Christmas! December 17-21

This week we will celebrate Jesus and also embrace the other symbols of the season. This week will be packed full of fun, learning, and prayer. Merry Christmas!

ALL ABOUT THE CANDY CANE

Candy Cane Poem Printable

Prep for this by purchasing a candy cane for each child. The mini ones work great for younger children. Print the poem and attach to the candy canes with a ribbon. Read the poem to the children and then allow them to eat! Or they can take them home to their family.

SHAPES/CRAFT - Shape Christmas Trees

Print the template pattern HERE.

MATERIALS:
Brown construction paper
Green Construction Paper
Yellow Construction Paper
Other various colors, for the ornaments (if needed)

Cut out all the pieces. It is a good idea to make one yourself as a guide for the kids. Discuss each of the pieces of the tree. Talk about the sides, color, etc. Then allow the children to construct their trees. Glue the pieces to a piece of red or white paper. Add colorful, small circles as ornaments, if you wish.

RELIGION - True Meaning of Christmas

There is an excellent site, ministry-to-children.com, which put together 3 booklets which are free and printable. Print these booklets out and read them with the children. This will help them to understand what Christmas is really all about, the joyous celebration of our savior, Jesus Christ!

http://ministry-to-children.com/christmas-story-booklet/

Read them with the children and answer any questions they have. Then continue on with the following lesson:

SENSORY/PRETEND PLAY - Manger Scene

Provide a "manger" and a baby doll. You can make the manger out of a box and some baby blankets. You can get as elaborate or simple as you want. Add animals, dress up clothes, a barn, star, etc. Allow the children to pretend play based on the story you just read them. This is a great way to enforce the images they received from the story.


You can also print these FREE printables HERE and use them as part of your lesson. These little puppets are so cute and will really get the kids involved in the lesson!

MUSIC - Go Crazy!
What I mean is, there are so many great Christmas songs that I couldn't possibly tell you which ones to sing with your kids! You can create a Christmas Station on Pandora, there is a Christmas Station on IHeart Radio, etc. SO many options.

 

FINE MOTOR - Ornaments

Materials:

Pipe Cleaners

Beads

Have the children string beads on the pipe cleaners to make ornaments. If you have a class tree, put their creations on the tree. This makes them feel so special!

SCIENCE - Density Experiment

Materials Needed:
4 small water bottles
4 bowls
funnel
water
clear shampoo
clear hair gel
corn syrup
glitter in Christmas colors
paper towels

Begin by putting water in one of the bowls. Allow the children to dip their finger in the water and stir it around. Dry their fingers on the paper towels. Pour the water into one of the bottles using the funnel. Add a pinch or 2 of the glitter and screw on the lid. Ask the children if they think the water will move fast or slow when you shake the bottle. Shake it up and set it on the table so the children can watch what happens.

Repeat this entire process with the shampoo, hair gel and corn syrup, allowing the children to guess at what will happen when they are shaken up.

Once the experiment is complete, tape or hot glue the lids on and keep these in a science center for later exploration.


GROSS MOTOR - Gift Stacking Game

Gift wrap several old boxes in varying sizes. Allow the children to stack them and make "tall towers" with them. Guess how high they will be able to stack them before they fall over. Try to use different configurations in order to make the stack more stable.


COLORING PAGE - Elmo Wreath

http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/coloring-pages/Images/elmo/Small/elmo-christmas.jpg

ART - Christmas Card for a Loved One

This one is super easy and lots of fun! Provide a piece of construction paper folded like a card. Also give them a variety of pictures from magazines or the internet, stickers, glitter, pipe cleaners, etc, glue, crayons. Allow them to freely create a Christmas card for anyone they choose. So fun to see what they come up with!

MATH - Memory Game/Matching Game

DLTK's website has an amazing feature which lets you create custom memory game cards for any subject! It is super easy too! Go HERE to get started. Select the number of cards you want. You should base this on how many children will be participating. Next select your theme. For this week choose Christmas, religious or secular, its up to you! Choose color or black and white. Then just print and cut out. Awesome and a great math game!  **For younger kids, make it into a matching game. Place 1 set of cards in a row and jumble up the other set. Ask the children to match the jumbled set to the other set.




SNACK/ART - Sugar Cone Christmas Trees

This is a much easier way to make gingerbread houses with your young children.

