January Fun Learning Holidays
My kids love a reason to celebrate. Who doesn’t? These fun holidays can be a great way to celebrate and provide fun learning opportunities for your homeschool. Here’s my list of unit study ideas to incorporate in your homeschool in January.
(Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I use and love or would love to use! For full disclosure details, click here.)
What to Celebrate in the Month of January
Each month has designated awareness holidays, and these can be a great way to introduce your kids to a new experience or get them to try something new. They can also be used to spend additional time focused on a particular area of interest.
I’ve compiled a YouTube playlist containing most of the video links included in this article. Bookmark this page to come back and find the unit study, activity, and article links, and visit the Must Love Lists YouTube playlist for monthly video links.
I’ve compiled a YouTube playlist containing most of the video links included in this article. Bookmark this page to come back and find the unit study, activity, and article links, and visit the Must Love Lists YouTube playlist for monthly video links.
National Blood Donor Month
Do a unit study on the blood. There are many, many resources available including books, videos, and complete lesson plans. Do a search for blood unit study ________ and fill in the blank with the level you wish (elementary, middle school, high school).
If you have a microscope, you can order slides of human blood smear from Fisher Scientific. They are only a few bucks, but shipping can be expensive.
Here are a few resources to get you started.
The Homeschool Scientist: Learning about Blood: Many links to helpful resources included here
Blood: The Tissue of Life: Better Lesson has a lesson plan including video links, hands-on activity, and questions to consider
Blood Cell Basics: Teach Engineering has a detailed lesson plan for hands-on activity using a microscope, including printable worksheets.
4 Parts of Blood: Printable information and questions from University of Houston
National Braille Literacy Month
Learn about Louis Braille in January.
National Hobby Month
Encourage your kids to try a new hobby in January.
National Hot Tea Month
Try a new flavor of tea, have a fancy tea party, or visit a tea room for a more formal experience.
National Oatmeal Month
Introduce your kids to oatmeal in some form. My kids love traditional old-fashioned oats with a few chocolate chips stirred in. Your kids may enjoy baked oatmeal or overnight oats.
National Soup Month
Perfect timing for those cold winter days, have your kids help you make a crockpot of soup. They’ll be much more likely to eat it if they help make it!
National Day Holidays for January
These individual day holidays can be incorporated into a variety of learning and fun.
New Year’s Day: January 1
This one is obvious, but it’s a great opportunity to encourage your kids to set goals. Download my free Happy New Year printable goal-setting page, or visit my Etsy shop to purchase a cute goal setting printable to help your kids set goals of their own this year.
World Introvert Day: January 2
Use this day to talk about different personality types and the beauty of differences. You’ll find a printable “All About My Child” personality record to help record learning styles and positive personality traits about your child in my printables library freebies.
Trivia Day: January 4
Play a trivia game to celebrate!
National Bird Day: January 5
Do a unit study on birds this month, go birdwatching, or start a birdwatching log.
Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day: January 11
How fun is this? Kids love secret codes, so a Morse Code unit study would be a fun break from your regular curriculum. Learnmorsecode.com has charts and slowed down sound files to practice listening if your kids are interested.
Kid Inventors Day: January 17
Kids are always inventing things. Encourage that curiosity with stories of kids whose inventions actually changed the lives of lots of people. There are great books and fun videos available to help you celebrate this day.
11 Kid Inventors Break Down their Greatest Inventions (YouTube)
Top 15 Genius Kids Who Invented Amazing Things (YouTube)
You can also celebrate by giving your kids a challenge in January and asking them come up with an invention to solve the problem.
STEM Project: Be an Inventor (TpT)
Invent It, Build It (PBSkids)
Penguin Awareness Day: January 20
- Do a penguin unit study
- Visit the penguins at your local zoo
- Read Mr. Popper’s Penguins in January
- Watch penguin videos on YouTube
- Make an origami penguin (the tutorial linked here may be too complex for younger kids, they can try this easy penguin origami project)
National Handwriting Day: January 23
- learn a creative lettering technique
- write a handwritten note to someone
- research handwriting analysis
Compliment Day: January 24
Give compliments to your kids and encourage them to genuinely compliment others.
My printable kindness cards are a fun way to compliment friends and strangers alike!
National Puzzle Day: January 29
- work on a jigsaw puzzle
- do a crossword puzzle
- try a few riddles or brain teasers
Inspire Your Heart with Art Day: January 31
- visit an art museum
- paint a picture for grandma
- start an art journal
Visit my homeschool resources page for monthly unit study ideas, projects, and homeschool planning help!
How to Use Fun Holidays for Unit Studies
The key to using fun holiday lists like this in your homeschool is to keep it simple. Don’t try to celebrate every single holiday or awareness theme. You and your kids will be overwhelmed.
Keep a list of fun holidays and note down the ones you celebrate with the year and what you did. Next year, come back to the list and pick another one or two to celebrate.
There are, of course, more “national days” you could choose to celebrate that are not included in this list, many of them focused on food. It’s fun to choose a few of these as well to add in treats here and there or as a way to have your kids try new foods.
Find additional January fun holidays that aren’t necessarily learning-related in these two articles.
Join my mailing list to receive updates when new printable resources are added to the library, plus tips and encouragement for your organized homeschool journey.
You May Also Like…
January Unit Study Ideas for Homeschool Learning
