Cultural Celebrations Teaching Resources

Explore cultural celebrations and holidays around the world and promote cultural awareness in your social studies classroom with printable worksheets, fun crafts and more teacher-created teaching resources!

The Teach Starter team of expert teachers has curated a curriculum-aligned collection of activities and interactive ideas to teach young students about the ways people in different cultures come together to celebrate. Save time on your lesson plans with resources that have been carefully curated by expert teachers just for you!

Is this your first year teaching this section of the social studies curriculum, or are you just looking for some fresh ideas? Read on for some tips from our teacher team on expanding your students' appreciation of different cultures and exploring their celebratory traditions!

Holidays Around the World Activities for the Classroom

Exploring how people around the world celebrate isn't just an important part of meeting social studies standards. Learning about these major holidays celebrated outside of the US is also a way to help students build a greater appreciation for other people and other cultures!

So how do you do that? Here are some fun holiday around the world ideas from our teacher team on bringing these cultural celebrations into your social studies lesson plans.

Create a Gallery Walk

Assign each student a specific holiday from another country such as Holi or Diwali from India or Japan's Hinamatsuri festival. Or provide a list, and allow them to pick their favorite! Have students research the holiday and create posters that detail where and when the holiday is celebrated as well as specific information about its history and specific traditions. Display the posters on the hallway wall, and allow your class to go on a gallery walk to take in the information about each holiday!

Hold a Holiday Lunch in the Classroom

Ask students to bring in a dish from a cultural holiday their family celebrates that can be shared with the class. Each student can present the dish to the class and tell their peers a little bit about the holiday.

Have Students Plan a Holiday-Based Trip for a Teacher

Break your class into small groups, and let them choose a cultural celebration from another country. Each group then has to plan a trip for you (or another teacher) to that country to celebrate that holiday. Include math skills practice by having students create a trip budget, and encourage them to interview the teacher about their likes and dislikes to figure into their planning!