bar graph with large squares, have the children fill in the number of squares that equal how many votes each cookie got. This can be done for any number of Christmas themed items such as favorite gifts, reindeer, Christmas songs or ornaments.