Dramatic Play
Christmas tree! I decorated the top half, and they added ornaments as they made them in art, so the bottom was decorated too.
I also have this random assortment of foam Christmas masks I inherited from a retiring teacher back in my public school days. They are a huge hit each year! I added presents under the tree, and we had kids dressed up as Santa, his elves, and reindeer. They turned the bean bag chairs from the reading center into their sleigh, and they spent the day delivering presents to the kids in class. They also went to the writing center to make cards to go with their gift deliveries. I loved watching them play and get along together, plus get creative in their gift giving and play.
Blocks
I had out a bean bag toss and bean bags. It was used a lot, but the bean bags also went into the presents for delivery by Santa and his elves.
We played with the magnatiles and jingle bells. They would use them around the blocks since they stuck to the magnets, and they also liked making houses to fill with the bells.
On the last day, I got out our trains and tracks. They loved them! My kids had actually gotten them out over the weekend, and although they weren't on my original plan, I left them out because trains around a tree just says Christmas to me.
Art
Day 1, we made ornaments. I had a variety of foamie ornaments and stickers. I wanted something that didn't have to dry and could be hung up immediately.
Day 2, we played with peppermint scented play dough. It made the whole room smell peppermint-y, and we also had the cinnamon smell from the salt dough for small group, so the room smelled extra Christmas-y and yummy! I love adding the smells into the sensory play.
Day 3, we painted our dried salt dough ornaments. When I look at the Pinterest versions, they're all perfect and cute and I want that, but I also want them to be the kids' creations, so they were not perfect, but I think they turned out pretty darn cute. Hope you enjoyed them as well! A few kids chose not to paint them, and a few missed school the last day, so some of you also got to enjoy them in all their natural color glory!
Small Manipulatives
Christmas tree and Santa magnets
I used styrofoam christmas trees with pipe cleaners in them, and the kids decorated them with beads. Its a great fine motor exercise for little fingers!
The next day, I used the same trees, but put thumb tacks in them and had small elastics for them to stretch over them, to make geoboards. This was my first year trying it. They each tried it at some point, but not many of them stayed for long. It was a pretty difficult skill, but definitely doable.
On the third day, we had Christmas tree print outs on cookie sheets, with magnetic pom pom balls to decorate them. This is a great fine motor skill, and also helps teach counting and number recognition.
On the table, I had out foam gingerbread men, with pom poms, bows, and gems they could use to decorate and re-decorate them. I had a lot of fun at this center with a group of kids, making silly gingerbread men. I added the tweezers to help with fine motor skills, but they mostly used their hands, which was easier.
Writing
The first and third day, I had out Christmas cards (thank you Dollar Tree!), and they were a huge hit. I think we went through 40. Some made some to take home for family, while others used them as part of their play in delivering, and I had quite a few delivered to me. It was just great watching them write and color as they dictated what they were "writing." This is such an important pre-writing skill.
The second day, I had out Christmas stamps. Some came home with the stamps also up and down their arms. We also had a lot of pretty pictures made and delivered to each other.
Large Group
Day 1, we read the Grinch who Stole Christmas, then talked about being kind to show love at Christmastime. We made hearts where they kids drew, and we wrote, what they could do to be kind at home, and what they could do to be kind at school. We sent the family ones home, and hung up the school ones on our wall to help us remember.
Day 2, we read the Polar Express. Then we made jingle bell necklaces. I wanted them to make patterns, and they were great at following and extending the patterns I made first. Some of them made patterns, while others would make 1 pattern for a bit, then switch to another one. Some didn't make a pattern at all, but that was fine. Threading the beads onto the string was a difficult, but doable, fine motor skill for them.
Day 3, was our Christmas party. Thanks to the moms who came and helped! We rotated between 4 different centers to learn about different holiday celebrations. Each read a book and did a craft.
Group 1 celebrated Christmas by making beaded candy canes on pipe cleaners. They worked on fine motor skills, as well as patterning.
Group 2 celebrated Saint Lucia Day from Sweden by making hats. The girls made wreath hats with candles like Saint Lucia wears, and the boys made cone-shaped star hats.
Group 3 celebrated Kwanzaa by weaving mats, called Mkeka. It was a great fine motor skill for them.
Group 4 celebrated Hanukah by playing the Dreidel game. They loved it! I sent home a bag of Hanukah gelt (chocolate coins) and a dreidel made from a pencil, if they wanted to try to play again at home.
Small Group
My group used cinnamon salt dough found here, to make handprint mittens, inspired by this. I loved how the smell enhanced the play. They really wanted to eat them since it smelled so good! I did cinnamon graham crackers for snack Thursday, since they wanted to eat cinnamon so much, and they tasted much better than the salt dough would have.
Miss Kim's group worked on spelling their names and putting the letters in order, by making name Christmas trees. It was a little difficult, making the names go vertical, but they got it with help. They got to decorate them with markers too.
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