Christmas Math Project

In this Christmas Math Project, Santa is REALLY struggling. His sled broke down, his reindeer left for vacation, and he needs someone to deliver some presents for him. He’s made a list. He’s checked it twice! But now he needs your help!

The Great Present Delivery Competition is a real-world Christmas math project that requires students to budget their money, strategize, and deliver the most presents possible for Santa. They’ll use addition, subtraction, and multiplication to choose a seasonal Christmas job, choose a sleigh, power a sleigh, design a sleigh, plan a present delivery route, and more.

Students will complete the six steps of this resource to see how many presents they can help Santa deliver in their town. Each step is a different activity that they must complete.

Step 1: Get a Holiday Job

For step #1 of this PBL project, students have to choose a holiday job to earn money. They need to earn enough money to build a sleigh and power it.

Step 2: Pick Your Sleigh

Students have to decide on the size of sleigh they want, and they have to purchase the items to build it. The better the sleigh, the more presents they can deliver. Not only will this project teach students important math concepts, they will have to plan and create a budget so they have money to make other purchases.

Step 3: Power Your Sleigh

At this step, students have to assess their budget to see how much money that have left to power their sleigh. To deliver presents, students will want a power source that helps them travel as far as possible.

Step 4: Design Your Sleigh

After powering their sleigh, students have the chance to get creative! They will have to draw their sleigh by including the sleigh body, decorations, and anything else they chose.

Step 5: Plan Your Delivery Route

For this step, students need to plan their delivery route. They have to find the distances between homes in their town and plan the best route to deliver the presents.

Step 6: Calculate the Presents

Christmas is over, and it’s time to calculate how many presents you delivered! Students have to calculate the amount of presents they delivered in their town to see if they delivered the most in the class.

Bonus Activity: Writing Prompt

This can be an optional extension activity for early finishers, or you can complete it with your whole class. The writing prompt asks students to give Santa three reasons why their sleigh’s power source is better than reindeer and provide reasons and evidence to support their option.

In addition to a print version, this resource also includes a digital option.

Click HERE or the button below to check this project out!