Holiday Lesson Plans for Teaching Epiphany Facts to Kids

Epiphany is a popular choice when doing a holidays around the world unit. If this is not a holiday you celebrate personally, you may not know a lot about it. These facts about Epiphany and resources will help you plan and prep a comprehensive unit or simple holiday lesson plans for the days leading up to winter break.

Epiphany in Spain is an interesting topic to explore with elementary students during the months of December or January. This Epiphany in Spain resource can be used as a stand alone unit, quick holiday lesson plans, or as part of a larger holidays around the world unit. It includes everything you need to teach your students about this special winter holiday.

Why You Should Teach Students about Epiphany

The month of December is a fantastic time of year to teach your elementary students about the different holidays and celebrations that take place around the world this time of year. Your students are already thinking about the upcoming holidays, so it makes sense to use this excitement to engage them in their learning. There are so many different ways to tie this topic into your curriculum – especially social studies and literacy standards!

Epiphany in Spain is a particularly interesting topic to explore because some of your students may have never heard of it before. Students can learn about a culture and set of traditions that are different from their own. Learning about this holiday creates an interesting opportunity for students to compare and contrast this holiday’s traditions and what their holiday traditions look like. For your students who do celebrate this holiday, it’s a great way to invite them to share about their experiences and recognize the value in their holiday.

5 Epiphany Facts

Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th.
It is the festival of The Three Kings. It is a celebration of the day when the Kings brought gifts to the baby Jesus.
A special cake called “Roscón” is popular at Epiphany.
Children in Spain receive some gifts on Christmas Day, but most are opened at Epiphany.
On January 5th (Epiphany Eve), children leave shoes out to be filled with presents.

Epiphany Unit

What’s Included?

This Epiphany resource includes the following:

resource overview that identifies all of the printables included in the product
teaching ideas that offer suggestions for how to implement the resources in your classroom
organizational tools to help you keep track of the resources you add to this thematic unit
book suggestions to help you find relevant read alouds you might like to use as part of your unit
close reading passage for both teachers and students to learn more about the holiday
printable book for students to use to learn about the holiday
two-column notes graphic organizer so your students can organize their ideas and the research they collect
top-down web graphic organizer so your students can take the information they collected and transfer it into a paragraph framework
cover pages that students can color in or design their own illustration
geography map to help students make sense of where the country is in relation to themselves
flag bunting that looks great displayed on a bulletin board
flag coloring page that pairs well with the writing project and makes a great bulletin board
postcards so students can show what they learned in a fun and creative way
travel scrapbook so students can show what they learned in a fun and creative way
travel journal so students can show what they learned in a fun and creative way
art project to engage your students in a fun learning experience based on an academic topic
recipe for students to bring home, share with their families, and enjoy a hands-on learning extension
digital version of the product so students can access the materials in school and at home

5 Reasons Why You Will Love It

This resource includes a bunch of activities, so it’s a great value!
Many of the resources are completely print and go, which saves you lots of prep time.
You can customize it to fit your needs by selecting which included activities you implement.
The activities are open-ended, which makes it easier to differentiate and make modifications. It also enables you to use this in multiple grade levels.
It’s a great way to keep students engaged during a month where that can feel extra challenging!

A Quick Summary

This is an excerpt from the reading passage and student mini-booklet that can be found in the unit:

“In addition to Christmas, there is a festival that is celebrated in Spain. It is called Epiphany. Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th. That is the twelfth night after Christmas. It is the festival of The Three Kings. It is a celebration of the day when the Kings brought gifts to the baby Jesus.

Children in Spain receive some gifts on Christmas Day, but most are opened at Epiphany. On January 5th (Epiphany Eve) they leave shoes out to be filled with presents…”

Tips for Activating Schema

Like all lessons, you will want to begin by activating student schema and engaging them in their learning. It’s a great way to see if your students are familiar with the holiday, celebrate it personally, or know any facts about Spain. You can do this by:

Locating Spain on a map.
Discussing Spain’s climate.
Inviting students to participate in mapping activities that help them understand where your students are in relation to Spain and the rest of the world.

This Me on the Map project has long been the most effective way I know to teach students where they are located from a global perspective.

Many teachers use it as part of a map skills unit at the start of each school year, but it also works so perfectly as an introduction to your Christmas Around the World or Holidays Around the World lessons.

Printable Resources

You can either choose to get these resources specific to Epiphany in Spain on their own or as part of the popular cost-saving holidays around the world bundle which includes the following holidays and countries:

Australia
Brazil
China
France
Germany
Mexico
Italy
Israel
Holland / The Netherlands
Sweden
Spain
The United States
Christmas
Chinese New Year
Boxing Day
Diwali
Epiphany
Hanukkah
Kwanzaa
Las Posadas
St. Lucia’s Day

The bundle also includes the following bonus materials:

Access to a digital portal for easy planning
Passports and country stamps
Luggage craft activity
Boarding passes
Travel map
Compare and contrast countries with Venn diagrams
Craft ideas
Scrapbook cover
Recipes

3 Craft and Project Ideas

In addition to the Holidays Around the World resources and holiday lesson plans spotlighted above, a study about Epiphany lends itself to a variety of other complementary projects like travel brochures, an animal research project and crafts.

1. Travel Brochures

You could have your students create travel brochures by researching the country. It’s a fun and creative way for students to share the facts about Epiphany they learned. This can be done in class or as a homework assignment to complement what you are doing in school. These printables travel brochures make it super simple!

2. Animal Research Projects

You could have your students learn about the wildlife native to Spain. This print and go animal research resource packet can be used over and over again through the school year because it was designed to be used when researching any animal.

If you need ideas specific to Spain, I suggest:

Iberian Lynx
Brown Bear
Eurasian Beaver
Spanish Ibex
Golden Eagle

3. Epiphany Crafts

Take some time to do a craft with your students to represent the country you are focusing on. It is so hard to fit in creative activities, but this is a perfect time.

Here is what we made when we studied Epiphany:

You can see the instruction if needed for how we made this (as well as these other crafts we made to complement a study of many other countries) on my holidays around the world Pinterest board.