Christmas Poems,
Songs & Fingerplays
Five Little Bells
Five little bells, hanging in a row.
The first one said, "Ring me slow."
The second one said, "Ring me fast."
The third one said, "Ring me last."
The fourth one said, "I'm like a chime."
The fifth one said, "Ring me at Christmas time."
Five Little Elves
This little elf went to the workshop, (point to thumb)
This little elf stayed home, (point to index finger)
This little elf ate a candy cane, (point to middle finger)
This little elf ate none, (point to ring finger)
This little elf cried, "HO, HO, HO," (point to little finger)
All the way home!
Glass Ball Ornamants
Submitted by Karen
Get the clear plastic ornaments at an arts/crafts store. Remove
the top (silver hook) part, and pour in a very small amount of one
color of acrylic paint. (We've used red, green and gold and let the
kids choose which of those colors they wanted to use.) Show them
how to put their finger over the open hole, and then let the child
shake and move the ball around, and the paint will "swirl" on the
inside of the ball. You can let it dry for a few minutes before
adding a second color, so that they don't mix too much. We
added gold glitter to the paint for a really sparkly ornament. You
can actually get acrylic paint that has a sparkly tint to it around
Christmas time. When the child is through, I recommend you turn the
ball upside down on a paper towel to allow for the excess paint to
dribble out. We've done this project w/two-year-olds
all the way up to eight-year-olds. There's no way to mess it
up!
Christmas craft
Submitted by Diane
Hi everyone, We close for the Christmas on Dec. 13 so our time
for crafts is limited. One of the things I like to do with
my threes is a counting tree. I purchase the mini cupcake liners,
in festive designs if I can find them. Draw a large triangle
tree on green paper and they glue on the liners starting with one
at the top, two in the next row, then three, four and five on the
bottom. It reinforces our study of numbers and looks really
cute. If you use the plain liners, you could add stickers or
sequins, etc. in the middle of each liner. Obviously you could
do this a lot cheaper with shapes or pompoms but the liners give
it a three dimensional look. It can get "pricey." You
will need fifteen liners for each child so you need to bargain shopChristmas
Crafts
Submitted by Margie
1st way: Using the rubberband paintbrush; dip it in dark green, light
green and white paint.
Tap/slap/paint/etc. a white paper plate w/the center cut out. When dry glue
a red bow to top and a hook on the back
2nd way: Using Shredded Wheat (torn up in a big bowl) pour green colored
glue into it and mold it into a wreath. Let dry on wax paper and turn
after one day to dry the bottom too. Use your fininishing touches on
it.
MEMO PADS:
By square memo pads and separate them....leaving enough height for
each student, though.
Using acrilic paints...stamp figures on the sides of the pads.....
PAPER BAG ORNAMENTS (these are gorgeous)...
Using paper bags...cut out star shape. Use acrilic paint (or
paint glue over regular paint so it won't
peel when dry) paint the star red...add the face to the top, pant and coat
cuffs etc. Use black permanent
marker to add facial features, etc....
Now glue the sides together and leave enough room to stuff a few cotton balls
into the middle. Glue the
rest shut...attach a hanger to the top.
Do the same craft w/snowman shape. Draw w/blk permanent marker little
seam lines around the entire
snowman. Looks really cute.
Apple Cinnamon Ornament
Submitted by Betty
Materials Needed:
•Applesauce •Cinnamon •Cookie Cutters •Straw •Ribbon
Instructions:
Mix pretty much equal parts of the applesauce and the cinnamon until
you get it to be a nice clay consistancy. roll the dough out on wax
paper ubtil it is 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Use the cookie cutters to
cut out holiday shapes. With the straw, poke a small whole towards
the top of the shape. Put the shapes in a dry spot to dry, this takes
a few days! Once your sweet-smelling ornaments are dry you can string
a 8 - 10 inch piece of ribbon through the hole you made with the
straw and hang it up!
Christmas Art
Submitted by Mary
If you plan on doing marble painting this holiday season use a few
jingle bells instead of marbles. We tried this today and it
added a festive sound at the art table.
We jingle bell painted on white paper with red paint. After the papers
were dry the kids cut out two candy cane shapes. We helped them glue
them together to make a heart shape. We hung them up on a wall with the
words "We Love The Holidays!" It looked cute!
SANTA
Submitted by Joyce
There Was A Man...
(Tune: BINGO)
There was a man in a big red suit and
Santa was his name-o.
S - a - n - t -a,
S - a -n - t - a,
S - a - n - t - a, and Santa was his name-o!
