These holiday visual recipes are perfect for your December classroom cooking activities.

5 Holiday Visual Recipes for Hands-On Learning

December 2022 Kristine Deworocki

There's just something about the holidays that makes everything more fun. I LOVE planning festive, holiday-themed activities during the month of December. If you know me, you probably already know how much I love cooking! Well, you better believe I have a whole bunch of holiday-themed cooking activities to share! Check out these 5 holiday visual recipes that are perfect for the month of December!

What Are Visual Recipes?

Visual recipes like this help your students practice key vocabulary, fine-motor skills, following step-by-step instructions, learning to collaborate and more!

If you're new around here, you might be wondering what a visual recipe is. My visual recipes are kid-friendly recipes that feature full-color recipe cards with step-by-step directions.

The directions use pictures to help young students develop independence by promoting deeper understanding.

Visual recipes are great for SLPs, teachers, parents, and anyone who works with young kiddos.

Cooking with visual recipes is a fun way to target a variety of skills like vocabulary, grammar, answering/asking questions, following directions, sequencing, expressive language, socializing, and basic concepts.

I'm a BIG fan of visual recipes and use them all year long!

Holiday visual recipes are even more fun than usual though. The holiday theme makes these especially engaging and exciting for young students.

Ready to hear more? Let's get started!

How To Use These Holiday Visual Recipes

First things first, how do we implement these activities? These holiday visual recipes can be used in a variety of ways. Whether you're a classroom teacher, an SLP, or a mom of littles, you'll love using these visual recipes with your kiddos!

These holiday visual recipes are perfect for little kids because they don't require the use of ovens or mixers making it easy for even the smallest kiddos to be able to use.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

use these visual recipes at home with kiddos to make holiday treats for loved ones
try using these recipes in your SLP sessions to encourage language development
plan on incorporating these into your preschool, kinder, or elementary school lesson plans
use these recipes to make holiday treats during a classroom party
make these holiday recipes at a family gathering with the whole family

The best thing about these recipes is that they don't require the use of an oven or mixer. So this means you'll be able to make fun holiday treats in your classroom, speech room, or at home without a lot of fuss! These visual recipes will make cooking with kids fun, approachable, and filled with learning opportunities. Now, let's get to the recipes!

1. Grinch Popcorn

First up, Grinch Popcorn! Every kiddo will love making this festive popcorn snack during the month of December.

To make it, you'll need:

popcorn
green food coloring
butter
mini marshmallows
red m&m's or heart candies

To get started, you'll melt your butter and marshmallows together in a bowl and add in the green food coloring.

Next toss in the popped popcorn to fully coat and then transfer it to a baking sheet. Finish it off with more mini marshmallows and mini candies!

Allow the popcorn to dry and then break apart into chunks. Children will love making this, especially if you plan on reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" prior to making this holiday visual recipe.

2. Festive Apple Pops

These Festive Apple Pops are the perfect recipe to make as a special treat to share with classroom friends or loved ones! Make sure to grab some mini treat bags if you plan on handing these out to friends and family!

These Festive Apple Pops are the perfect activity to have your students do during your class holiday party.

To make them, you'll need:

sprinkles
apples
chocolate chips
popsicle sticks

First, cut the apple into slices. Kid-safe knives come in handy here or you can use an apple cutter for uniform slices. Just be sure to supervise well! Then, cut a small slit at the bottom of each apple slice and insert a popsicle stick into each one.

Next, melt your chocolate in the microwave. Dip the apples in chocolate and coat them with festive sprinkles. Transfer to the fridge to harden and enjoy!

3. Holly Jolly Snack Mix

Do you ever make homemade Chex Mix around the holidays? This Holly Jolly Snack mix is a fun alternative! This snack mix would be great to make during a speech therapy session. To make sure every kid gets a turn to participate, I like to assign a step in the recipe to each or have every kiddo take a turn mixing.

This Holly Jolly Snack Mix is just like Chex Mix with some holiday cheer.

To make this, you'll need:

white cheddar popcorn
Chex cereal
pretzels
m&m's
white chocolate chips
holiday sprinkles

This recipe couldn't be easier to make! Simply mix your Chex cereal, popcorn, and pretzels together in a large bowl. Then, melt the white chocolate and pour it over the snacks. Mix together and then transfer to a baking sheet. Add your sprinkles and allow them to dry. This snack mix is great to bag up and hand out during the holidays or enjoy during your Christmas party!

4. Hot Cocoa

Everyone loves a warm mug of cocoa, right?!

This Hot Cocoa visual recipe helps build confidence and independence in students because it's something they can do at home to show off their learning.

While it's simple enough, using a visual recipe will allow you to put your kiddos in the driver's seat and practice independence in making this holiday treat.

My holiday visual recipe for hot cocoa calls for:

milk
cocoa mix
whipped cream
marshmallows

Children will love using the visual recipe cards to carry out each step and make their own cup of cocoa.

This is a great recipe to use at home with your own kiddos before settling down for a holiday movie!

5. Reindeer Cookie Freebie

Finally, I have a fun freebie for you! This no-cook, reindeer cookie is the perfect lesson for a classroom full of littles! Pull this recipe out when you need a festive activity for a holiday party or speech session.

Holiday visual recipes wouldn't be complete without this adorable Reindeer Cooking FREEBIE to add to your December Speech Therapy sessions.

To get started, you'll need:

sandwich cookies
frosting
pretzels
red m&m's
eyeball sprinkles

To make, kiddos will gently twist open the cookies and add a little frosting along with a couple of pretzels for antlers. Then they will seal the cookie up again and use frosting to attach the eyeballs and an m&m for a nose. Kiddos will love making these fun holiday cookies!

Use the included vocabulary cards and comprehension questions to extend this activity even further and target learning goals! Grab the freebie and get started!

Extend Learning with Holiday Visual Recipes

While these recipes are fun all on their own, there’s so much more to be found in this resource! Included in my December Visual Recipe pack are vocabulary cards, comprehension questions, and cheat sheets for each recipe!

The cheat sheets include a list of questions to extend learning and promote conversation. This is a great way to make sure your kiddos get the most out of every activity! You'll also find a list of vocabulary words, basic concepts, core words/phrases, and more to target in these lessons. Cooking with kids is so much fun, but it's also a great opportunity for learning with the visual recipe cards!

Use these holiday visual recipes for hands-on learning in your classroom this December.

Finally, as one more added bonus, you'll find to-do lists and reference sheets included. Use these to prepare for your cooking lessons and for parent communication in SLP and classroom settings!

Get Started with Holiday Visual Recipes

Ready to grab these recipes and get cooking? You can find all of these fun, activities in my December Visual Recipe Resource! Use the vocabulary cards, comprehension questions, and cheat sheets to help round out your activities and promote even more learning. Have fun cooking with your kiddos!