If you're looking for a high-engagement Christmas art lesson that blends portrait drawing, festive creativity, literacy integration, and easy step-by-step teaching—this Santa Claus Portrait Art Lesson is the joyful December activity your upper-elementary and homeschool learners will absolutely love. Designed for Grades 3–6, this project walks students through drawing a detailed Santa face using black marker and oil pastels, while also deepening their understanding of the history of Santa Claus, building literacy skills, and giving students space to reflect artistically.

This resource is perfect for busy classroom teachers, art educators, and homeschool families who want a ready-to-go lesson that looks impressive on display boards but is simple to teach. Kids explore facial features, texture techniques, expressive linework, shading, and color blending—and you get a fully structured lesson plan with a Draw & Design hook, KWL chart, reading comprehension, writing prompts, reflections, and an art rubric. Whether you're planning a December art unit, holiday theme week, pre-break activity, or cross-curricular literacy project, this lesson makes Santa Claus feel new, magical, and deeply creative.

About This Christmas Art Resource:

(Non-Editable)

This lesson includes every page needed for a complete, print-and-teach Christmas art project:

• Full Lesson Plan with mediums, hook, participation strategies & cross-curricular guidance (pp. 5–7)
• Draw & Design Challenge Hook—Design Santa’s ultimate sleigh (p. 12)
• KWL Chart: Santa Claus History (p. 13)
• Reading Passage: History of Santa Claus (p. 8)
• Directed Drawing: How to Draw Santa Claus Portrait (Steps 1–4) (p. 9)
• Art Rubric for Assessment (p. 10)
• Bulletin Board Display Sign “Santa Claus Christmas Artworks” (p. 11)
• Reading Comprehension Story: The Santa Surprise Scanner (pp. 14–15)
• Reading Questions + Answer Key (pp. 15–17)
• Sight Word Tracking List (p. 18)
• Word Bank of Tricky Words (p. 19)
• Opinion Writing Prompt: Santa’s Sleigh—Traditional vs. Modern (pp. 20–21)
• Narrative Writing: Santa’s Problem Write & Draw (pp. 22–23)
• Art Meaning Reflection Pages (pp. 24–25)
• Top 3 Things I Love About My Art (p. 25)
• Compare & Contrast: Traditional Santa vs. Modern Santa + Answer Key (pp. 26–27)
• Art Reflection Pages (pp. 28–31)
• 3 Stars & A Wish Reflection (p. 31)
• Artist's Statement Pages (p. 32)
• Principle of Design: Focal Point Activity (p. 33)
• Element of Art: Value – Gray Scale Activity (p. 34)
• Element of Art: Line – Zen Doodle Page (p. 35)
• Finish-the-Picture Christmas Scene (p. 36)
• Full Step-by-Step Photo Demonstration (Steps 1–17) (pp. 38–54)
• Example Artwork (p. 37)

Everything is already structured for you—just print, project, and teach!

This Resource Includes (Non-Editable)

• Step-by-step directed drawing
• Photo demonstration sequence
• Detailed lesson plan
• Santa Claus history reading
• Reading questions + answer key
• KWL chart
• Draw & Design challenge
• Opinion writing prompt
• Narrative writing page
• Comparison chart + answer key
• Art rubric
• Reflection pages
• Artist’s statements
• Elements & Principles of Art pages
• Finish-the-picture activity
• Bulletin board sign
• Complete printable packet