Holly Jolly Crossover (And Free Resources) With the Dear Santa Podcast

I am a huge proponent of the literacy gains (fluency, 

comprehension, vocabulary, connection) that accompany a 

good interactive picture book read aloud. These strategies can 

be adopted for all ages – picture books are for everyone, from preschool to adults. 

When Jason and Kate invited me to be on their delightful Dear Santa podcast (Episode 11), we talked about how picture books can help create core memories for families for years to come. We continued that conversation when they joined me for Episode 164 of the Adventures in Learning podcast. The book lists that follow include some classics, as well as new friends. There’s even a section of ideas to pair science and STEM with the gingerbread baby variants for classroom, library, or home learning and fun. 

You can download ALL of these ideas as a free PDF. You'll also find all of the books listed below (and many more) gathered in one place at bookshop.org. Please reach out to me at www.drdianeadventures.com or diane@drdianeadventures.com if you have any questions (or ideas to add). Let’s build connections together – and may your holiday season be filled with empathy, wonder, connection, and joy.

Run, Run, Run As Fast As You Can… 

Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor leads a gingerbread baby scavenger hunt with preschoolers.

• Gingerbread Baby (Brett)

• Gingerbread Christmas (Brett)

• Tough Cookie (Hemingway) 

• The Gingerbread Pirates (Kladstrup/Tavares)

• Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas (Murray/Lowery) 

Connection: The holidays are a great time for baking gingerbread cookies. Why not add a STEM/STEAM connection? So many possibilities: sink and float (can you build a contraption to keep the cookie from falling apart in water), sequencing and coding (can you hide a “gingerbread” cookie and leave clues for someone else to find it), dramatic play, fine motor skills (create your own artistic version with modeling clay and found objects), and executive function. This PDF of Gingerbread Baby STEM/STEAM experiences is my gift to you. Enjoy incorporating all things gingerbread into your holidays – and spend some time on the Adventures in Learning podcast with the fractured fairy tale queen herself, Dr. Stephanie Goloway. 

You can work on patterns and sequencing while also helping the community. Why not use cans and boxes collected to support the local food pantry as part of a sorting, patterning, and graphing game?

Patterns and Sequencing 

Dream Snow (Carle) It's December 24th, and the old farmer settles down for a winter's nap, wondering how Christmas can come when there is no snow! In his dream he imagines a snowstorm covering him and his animals—named One, Two, Three, Four and Five—in a snowy blanket. But when the farmer awakens, he finds that it has really snowed outside, and now he remembers something! Putting on his red suit, he goes outside and places gifts under the tree for his animals, bringing holiday cheer to all. 

Connection: Dream Snow offers a wonderful opportunity to talk about patterns and sequence as you match the number to the animal. You can also play games where you imagine the perfect present for each animal. The snow in the book provides an excellent segue into states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) and weather as well. Bonus: Check out the Dear Santa Podcast crossover episode (Episode 164 of the Adventures in Learning podcast).

New Twists On Old Favorites 

How can you make read aloud time more inclusive and joyful for all students?

• Red & Green (Ehlert)

• A Pinata in a Pine Tree (Mora/Morales)

• Chicka Chicka Ho Ho Ho 

• (Boniface/Chung)

• Strega Nona’s Gift (dePaola)

• How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? (Yolen/Teague)

• The Little Red Elf (McGrath/Bonnet) 

Connections: Red & Green offers a fun fresh take on “The Night Before Christmas” and, along with Chicka Chicka Ho Ho Ho and A Pinata in a Pine Tree, lends itself to creating your own holiday trees. You can use cut paper scraps and make trees in the style of Lois Ehlert (bonus – these can become cards you share with family members, friends, or people living in isolating circumstances). You might also apply the engineering and design process to create marvelous trees using found materials (anything from pinecones to playdough to recycled materials). How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? is a perfect option for pretend play for those budding paleontologists and The Little Red Elf is a cozy update on the little red hen, requiring students to apply critical thinking, cause and effect, sequencing, and creative problem solving to help the elf save the day. All of these books can be paired to teach the engineering and design process, to reinforce concepts of collaboration, critical thinking, resilience, and creative problem solving, and to invite students to explore building challenges similar to the ones in the book. You can also pair these building and engineering challenges with writing prompts to reinforce literacy skills. 

