Description

🎄 Debug the Elf! A Christmas Coding and Sequencing Activity

Make algorithmic thinking playful and approachable with this festive unplugged activity for Grades 2–4. Students act as junior programmers helping holiday elves fix “buggy” task lists. Each elf has made a mistake in their algorithm, and students must use sequencing skills to determine the correct order of steps.

This print-and-go activity is perfect for beginning coders, early finishers, December STEM rotations, or whole-class logic lessons. The optional “My Elf’s Algorithm” extension encourages creativity as students design their own elf job and write a clear, ordered algorithm to match.

Activity Time

~15–20 minutes
Flexible for warm-ups, centers, or sub plans

Students Will Practice:

-Identifying when steps in a sequence are out of order
-Rearranging steps to form a correct logical process
-Explaining their reasoning using grade-appropriate CS vocabulary
-Understanding what “debugging” means in computer science
-Applying step-by-step thinking to real-world holiday tasks
-Writing their own simple algorithms in a clear sequence
-Thinking creatively while reinforcing computational thinking skills

What’s Included:

-8 “Bugged” Elf Sequences for students to debug
-8 corresponding “Fixed” Sequences (answer keys)
-Google Slides version for modeling or whole-class instruction
-Printable worksheets in student-friendly layouts
-“My Elf’s Algorithm” creative extension page
-Teacher instructions with learning goals and tips for implementation

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