Magical Polar Express Activities for Kindergarten

All aboard! Bring the magic of the season to your classroom with some fantastic Polar Express activities for kindergarten. This beloved story by Chris Van Allsburg is the perfect book to pair with engaging, hands-on activities. Whether you’re looking to plan a cozy pajama day, serve hot cocoa, or integrate fun math and science activities inspired by The Polar Express, this is a day your students will always remember. The Polar Express is a must have for your December book collection. If you don’t have it, borrow it from your library, or click here to purchase from Amazon.

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Pajama Day

This is the perfect opportunity for a pajama day! Let students know a few days in advance so they can come to school in their coziest pajamas. Just like the kids on The Polar Express train, they’ll get to wear their pajamas all day long, adding to the magic and excitement of the experience.

Reading The Polar Express

Introduce the book by telling your students, “This book is called The Polar Express. It is about a boy who gets on a train, called The Polar Express. The train takes the boy to the North Pole. Let’s read to find out what happens when he gets to the North Pole.” As you read, stop to ask text dependent questions. Text dependent questions are great for building comprehension. A couple of examples for this book are:

Why do you think he wants a silver bell from Santa’s sleigh?
I wonder why his parents didn’t hear a sound from the bell? What do you think?

The Polar Express Interactive Read Aloud

Looking for lesson plans and text dependent questions already thought out for you? Our 3 day interactive read aloud for The Polar Express is just what you need. It not only includes detailed lesson plans for all 3 days with text dependent questions for each day, but also 14 differentiated writing pages, story elements anchor charts and an adorable Polar Express craft activity.

The Polar Express Writing Activity

Students love this Polar Express writing activity. After reading the book again, turn to the page where Santa is giving the boy the bell. Ask students, “If Santa picked you to get the first gift of Christmas, what would you ask for?” Have them discuss with a partner, using the sentence stem, I would ask for. . . Then have students write about the gift they would ask for. Use our free writing templates for this lesson.

Marshmallow Estimation Math

Show students a jar filled with mini marshmallows, and ask them to estimate how many are inside. Explain that to estimate means to make a good guess. Have students write their estimations on sticky notes, then arrange the sticky notes on the board in numerical order. Since estimating can be tricky for kindergarteners, it helps to give them a visual reference. To do so, dump all the marshmallows out into another container. Then count by tens as you add the marshmallows back into the jar. Tell them, “This is what 10 marshmallows look like in the jar” and then “This is what 20 marshmallows look like in the jar.” Continue this until you have put all the marshmallows back in the jar. This strategy gives students a clearer idea of what different quantities look like and will help your students make better estimations in the future.

Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Science Experiment

Make some hot chocolate earlier in the day and let it cool off. Then make another hot chocolate right before you begin this lesson, so you can experiment with different temperatures. Show students the two cups of hot chocolate and let them know that one is hot and the other is cool (if available, use clear jars for your hot chocolate so students can have a better view). Let them know you will be adding mini marshmallows to both cups. Then ask, “What will happen to the marshmallows at the different temperatures?” Allow students to hypothesize. Put a handful of marshmallows in the two cups, and watch. This might take a few minutes depending on the temperature of your hot chocolate. Students should start to see that the marshmallows in the hotter drink start to dissolve, and the marshmallows in the cooler drink do not. Follow this science experiment with the snack below.

The Polar Express Snack

The best Polar Express snack idea is to have hot chocolate and cookies. Use a crockpot to make the hot chocolate. Just add milk or water and the hot chocolate packets and whisk together. Then set your slow cooker on high for about an hour. After pouring it in cups for your students, add a few mini marshmallows. And all cookies go perfect with hot chocolate.

Train Craft

A craft stick train is a perfect hands-on activity to accompany The Polar Express and let your kindergarten students create their very own magical train!

What You Need:

Craft sticks
Construction paper
Pom poms (optional)
Cotton balls (optional)
Markers
Glue

Creating the Train

Use markers to color 11 craft sticks.
Line up one set of five craft sticks and one set of six craft sticks in a row and glue them together. Let them dry completely. (This may take a while, so do it earlier in the day.)
Position one set of craft sticks horizontally and the other vertically. Glue the horizontal set on top of the vertical set to form the train base.
Cut a square from construction paper to create a window. Draw a conductor in the window for added detail.
Glue pom-poms onto the train as wheels. Alternatively, you can cut circles out of construction paper to use as wheels.
Cut a rectangle from construction paper to make a smokestack and attach it to the train.
Pull apart a small piece of a cotton ball and stretch it out to create steam, then glue it coming out of the smokestack. (You can skip this step if you don’t have cotton balls.)