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The holidays bring excitement, traditions, classroom celebrations and, if we’re being honest, a little chaos.

Why the Holidays Can Feel Overwhelming in the Classroom

As a teacher, I remember looking at my December calendar and wondering how I was going to fit everything in. There were lessons to teach, assessments to finish, classroom celebrations to plan, gifts to buy, meals to prepare, and a personal to-do list many pages long.

The holidays can feel a little like finding our way through a labyrinth. And maybe that’s exactly when we need to practice what we teach our children.

Throughout Labyrinth Adventures, our characters discover that when life feels overwhelming, they don’t have to rush toward an answer. They can pause, notice what’s happening in their minds and bodies, and choose what to do next.

So this year, instead of trying to create a perfect holiday season, let’s borrow a few lessons from the labyrinth.

How Can Teachers Reduce Holiday Stress in the Classroom?

Teachers can reduce holiday stress by maintaining familiar routines, making space for children’s emotions, building short pauses into the day, encouraging student participation, and prioritizing connection over perfection. Even brief opportunities to breathe, reset, or check in can help students navigate the excitement and unpredictability of the weeks before winter break.

8 Ways to Find Your Way Through the Holiday Hustle

1. Pause Before You Add One More Thing

Tia learns in Labyrinth Adventures that when her thoughts start racing, sometimes the best first step is simply to pause. Before adding another craft, party, activity, or commitment to your December calendar, ask yourself: Does this need to happen? Not everything has to make it onto the holiday list.

2. Make Room for Big Feelings

The holidays aren’t joyful every minute, especially for many children in our classroom. Excitement, disappointment, nervousness, exhaustion, sadness, and anticipation can all show up in the same classroom. Emotions don’t need to be labeled good or bad. Sometimes children simply need permission to notice what they’re feeling. You can use our Cloud Breath practice from Lily’s Cloudy Feelings to support your students in noticing what they are feeling. 

3. Protect Classroom Routines That Help Children Feel Secure

December schedules can become unpredictable quickly. Assemblies, parties, concerts, visitors, and special activities are fun, but they can also be a lot for young children.

Keep a few familiar anchors in the day. A morning check-in (if you don’t already have one we have a free Emotion Check-In guide with ideas), a familiar transition song, a short breathing exercise, or a predictable closing routine can provide consistency when everything else feels different.

4. Remember the Power of the Pause

Before recess. After a noisy activity. Before the holiday program. After lunch.

Give everyone, including yourself, a moment to reset. Tree frequently reminds the Labyrinth Adventures characters to slow down, notice, and breathe before deciding what comes next. Sometimes thirty seconds is enough.

5. Listen to Your Inner Voice

Dwight, a special character from our Labyrinth Adventures curriculum, learns that the voice inside our heads matters. Teachers have inner voices, too. If yours is saying: I should have finished that. My classroom should look better. I haven’t done enough, notice it. Then try another message: I’m doing what matters most today. Children benefit from seeing adults model self-compassion and flexibility, especially when things don’t go according to plan.

6. Choose Connection Over Perfection

The perfectly decorated classroom probably won’t be what your students remember. They’ll remember laughing together. They’ll remember the story you read. They’ll remember the teacher who noticed they were having a hard day.

They’ll remember feeling included. When something has to give, choose the relationship over the Pinterest-worthy result.

7. Let Children Help

Need decorations hung? Materials organized? Books returned? Supplies passed out? Invite your students into the process. You’re not just checking something off your list. You’re giving children opportunities to cooperate, contribute, solve problems, and experience what it feels like to be an important member of their classroom community.

8. Notice the Good Along the Way

Before everyone rushes out the door for winter break, stop. Ask your students to share one thing they’re grateful for, one kind thing someone did, or one moment from the past few weeks they want to remember. Do the same for yourself. 

A Calmer Classroom Holiday Season Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect

This holiday season, give yourself permission to do a little less, notice a little more, and pause when you need it. You don’t need a perfect December. You just need to keep finding your way, one thoughtful step at a time.

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