The only thing more fun than a math project is a Christmas math project! It combines two of my favorite things. You can find this Christmas project here. You can read about my Christmas Fraction Project here.
In this activity, students are invited to enter a house in a holiday decorating contest. Some students never did realize that it wasn’t a real contest, which made it even more fun. Of course, students don’t have an unlimited budget, so they probably can’t include everything they want in their design.
Where’s the Math
The most important part of any Christmas math project (or any math project) is the math. In this activity, students first select one of five different houses to decorate. They must determine how many feet of lights they need/want for their decorations. To calculate this, students measure the portion of their house they want to add lights. On the picture of the house, every centimeter equals one foot. Students must purchase all of their decorating materials from The Exterior Illumination Specialist. I’ve included a flyer with a large variety of lights, wreaths, garland, and inflatables. You can print copies for groups or upload an image of the flyer to Google Classroom. 
Budget
All contestants (students) must submit a plan that accurately shows how their decoration budget is spent. This requires students to think about the value of what they purchase and which set/length of lights is the best for their design. This also incorporates the application of multiplication and division. I’ve added a few updates to the budget since I had the pictures taken to make it even more student friendly.
Planning
Students must first create a plan for their design. The plan should show student measurements so confirm the exact length of lights needed. The plan must also show the desired location of each additional decorative feature.
I recommend having students glue their plan on white construction paper. This gives them space for “extras” such as trees and fences. I let students draw their own trees or use some of the trees included in the resource.
Christmas Math Project-Final Plan
All contestants must submit a final version of the decorated house. The house must be colored neatly with crayon. All decorations listed in the budget must be included in the final design. However, no additional lighting or decorations may be included.
I created a “road” on our wall and placed the final copies above and below the road. I also made sure students stapled both versions and the budget together, so all of their work would be kept together.
You can find this Christmas Math Project here.
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