Inclusive Holiday Activities for the Classroom Using a Spinning Wheel

Make seasonal activities easy to choose

The last stretch before a school break can be a tricky time to keep a class engaged. You may want something festive without tying the activity to a particular religion, and you may need an option that works for different ages, energy levels, and comfort zones. A spinning wheel can make the choice feel playful while keeping the activity itself simple.

Spin the Wheel lets you create a wheel of names or options, with each option entered on its own line. For a classroom activity, write a short prompt on each line, then spin to select one. The wheel is a way to choose what the class does; it does not require students to share personal information or take part in a particular kind of celebration.

Build a balanced set of prompts

Start by choosing a mix of quiet, active, spoken, and written activities. That gives you room to adapt to the group’s mood and the time available. For example, a wheel might include: “Name something that helped you this week,” “Sketch a winter scene,” “Think of a kind note you could write,” and “Choose a winter word and describe it.” These are sample prompts, not required activities.

Keep each entry brief enough to read at a glance. Use open-ended wording that allows students to answer in different ways. A gratitude prompt can invite a student to think privately, draw, or share aloud. A kindness challenge can focus on a small, realistic action, such as offering help with classroom materials. Avoid making students explain personal circumstances or disclose what they celebrate.

Consider adding a pass-friendly option, such as “Choose a prompt to answer, draw, or pass.” This makes participation more flexible without singling anyone out. You can also include nonseasonal choices so students who do not connect with winter activities have an equally welcome way to join.

Use the wheel for a short classroom routine

Before class, write your prompts in a plain-text list and put one option on each line in Spin the Wheel. Read through the list as if you were a student encountering it for the first time. Replace anything that could be confusing, overly personal, or hard to do in your classroom.

Introduce the activity by explaining the choices and what students may do after a prompt is selected. Spin the wheel, read the selected entry aloud, and give the class a moment to respond. Depending on your group, students might reflect quietly, write, sketch, discuss with a partner, or contribute to a shared display. You decide how to facilitate the response; the tool selects an option.

For a quick demonstration, imagine a wheel with four different entries. Each listed entry has a 1 / 4 chance of being selected. That describes the selection among those entries, not a guarantee that every activity will come up during a session.

Adapt the activity to your group

For a quieter class, use reflection, drawing, or vocabulary prompts and invite students to respond on paper. For a more energetic group, include brief movement or partner activities that fit your classroom routines. For younger students, use familiar words and demonstrate what a response could look like. Older students might write a short reflection or make a list of inclusive ways to show appreciation.

Winter vocabulary can be a low-pressure language activity. Add words connected to weather, clothing, nature, or seasonal changes, and invite students to define, sketch, or use the selected word in a sentence. To make it accessible for varied language levels, allow a drawing or a home-language explanation where appropriate.

Kindness challenges work best when they are concrete and voluntary. Offer choices such as making a welcoming sign, helping organize shared supplies, or writing an encouraging message. Gratitude prompts can be broad: students might name a helpful routine, a favorite classroom resource, or something they enjoyed learning. These examples leave room for different experiences and traditions.

Choose settings that suit the moment

If you want the wheel to move through several prompts without repeating a selected one, turn on the option to remove the winner after each spin. If you want to reuse the full list, leave that option off. Spin the Wheel also offers sound, confetti, color themes, a choice of spin duration, a wheel title, fullscreen display, results history, shuffle, and A–Z sort. Pick only the settings that help your group; a quiet class may prefer no sound or confetti.

Fullscreen can help display the wheel to a class or stream. A title such as “Winter Word Break” or “Kindness Ideas” makes the purpose clear before the spin. Shuffle or A–Z sort can help you arrange the list, but neither changes the wording of the activity choices.

Avoid common snags

Do not make every entry depend on having a particular item, sharing a family tradition, or speaking in front of the class. Check that prompts are doable with the time and materials you have. If a selected activity no longer fits the moment, choose a different response or skip it; the wheel should support your classroom judgment, not replace it.

Remember that duplicate lines add weight: a repeated prompt is more likely to be selected than a prompt listed only once. Check for accidental duplicates if you want each entry to have equal chance. The tool chooses a winner before the animation plays, so treat the animation as a display of the result rather than as the selection process.

The list is saved only in your browser. The Share wheel option puts the list inside the link after the # symbol rather than uploading it. Even so, avoid putting student names or private classroom details in a wheel you plan to share.

Keep the activity welcoming

A useful holiday-season activity does not need to assume that everyone celebrates the same way. Use language such as “winter,” “end-of-term,” or “classroom kindness” when that better fits your group. Invite participation without requiring students to explain their beliefs or family circumstances, and offer more than one way to respond.

When you are ready, make a short list of inclusive prompts, enter one option per line, and give the wheel a try for your next classroom activity.