The Trapped Librarian

Make your library the center of your school

You are here: Home / Freebies / 9 Picture Books for Christmas with Free Resources

by: Laura

9 Picture Books for Christmas with Free Resources

Last Updated on November 15, 2022 by Laura

Picture Books for Christmas

December is hitting my school library with the usual excitement of winter programs, parties, ski days, assemblies, gift making, and the unpredictability of schedules that can change at a moment’s notice!  It can be a challenge to make sure your December library lessons are meaningful and engaging. I do love this time of year, especially now that I make sure I have extra Christmas picture books on hand to read aloud with fun lessons and activities!

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience.  This means that if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for your support!

My Favorite Picture Books for Christmas

I’ve chosen some of my favorite Christmas picture books and found some great free activities on Teachers Pay Teachers!  I’d like to share some of my favorites so you can use them in your elementary library or classroom during this crazy-fun time of year.  (I’ve also got a special freebie for you – click to download some fun gift tags to use at school or at home!)

The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clark Moore

This is one of my favorite titles to share with kids around the holidays and you probably have several versions on hand, like I do!  It’s a terrific opportunity for some comparing and contrasting between different versions of the same story.  I love Jan Brett’s version because of her detailed illustrations and the “extra story” going on in the borders!  Mary Engelbreit’s The Night Before Christmas has such fun, colorful illustrations.  Kids will love looking for tiny, detailed embellishments on every page (especially on the Christmas tree!)! ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Daniel Kirk, is the newest version in my collection.  Shown from the point of view of a mouse (Sam’s father, for fans of Library Mouse!), Kirk changed a few of the words to make them more “kid friendly,” while keeping the spirit of the traditional poem.

Hello Literacy (Jen Jones) has a fantastic close reading resource called Twas the Night Before Christmas Short Text that includes an article on 4 different reading levels.  Also included are vocabulary and text evidence activities along with teaching points, a guide to close reading, and links to digital media sources for text comparisons.  Pair this with several versions of the book and you’ve got activities for a couple of days!

Trapped Click Clack Ho Ho Ho

Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho! by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin

It’s Christmas Eve and Farmer Brown is getting ready.  When Duck tries to play Santa, he gets stuck in the chimney!  As all the animals try to help, they each get stuck until the real Santa finally comes to the rescue.  Storytime listeners will love predicting who will go next and laugh at the illustrations of animal legs sticking out of the chimney!  Cindy Calenti’s Directed Drawing resource has fun step-by-step directions for drawing duck stuck in the chimney.  Also included are a sequencing activity and a writing activity.

Trapped Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas by Laura Murray, illustrated by Mike Lowery

The Gingerbread Man joins his classmates in sharing acts of kindness and he makes a card for the baker that helped his class create him.  This fun rhyming story will be a hit with young readers who have read or listened to others in the series.  It’s a great story to use as a springboard for your own holiday acts of kindness activities.  Brooke Brown’s Gingerbread Coding is a great way to tie in with the book and help your youngest learners try some coding activities!  I plan to use this for Hour of Code week at the beginning of December! (Click here for an Hour of Code freebie from me!)

Trapped Santa's Job

How Santa Got His Job by Stephen Krensky, illustrated by S.D. Schindler

Have you ever wondered just how Santa got his job?  This fun tale lets us follow him as he tries out different careers.  Readers and storytime listeners will recognize Santa’s qualities and characteristics as he tries out being a chimney sweep, mailman, chef, zookeeper, circus performer and finally the toy deliverer that he is today!  They will also notice his physical transformation in the illustrations from a young man into the jolly Santa Claus we are so familiar with.  The Library Patch has a terrific Book Bites resource with great teaching notes, summarizing pages and fun activities to identify the problems Santa had with each job.  This fantastic resource is common core aligned too!

Trapped Catch Santa

How to Catch Santa by Jean Reagan, illustrated by Lee Wildish

This absolutely delightful book will be loved by any child who has wished to get a glimpse of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve!  The author and illustrator help us think about questions we’d like to ask Santa as well as things we’d like to tell him, and even to consider some items to give to him, before helping us make a plan to catch him.  A subtle theme of gratitude and thoughtfulness underlies the fun!  Simply Kinder has a fun freebie that includes printables for sequencing, brainstorming, and writing activities.

