Looking for Christmas elf activities for middle school that are engaging, standards-aligned, and age-appropriate? These creative elf activities combine characterization, descriptive writing, script writing, persuasive speaking, and grammar into a fun mini unit your students will remember long after winter break.
When most teachers hear “elf activities,” they picture elementary crafts and coloring pages, which are not appropriate for Middle School students. Yes, many people, preschool through adults, like a coloring page every now and then, but as middle school teachers, I think we can do better than that.
Instead of simply decorating an elf or writing a quick story, why not challenge students to develop an original character they can use throughout an entire week of ELA instruction?
This mini unit keeps students engaged during the busy weeks leading up to winter break while reinforcing important reading, writing, speaking, and language standards. Even better, every activity builds on the previous one, so students become more invested in the elf they create.
Before students begin creating their own characters, ease into the unit with a quick grammar review.
Our Elf Prepositional Phrases Activity is the perfect print-and-go lesson for practicing grammar while introducing the holiday theme. Students describe their elves using prepositional phrases before identifying the prepositions and phrases they used in their own writing.
It’s an engaging warm-up that reinforces language skills without feeling like a boring grammar worksheet.
Now the real fun begins.
Instead of giving students a generic character sheet, encourage them to build an elf that feels like someone readers could actually meet.
First, students work through these questions:
Then challenge students to think intentionally about appearance. We are not picking anything randomly. Every choice should be purposeful.
Rather than simply choosing colors because they “look nice,” ask students to consider color symbolism.
Does their elf wear green because they value growth and harmony? Red because they’re bold and energetic? Gold because they’re ambitious? The choices the students are making about their elf should not go against their elf’s personality or other choices the student has already made about the elf.
Finally, students create a detailed sketch of their elf that reflects the choices they’ve made about the character’s personality and background. Students are welcome to use online tools and resources to create this character sketch, so that they end up with a fun visual image they can continue to work with throughout the week.
Characters become much more interesting when they interact with others since this is when we see personalities really come out.
For this next elf activity for middle school, pair students together and imagine that both elves work in Santa’s workshop.
Next, give them a problem to solve.
Students can pick their scenario and then they will work with their partner to write the scene as a dramatic script, using proper dialogue formatting, stage directions, and character names.
Encourage them to focus on how each elf’s personality influences the way they talk, their jargon, and the way they solve problems… or don’t.
Not every day in the North Pole is the same, so a new day brings a new focus for our elves. Today, Santa is giving all the elves in his workshop an opportunity to have a 1-on-1 where they will have a chance to pitch any new ideas or issues they have to the Big Guy himself.
As a part of this special day at the North Pole, students will write and deliver a persuasive speech from the perspective of their elf.
Some ideas include:
Students should support their claims with logical reasons, examples, and persuasive techniques while remaining true to the personality they established earlier in the week.
Remind students that they are writing in character. They have to make sure the character’s voice and interests come through louder than their own.
Finish the unit by asking students to reflect on how their elf changed throughout the week.
Questions might include:
Reflection helps students recognize that strong characters develop over time through actions, dialogue, choices, and relationships rather than simple descriptions.
Elves are fun and often quirky, so let’s have some fun working on Middle School Language Arts skills using them as our content. The other thing that really works for this unit is that there aren’t necessarily any rules that you’re working with when you’re using elves as your content, which allows for some really great creative opportunities in your Middle School ELA classroom.
By working with the same elf character all week, students remain engaged from beginning to end while strengthening multiple ELA skills in ways that feel fun, but are still focused on the standards.
They may not be elf activities for middle school, but we do have more ideas for celebrating the holidays in the classroom! Be sure to check out our blog post 6 Easy (Low/No-Prep) Christmas ELA Activities for Middle School
