Nativity

All my kids go to the same church as me.  So I wanted to add a spiritual aspect to our Christmas celebrations.  One day we did, "J is for Jesus".  Also during the whole month we practiced a surprise for our parents at the Christmas program.  The children all memorized the scripture in Luke 2. 

"And the Angel said unto them, fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto  you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord."  They all memorized it and kept it a secret from their parents.  They were so thrilled to surprise them with it at the program.

I also had a felt nativity up for a few days that the children could explore.

And also a play nativity.

Reindeer

I have no pictures of creating these.  But we did.  Here is the proof.  The kids LOVE getting their hands and feet painted.  So this activity was a no brainier.  Although you could hardly call this activity "child led" - there is still a place for it (admittedly a small place).  I do an activity like this about once a month.  There is still value in following directions, being patient, seeing how to create something out of nothing, etc.  Plus they always of course get to write their name - so if nothing else they are writing.

Wrapping "Presents"

When I first intorduced the concept of wrapping presents I did it using blocks.  This is how our dramtic play area looked:

Pretty plain, but also quite inviting.  I pre cut the wrapping paper into three different sizes and also pre cut the ribbon.  

There was SO much involved in this activity.  From decision making , problem solving, creativity, sizing, cutting, fine motor, taping, logic, sharing, turn taking I could go on and on.

Jackson trying to find the right size of paper for his block.

He got it!

I wasn't sure if they would be excited to just wrap a bunch of blocks.  I wondered if they would sense that it had no lasting purpose.  They only asked once, "why are was wrapping block", I just simply responded, "because it is fun", they agreed.

This was my FAVORITE!  She is using her foot to keep the paper down while she got the tape!!  She also used her elbow and chin once.

Later in the month when we added our Christmas tree and fire place I added some more big blocks to wrap, and then on the last week I added real boxes of all shapes and sizes, to put toys in a wrap.  But I didn't really get any pictures of that.

Making ornaments in sensory play

I am embarrassed to admit that I have been teaching preschool for 5 months and this was my first time coloring rice (I haven't done pasta yet either).  For some reason it intimidated me.  But it was so so easy.  Just food coloring and vinegar.  It took 2 seconds.  And just over night to dry.  

I bought some plastic hollow ornaments, but I wasn't sure exactly what we were going to do with them.  Would they be for a large group art activity?  Would they take them home?  Would it just be for an art center, open ended creativity?  Who knew?  

In the end I decided to add them to our sensory play - to fill, dump, and refill.  I added the tops in another container, so they could actually make ornaments and put a top and hook on, but these were not to hang on a tree or take home, just for the sensory play.

I also added some empty candy cane plastic candy holders to fill and refill.

Look at the concentration on their faces - love it!

Christmas cards in the writing center

I bought a bunch of Christmas cards at the dollar store and stuck them in our writing center with some envelopes. 

Making wreaths

There are about a thousand ways for the kids to make Christmas wreaths in preschool.  Each one has different learning objectives involved and can help teach and scaffold different skills.  I knew I wanted the kids to make one - but I wasn't sure which one.  In the end I decided that I wanted this activity to have creativity, problem solving (it took a lot of glue in just the right places), but above all else I wanted this activity to be exciting and feel "real".  I wanted them to create a "real" Christmas decoration.

I bouth a long garland at the dollar store, I cut it into 7 pieces.  The children made them into circles and wrapped the wires together at the top.  I had bought a bunch of christmas flowers at the dollar store and had cut the flowers, leaves, and berries off with wire cutters (next year I want to add pine cones).  I had done a "test run" the previous week, I wanted to know if Elmer's glue would hold the decorations onto the wreath.  I found out that it did - you just had to add a lot.  I love talking to the chirlen about how to decide when to use a lot of glue and when to use just a little, when you need a puddle, and when you need a line, or just a dot.  Becasue they are all apporopriate, but all at different times. 

They loved creating their wreathes, and they all came out different and unique.  Some made patterns, some used the same flower for the whole wreath, some covered the whole thing, some only covered the top or the bottom.  They could not wait to take them home and hang them on their door.  I hope my parents keep them and put them up every year - I know i am keeping my girls'.

Note: They took about 24 hours to dry.  The next day I shook them around a little and if anything was loose I fixed it with a hot glue gun.

Painting with bows

There are so many great things to do with bows in a preschool.  We only got to the tip of the iceberg with them this year.  One of our activities we painted with bows at our art center.

Some children dotted their paper to make pretty prints

And some still wanted to use them like paint brushes.

Setting up Christmas

Decorating for Christmas is such a fun event.  But it only happens once.  So for our dramatic play I wanted to create a "Christmas Scene" that they could decorate for Christmas over and over again.  It grew over the days and weeks leading up to Christmas.  One day I set out things to make Christmas ornaments, other days I set out presents to wrap, other times i had stockings to hang and fill.  Everyday they decorated the Christmas tree.  Every night I "undecorated" everything, and the next day they got to do it again.

Christmas pictures

I found these online.  And set them out in our math area.

Ginger Bread Shadow Box

I knew that I didn't want to make candy gingerbread houses with my preschoolers.  I have made them with my own kids every year and I know that it can still be very difficult for four year olds.  But I knew I wanted to do something with candy.  So we made a gingerbread man candy shadow box.  Although the kids decided it was their yard.  I mixed together shaving cream and elmers glue.  I collected box lids from Payless Shoes (they will give them to you for free!).  Then I had a bunch of candy for them to use to decorate with.  I also found some gingerbread men shaped cookies.

It took 24 hours but the glue/shave cream mixture dried beautifully, it was hard and puffy, and creamy looking.