English · Kindergarten–Grade 3
Free Christmas worksheets: word searches, letter to Santa and writing
Free printable Christmas worksheets for kindergarten to grade 3: a 15-word and an 8-word word search, word scramble with clues, ABC order, Christmas word tracing, a letter to Santa template, four writing prompts and an all-about-my-Christmas page. Answer keys where needed.
Christmas word search
Fifteen Christmas words hidden in a 12 by 12 grid, across, down and diagonally: Santa, reindeer, sleigh, stocking, ornament, candy cane, snowman, present, wreath, elf, jingle, cookies, chimney, tinsel, holly. Solution on page 2. Free printable PDF.
Easy Christmas word search
Eight short Christmas words hidden in a 10 by 10 grid, across and down only, with a picture beside each word: tree, star, gift, snow, bell, elf, Santa, candy. Solution on page 2. For K to grade 1. Free printable PDF.
Christmas word scramble
Twelve mixed-up Christmas words with a clue for each: unscramble and write the word on the line. Answer key on page 2. Free printable PDF.
Christmas ABC order
Four sets of five Christmas words to write in alphabetical order; one set needs the second letter. Answer key on page 2. For grades 1 to 3. Free printable PDF.
Christmas word tracing
Ten Christmas words to trace and write: tree, star, gift, snow, bell, candy, snowman, cookie, stocking, holly, each with a picture. Handwriting lines with a dashed midline. For preschool to grade 1. Free printable PDF.
Letter to Santa template
A "Dear Santa" letter page with eleven handwriting lines (dashed midline), a sign-off, an "I have been" checklist and a box to draw the wish. For K to grade 3. Free printable PDF.
Christmas writing prompts
Four Christmas writing prompts with four handwriting lines each: the best gift to give, a day as an elf, a snowman that comes alive, my favorite Christmas memory. For grades 1 to 3. Free printable PDF.
All about my Christmas
A fill-in page: favorite Christmas song, food, tradition, three describing words, a gift to give, Christmas morning, and a box to draw the family celebrating. For K to grade 3. Free printable PDF.
Eight Christmas worksheets for the reading and writing side of December: puzzles for the first ten minutes of the day, handwriting for the youngest, a letter to Santa that doubles as a friendly-letter lesson, and writing prompts for children who can already put sentences together. The words are the ones children meet everywhere in December (tree, star, gift, snow, bell, Santa, elf, sleigh, stocking, reindeer, wreath, ornament, candy cane), so the sheets reinforce vocabulary they are hearing anyway. Puzzle sheets come with a solution on page 2; the writing and tracing pages are single pages.
What's in this set
- Christmas word search. Fifteen words hidden in a 12 by 12 grid, across, down and diagonally: Santa, reindeer, sleigh, stocking, ornament, candy cane, snowman, present, wreath, elf, jingle, cookies, chimney, tinsel and holly. Each word in the list has a picture beside it. Solution on page 2.
- Easy Christmas word search. Eight short words (tree, star, gift, snow, bell, elf, Santa, candy) in a 10 by 10 grid, across and down only, never backwards. For kindergarten and first grade.
- Christmas word scramble. Twelve mixed-up words, each with a clue ("Pulled by reindeer", "A ring of holly on the door"). Unscramble and write the word on the line. Answer key on page 2.
- Christmas ABC order. Four sets of five words to write in alphabetical order. Set 3 (star, snow, Santa, sleigh, stocking) all start with S, so children have to use the second letter. Answer key on page 2.
- Trace the Christmas words. Ten words with a picture, a solid model, two dotted copies to trace and an empty space to write independently, on handwriting lines with a dashed midline.
- Letter to Santa template. "Dear Santa" with eleven handwriting lines, a "Love," sign-off, an "I have been" checklist and a box to draw the wish.
- Christmas writing prompts. Four prompts with lines: a gift to give anyone in the world, a day as one of Santa's elves, the snowman that came alive, my favorite Christmas memory.