Holiday STEM/STEAM Challenges: 

How can you connect STEM/STEAM engagement and learning through play to your holiday read alouds?

• Snowballs (Ehlert)

• How to Trick a Christmas Elf (Fliess/Sanfilippo)

• How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? (Barnett/Klassen)

• Merry Moosey Christmas (Plourde/Cox)

• The Polar Express (Van Allsburg)

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Dr. Seuss) 

Connections: All of these books can be paired to teach the engineering and design process, to reinforce concepts of collaboration, critical thinking, resilience, and creative problem solving, and to invite students to explore building challenges similar to the ones in the book. You can also pair these building and engineering challenges with writing prompts to reinforce literacy skills.

Here are a few ideas, but you can use these books as a jumping off point to create your own. How to Trick a Christmas Elf provides its own challenge – can you build a sleigh for the elf, but you can also challenge children to come up with their own solutions to the central problem facing the children hoping to distract the elf and stay off the naughty list. Both How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! offer opportunities to engage kids in problem solving to assist Santa Claus/Grinchy Claus in making it down the chimney (a wonderful opportunity to build connections to simple machines!

Merry Moosey Christmas gives Rudolph the challenge of training a vacation replacement – opportunities for critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, and maybe even a little circuit building! Snowballs lends itself to building and creating snow creatures using found objects (great for fine motor skills and creative problem solving) – but also opens a window to habitats and biomes and the creatures who are connected and dependent on each other. And you can take The Polar Express in so many creative directions, from building a map to guide the train to Santa and the North Pole, exploring Arctic habitats, or doing a deep dive into trains and transportation. 

Bonus: If you are interested in learning more about connecting play-based learning and STEM/STEAM experiences, check out these Adventures in Learning podcast episodes with Susie Spikol (Episode 143), Dr. Crystal Y Campbell (Episode 142), Jo Joly (Episode 106), Dr. Amanda Gummer (Episode 96), Jonathan Payne (Episode 104), Dr. Kateri Thunder (Episode 85), Katherine Mohr (Episode 63), and Dr. Tyana Velazquez-Smith (Episode 88). 

Executive Function: Building the Ability to Wait During the Holidays 

You can create opportunities for building executive function, patience, and actual helping tasks during the holidays.

• The Twelve Hours of Christmas (Bailey/Jackson)

• Llama Llama Holiday Drama (Dewdney)

• Twelve Dinging Doorbells (Brown/Glenn)

• Who Built the Stable? (Bryan) 

Connection: We all know how hard it is to wait for something – and the holidays can make that even harder. These books help children understand the challenges of waiting and offer some strategies for calming the chaos, managing impulse control, and dealing with big feelings.

In my interview with the Dear Santa podcast (Episode 11), I offered some strategies for helping kids cope with anticipation. One of my go tos when our girls were smaller was to create month filled with our own traditions, simple activities, and opportunities for practicing empathy and kindness while we waited for the big day. Before December 1, I filled 24 pockets of our advent calendar with one idea for every day. These were simple ideas and things we would already be doing – bake a batch of cookies, sing a favorite song, read a holiday story, wrap a gift, make a card – so they helped me and kept the kids engaged. They also included fun twists and unexpected surprises like go ice skating, see The Nutcracker, visit Santa, go look at the lights. And there were opportunities to help the girls step outside themselves and practice empathy – collect food for the food pantry, carol with the seniors, call or visit someone who is alone. None of the things on the list were an “extra” burden but they all made life a little brighter and helped my girls appreciate all of the season and not just the big day. If you try this, maybe add in some STEM/STEAM challenges paired with books for extra fun! 

You may want to check out these episodes of the Adventures in Learning podcast with Dr. Cara Furman (Episode 154), Rebecca List Freedman (Episode 147), or L-M-N-O-Play! (Episode 143). 

Remember, you can download ALL of these ideas as a free PDF. You'll also find all of the books listed in this post (and many more) gathered in one place at bookshop.org (I am a bookshop.org affiliate -- if you click on a link in my store and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission).

Please reach out to me at www.drdianeadventures.com or diane@drdianeadventures.com if you have any questions (or ideas to add). Let’s build connections together – and may your holiday season be filled with empathy, wonder, connection, and joy.