5 CANDY CANES
Submitted by Joy
The kids loved this. I took 2 red and 2 white pipecleaners,
twisted them and shaped like candy canes. Glued on googly eyes. Had five
kids at a time act this out. Then kept switching until everyone
who wanted had a turn.
Five little candy canes,
Hanging from a Christmas tree.
The first one said,
“Children really do love me.”
The second one said,
“Santa’s coming here tonight.”
The third one said,
“Christmas is such a delight.”
The fourth one said,
“Look its Santa that I see.”
The fifth one whispered,
“Santa’s resting by our tree.”
So very, very softly, the candy canes did say,
“Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday.”
CHRISTMAS GIFTS
Submitted by Barbara
For a quick easy gift for a child to make for anyone, I collect juice
can lids and give one to each child. FIRST put a piece of magnet
tape (or if you can afford it - a small "real" magnet is great too-but
that has to be glued on) on the back -flat -side of the lid. Make
sure to write their names on it in permanent marker before you begin. Fill
the lid (the side with the rim) with glue...I use a craft stick or
let them do it, to spread the glue all around. There is a small "lip" on
the lid and the glue will stay in it if you don't put too much. Then
let them cover the glue with whatever..I use tiny red balls from
old necklaces, or any red beads will do...mylar pieces, anything
shiny. I give them mostly red and green goodies just so that
it lookes...kind of Chirstmasy...Then they shake a little (I use)
multi colored glitter on to cover the bare spots... if there are
any and it's done. They are sooo cute. If you use a regular
magnet, then Mom can acutally use it for a magnet that holds things
on her frig. I don't think the little magnet tape strips will
hold up anything but the magnet. I have the kids wrap them
by themselves and they make a great gift -AND can be done in pink
and red for Valentines Day of lots of pastel colors for Easter...lots
of possibilities.
CHRISTMAS CRAFT & SNACK
Following submitted by Mary
This is a gift idea I have used many times. Have the children
make a wreath shape with their green handprints on white paper. When
the paint is dry add holly berries using little red tissue paper
balls or small, dyed red pasta. At the top add a loop of Christmas
ribbon for hanging. At the bottom on another piece of paper
add this poem.
Here is a gift that's just for you,
It didn't cost a penny.
I checked my pockets for some coins,
But I could not find any.
So then I worked to make a gift,
It wasn't hard to do.
I made it with my little hands,
With love from me to you!
SNACK
Sift the flour, mix the butter,
Roll the dough for the cookie cutter.
A white sugar star, a red Christmas bell,
A brown teddy bear with a gingery smell.
Christmas cookies taste so sweet,
They're fun to bake and good to eat!
At grouptime I bring props in a basket to go along with the poem: a
sifter, mixing bowl and wooden spoon, rolling pin, cookie cutter, star
ornament, Christmas bells, and a teddy bear. After reading the poem
to the kids I let them pick a prop to hold. When we recite the
poem again the kids can stand up as they hear their "prop word."
Other times I have the props in a bag and as we recite the poem I take one
prop out at a time. When we get to the end I take out real Christmas
cookies to eat. (We don't do this one everyday!)
This poem also makes a cute flannelboard activity.
ANGEL POTHOLDER
Submitted by Diane
Need plain, inexpensive white potholders. You need to use both of
the childs hands. Start with one and paint the four fingers
with yellow paint. Stamp them up and down near the top of the
potholder. These are the wings of the angel. Next paint
the other whole hand light blue. Stamp the hand sideways across
the potholder under the wings. This is the body. Next
I cut a small circle from a sponge and stamp with light pink a small
face near the palm. It should now resemble an angel (maybe
it will take a little imagination.) When they dry, I add eyes,
mouth, curly hair, a halo with fabric paints. If I feel ambitious,
I also add a very small pieced of gathered lace around the neck with
a glue gun. Finally, I add their name and year
Candy Canes unit ideas:
Submitted by Kathy
Candy Cane Reindeer (using either oaktag or construction paper)
Cut out a large candy cane from white construction paper or
tag board have children either paint or color in red stripes. Use
hands traced and cut out of brown construction paper for antlers
cut eyes from black construction paper (use one eye shape) draw a
mouth using black crayon and attach a red circle for nose
Using real candy canes
Twist a brown chenille pipe cleaner at the curve of the candy cane seperate
the two ends into a V-shape and twist each into the shape of a letter Z add
googly eyes in front of the antlers and a red pom pom nose at the tip add a
bow tie
Math:
link and count candy canes
Can also count stripes on a candy cane cut out to match to number cards
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