- All about my Christmas. A fill-in page: favorite song, food, tradition, three describing words, a gift to give and who it is for, Christmas morning, and a big box to draw the family celebrating.
What students will practice
- Sight recognition of December vocabulary and letter-by-letter scanning (word searches)
- Spelling and phonemic segmentation (word scramble, word tracing)
- Alphabetical order to the second letter (L.1.1, L.2.2 dictionary skills)
- Letter formation and pencil control on lined paper (word tracing, letter to Santa)
- Friendly-letter format: greeting, body, closing, signature (W.1.3, W.2.3)
- Narrative and opinion writing in complete sentences (W.1.1, W.2.3, W.3.3)
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How to use these worksheets
Print at 100% on A4 or US Letter. For the puzzle sheets, print page 1 for children and keep page 2 as the answer key. The set spans kindergarten (easy word search, tracing) to third grade (hard word search, ABC order to the second letter, writing prompts), so choose by reader rather than handing out all eight.
- Word searches. Teach a method: pick a word, find its first letter anywhere in the grid, then look at the eight neighbours for the second letter. Ticking words off the list stops children re-finding the same one.
- Word scramble. Have children read the clue first and guess the word, then check the letters match. Guess-then-check is how good spellers use scrambles; letter-shuffling alone is slow.
- ABC order. Number the words in the bank lightly in pencil before writing them on the lines. For set 3, cover the first letter with a finger and order by what remains.
- Word tracing. Say the word, then say each letter name while tracing it. The last, empty slot is the test: no dots, just the word from memory.
- Letter to Santa. Model one paragraph about the year first (something learned, something kind) before the wish list; it turns a list into a letter. Point out the four parts: greeting, body, closing, name.
- Writing prompts. Ask for a first sentence that answers the prompt directly, then two sentences of detail. For reluctant writers, take one prompt at a time over four days.
- All about my Christmas. Works as a first-day-back-in-January sheet too: change "is" to "was" out loud and children write about what actually happened.
Making it a Christmas literacy lesson
- Morning work. One puzzle sheet per day for the last week of term: easy word search, scramble, ABC order, hard word search.
- Display. Letters to Santa and all-about-my-Christmas pages make a corridor display with the Christmas coloring pages in between.
- Pair with math. The Christmas math worksheets use the same pictures, so a two-subject Christmas station rotation needs no extra explaining.
Common issues to watch for
- Two-word entries in the word search. "Candy cane" is hidden as one word, CANDYCANE. Say so before starting.
- Capital S in Santa. The tracing and ABC sheets keep the capital because it is a name; alphabetical order ignores case, so Santa still sits between snow and sleigh.
- Letters that run into the next slot on the tracing sheet for longer words (snowman, stocking). Remind children to start at the left edge of each box.
- Wish lists instead of letters. If the letter to Santa is only a list, ask for one sentence about the year at the top and one "thank you" at the bottom.
Frequently asked questions
What age are these Christmas worksheets for?
Kindergarten to third grade, roughly ages 5 to 9. The easy word search and word tracing suit kindergarten and first grade; the scramble, letter to Santa and all-about-my-Christmas page suit first and second grade; the 15-word search, ABC order and writing prompts suit second and third grade.
Which sheets have answer keys?
The two word searches, the word scramble and the ABC order sheet each have a solution on page 2. The tracing, letter to Santa, writing prompts and all-about-my-Christmas pages are open-ended and have no key.
Are the worksheets religious?
No. The vocabulary is Santa, reindeer, trees, gifts, snow and candy, so the set works for a mixed class and for a general winter-holiday theme.
Can I print them in black and white?
Yes. The small pictures have solid outlines and the grids and lines are black, so everything is clear on a mono printer.
Is this set free to use in school?
Yes, for non-commercial educational use: a class set, a homeschool group or a holiday club are all fine.
More practice
For handwriting without the theme, see the handwriting worksheets and letter worksheets. The spelling worksheets and phonics worksheets cover the word-building skills the scramble relies on, and the Christmas math worksheets use the same pictures for counting, addition and patterns.
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