Here are some ways we celebrated in our classroom!
One of my favorites ever year is making curly-bearded Santas. Curling the paper is a new skill the the majority of the kids, so it's great watching their pride when they see that they can actually do it!
In the art center, I put out green playdough with Christmas cookie cutters and some glass abstract shapes.
They started out just making Christmas trees, but soon expanded to more imaginative uses of the materials, like creating this face!
For writing, we wrote letters to Santa. I wasn't sure if they'd understand what to do, but even my scribblers did well and stayed engaged! This child asked for (candy) lips, a (toy) Pikachu, shark, man and horse, a fish tank and seeds (for the fish?), and Santa. :)
We made name trees, too. I had them first count the letters in their name, and then showed them how to cut a square in half to make triangles. I passed out the squares and there were so many kids who said, "I don't have enough!" It took them a while to figure out they would in fact have enough, once they made triangles!
On the last day of school before break (a quick half-day), we played musical chairs, pin the nose on Rudolph, and decorated cookies. I baked the cookies ahead of time, and they picked the ones they wanted.
I provided sprinkles, marshmallows, and crushed candy canes for them to use. They frosted with popsicle sticks. It worked, but next year I think I'll just use sprinkle shakers. I ended up having to throw out all the leftovers (and there were a LOT), because kids were licking them fingers and then reaching in the cups for sprinkles. It was still fun though!
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