3 Easy Ways to Promote Literacy at home this Christmas! (updated 2026)

We love Christmas! Just thinking about it makes my kids happy and, as a parent, I might as well take that opportunity to promote literacy at home over the Christmas season, right? Even if you don’t have a homeschooling family, it definitely won’t hurt to take advantage of the many ways there are to promote literacy at home.

Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved reading & writing stories, so I’m trying my hardest to encourage my kids to enjoy it just as much. While we can’t go on vacation everyday, our minds could go on a little vacation through a story we write or a book we read, right? What better time to enjoy the magic of literacy than at Christmas time?

Here are 3 easy ways we promote literacy at home during the Christmas season!

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Read Stories

Ahem, yes. I know this one is a little obvious, but stay with me a sec. While I’m always game for the traditional book, consider alternative ways to expose your kids to literacy this Christmas! YouTube has tons of videos of holiday-themed stories being read aloud. If you have a reluctant reader, you could pique their attention by introducing a new book through a video.

Along the same lines, consider signing up for apps that provide digital versions of books! Utilizing the Hoopla app is just one of many ways to access books cheap (or free!).

If you live in an area where it’s not terribly cold during the Christmas season, go out to visit your local library or find a nearby Free Little Library for a new-to-you book to read! If it’s too chilly to go out and you prefer to have your books delivered, Amazon has a TON of Christmas-themed books to choose from!

Want to “up” the Christmas reading experience a bit further? Consider signing your kids up for a Christmas-themed book club! My kids are so excited to be doing an online Christmas Carol book club this year!

Write about Christmas

As a teacher turned homeschooling mom, it’s one of my goals to have my kids complete a writing prompt each day. Not only does it help them to improve their handwriting, but it also gets those creative juices flowing and gets them ready for a day of learning.

Sometimes my boys will go for generic writing prompts, but, they seem to really like when I give them a holiday-themed writing prompt (like these Christmas-themed writing prompts!) or a silly writing prompt (like many of these National Days to Celebrate in December prompts!)

In addition to writing about Christmas, you could promote literacy at home by encouraging the kids to write letters to family and friends. Set up a letter writing station, and let the pencils start flowing. If your kids are still little enough to believe in Santa, have them write letters to Santa!

PS – you should totally grab the free Christmas-themed lined paper printables below. They’re just the thing to add a little extra something something to your holiday writing activities!

Create Christmas Crafts

I love including Christmas crafts in our homeschool days because they combine art and literacy! Have the kids go through magazines, newspapers…pretty much any piece of literature you’d be ok with them cutting up for their project …and create a Christmas scrapbook!

They can find images and words that remind them of Christmas and could even include photos of the items on their Christmas wish lists. Provide them with some fun Christmas art supplies and let them scrapbook to their hearts content.

Not only will you end up with an art project, but you’ll have a sweet memento to look back on in the years to come.

If scrapbooking doesn’t interest the kids, they could make Christmas cards. Have them look up Christmas poems or sayings online (or, even better – they can make up their own!) and let them create their own Christmas cards that will be sent to friends and family!

Creative Fabrica is a great resources for making Christmas crafts since they have a ton of free graphics and fonts!

There you have it!

While there are PLENTY of ways to promote literacy at home during the Christmas season, these are three ways that we do so in our own home. I hope these suggestions have been helpful! Promoting literacy at home doesn’t have to be time consuming or super complicated – there are opportunities all around it! If you take the opportunity to make it fun and engaging for the kids, I bet they’ll have a blast. They may even ask for more literacy activities!

If you’re looking for more seasonal fun, check out one of our favorite Christmas traditions that actually makes the holidays easier on ME! The kids love it!

Until next time, stay safe and enjoy quality time with your family,