Materials Needed:
Sugar Cones
Frosting with green food coloring

Christmas M&Ms

Coconut

Various Sprinkles

Gumdrops
Red licorice
Whatever else you can think of!

Give a sugar cone to each child and have a bowl of green frosting and a spoon for them to cover their "tree" with. Put the decorations in little bowls in front of them and have them go at it! This is such a fun activity for them and is even more fun if you eat them when you are done.



STORY - Twas The Night Before Christmas

Such a classic! A definate must read this time of year. Available on Amazon!


http://www.amazon.com/Night-Before-Christmas-Little-Golden/dp/0375863591/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

Winter (Cold Weather) Animals - December Wk 2

Preschool aged children just love to learn about animals! This week we will talk about some animals that live in the cold regions of the world and can incorporate snow and cold weather in as well.


Letter - W (winter)  

Letter W activity - You can use the above color sheet or print a large W on a piece of construction paper. Give the kids snowflake stickers and have them place the stickers over the letter.

Color - Grey


What are winter animals?  Animals that live in cold areas of the world, or places that stay cold most of the time. These animals are penguins, polar bears, fur seals, and caribou. There are also animals that live in places that are warm sometimes but are cold other times. They are rabbits, foxes and wolves. The animals that have to survive in the cold have thick layers of fat and fur to keep them warm.



SCIENCE

How do winter animals, like polar bears, stay warm in the cold?

Materials Needed:

Bucket or large bowl

Ice cubes
Thin gloves (like latex)
Vegetable Oil
Large plastic baggie

Make a bucket of ice water. Have each child put their bare hand in the ice water, but just for a second! Feel how cold it is. Now put a glove on one hand. Put vegtable oil into the plastic baggie and then place their gloved hand into the baggie. Make sure the oil isn't so deep that the oil goes into their glove! Place their hand with the oil baggie around it back into the ice water. Feel the difference! The oil (like the fat on the animals) helps to protect their hands from the cold.

It is also why we wear more clothing like sweaters and jackets when it is cold outside. The extra layers help to keep our bodies warm.



MUSIC & MOVEMENT

Walking through the artic (echo)
And what do you think I saw (echo)
A great big polar bear
He said Sta-and UP! (everyone jump up)
And shake, shake, this way, shake, shake that way (everyone shake)
Shake, shake, this way and then sit down (sit down)

(Explain that the polar bears shake the water off their fur just like a dog does)

MATH

Winter animal matching game. Print out the images and cut up into individual animal cards. There should be at least 2 of each animal. Place all the cards out on the table face up and make sure they are well mixed up. Begin by showing them how to play. Pick one animal card and place it next to yourself. Then show them how to find the match and place it on top of the first card. Next allow the children to match cards in turns. Discuss the animals while playing the game.

GROSS MOTOR

Follow the footprints game!  Draw a few different types of footprints on paper. Or you can print some out HERE.  It is also helpful to make each set a different color. Once you have your prints, lay each set out in a trail. You can criss cross different tracks across each other. This is best set up while the children are napping! Have the children pick a trail to follow! It is even more fun to have a special sticker or something for them to find at the end of their trail. Once they have followed the trails, you can then discuss what animals might have made the different tracks.

MUSIC & COUNTING

1 little, 2 little 3 little penguins
4 little, 5 little, 6 little penguins
7 little, 8 little, 9 little penuins
10 little penguins in the snow!

10 little, 9 little, 8 little penguins
7 little, 6 little, 5 little penguins
4 little, 3 little, 2 little penguins
1 little penguin in the snow!

(This could be an excellent felt board activity!)




ART

Cotton Ball Bunnies!

Materials Needed:
White Construction Paper
White Cotton Balls
Glue

Print out the TEMPLATE.  Cut out as many bunnies as needed. Provide the children with a supply of cotton balls and glue. Talk about how the bunnies are white in order to hide in the snow.

You could add touches such as googley eyes, black pipe cleaner whiskers, and a button nose!

COOKING

Peanut Butter Snowballs

Ingredients:

Peanut Butter (creamy works best)

Dry Milk Powder

Honey

Coconut

Empty peanut butter into bowl. Add 1 TBSP honey and ¼ cup dry milk. Add more milk until it has playdough consistancy. Roll into balls and roll in coconut.

The children can help by rolling the balls and then rolling into the coconut. Lots of fun and very messy!



FINE MOTOR
Playdough Animals

This is just as it sounds! Give the children playdough and have them create animals with it! Great fun.