Trapped Toy Expert

Santa Claus, the World’s Number One Toy Expert by Marla Frazee

This sweet book explains how Santa gets to know all of the kids well so he can match them with just the right toy at Christmas time.  Readers and listeners will enjoy looking carefully at the pictures to pick out details.  When reading aloud, be sure to give plenty of time to stop and talk about what everyone can notice in the illustrations!  Your students will enjoy Andrea Knight’s resource, I’m a Toy Expert! Quick Write as they write about a toy that they know well.  It will be a fun activity for students to share their writing with the class, too!

Trapped Wild Reindeer

The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett

As you can see, this book is a well-loved classic in my library!  When Santa asks Teeka to gather his wild reindeer and get them ready for Christmas Eve, she learns an important lesson about gentleness and kindness.  As we follow along with Teeka and the wild reindeer, we also see the elves getting ready for Christmas in the borders.  As usual, Jan Brett’s gorgeous illustrations beckon us to linger on each page!  Remember to be a Reindeer is a fabulous poster set from Digital Divide and Conquer.  It makes a bright, eye-catching, uplifting display for a bulletin board or door.

Picture Books for Christmas are FUN!

Keeping some picture books for Christmas on hand in December can really help you stay flexible in a hectic month at school. So, check out one of these Christmas picture books and grab the freebies so you can be ready for any unexpected schedule changes in your school library!

Want more December library ideas?

Take a look at this fun bundle of December school library activities!

December Library Lessons Bundle

Do you have some favorite picture books for Christmas?  Please share one below!

** You can hop along to learn from other school librarians in last year’s Holiday Hop!  Head over to That Library Girl‘s blog next to read about some great brain breaks for the littlest learners in your school library!

Be the light!

    • Comments

    1. Tracie Shepherd says

      As always your ideas are so engaging for kids and make our lives run easier. These are great ideas. I need to fill in some gaps in my holiday collection, Amazon here I come! Thanks for sharing!

    3. Tara Brown says

      Thank you for this awesome list of books and activites! My favorite is Polar Express. ? We also read a variety of shorter stories during our Spanish hour. Tis the season – happy holidays! 🙂

    4. Annie g says

      I love all of the click clack stories! I will definitely be trying out this activity as well as some of the others

    5. Eva Griffin says

      This list is awesome! Thank you for putting so much work into this to make our job easier. You rock! Thanks for sharing!

    6. Julieann says

      Thank you for all these great ideas! Going forward, I’d like to see more book ideas that are a little more multicultural to reflect my student population. I know there is a “Twas…Christmas” version for African americans. Thank you again.

    8. Misty says

      Awesome. First year librarian here and so I am following all of the pages of this blog hop and the TpT stores1

    9. Dolores A Jordan says

      I just found your blog- these are awesome ideas. I can’t wait to use some of them with all my kiddos.

      • trappedlib says

        Good! I’m so glad you’ve found a Christmas picture book and activity to use! Thanks for stopping by!

    20. Gina Frazier says

      You shared a terrific holiday book list with awesome activities to go along with each title. Thanks so much! I think I need to go shopping for some more holiday books to add to my classroom. Thanks for the opportunity to enter this fantastic giveaway!

    24. Cortney says

      These look great! I can’t wait to use some of them in my library this year. So helpful for a first-year library teacher. Thank you!

      • trappedlib says

        Cortney, I’m glad you’ve found some good ideas! I hope your year is going well! Thanks for stopping by!

    27. Alexa says

      I love the book, How Santa Got His Job. Your activity is so creative. Thank you for sharing an awesome blog post!!

    29. Sarah says

      Thank you so much for this list! I’m always looking for new ideas of books to order or read aloud to my students! Another one that I love reading to the kids is Christmas Magic by Michael Garland – such pretty illustrations!

      • trappedlib says

        Sarah, Thanks for the great book suggestion! I love Michael Garland’s books! Happy Holiday Reading!!

    32. Michelle says

      Love the hour of code activity! A fun twist for the older kiddos is to create giant code boards with painters tape on the floor. Students code themselves through, so much fun!

    33. Penelope says

      I really like the quick write idea for the Toy Expert book! All of the ideas are awesome actually! Thank you very much!

    34. Jeanne says

      I love reading “Santa’s Book of Names” by David McPhail to my first graders.
      Thank you for sharing books and ideas with us!

    35. Heather says

      I like to read Shooting the Stars by John Hendrix to my 6th graders. Christmas and a history lesson.

    Facebook

    Pinterest

    Instagram