Category: Activities

Materials

Package of Christmas bows

Directions

Invite your child to help place the bows on the floor or table space. Encourage your child to identify the various colors of the bows and then ask him to sort them (or put them in groups) by their colors. Once all the bows are sorted, count the different groups.  Which color group has the most bows?  Which has the least bows?

Lesson Extensions

1. Ask: How many more red bows are there than green bows?
2. Count the gold bows, then count the red bows. How many total gold and red bows?
3. Use small and large bows. Sort by size; sort by color; introduce a Venn diagram (two circles that overlap) – encourage your child to place the red bows in one circle and the mini bows in the other circle.  A mini, red bow will go in the center where the circles overlap.

Materials
Watermelon slices
Knife

Directions
Using a small knife, cut Christmas tree shapes out of the watermelon slices, using the rind as the trunk and the red flesh as the tree. Enjoy as a special snack!

Ingredients
6 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate 
1 package pretzel rods
1/4 cup red and green candy sprinkles (optional) 

Directions
Melt white chocolate in the top of a double boiler, stirring constantly. Supervising closely, invite your child to dip pretzel halfway into the white chocolate, completely covering half of the pretzel and then roll in topping if desired. Lay pretzel rod on wax paper. Continue the process until all of the white chocolate is finished. Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes to harden. Store in airtight container. Place pretzel rods in a juice-size glass and place on the table for a fun, colorful edible center piece. Enjoy!

Materials
3/4 cup applesauce
2 containers (2.37 oz. each) ground cinnamon
star cookie cutter
drinking straw
ribbon
plastic wrap
rolling pin

Directions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  Mix applesauce and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Using a rolling pin and about 1/3 of the dough at one time, roll dough between two pieces of plastic wrap. Peel the top sheet off and cut dough into star shapes.  Make a hole in the top using a straw and place the star shape onto a cookie sheet.  Continue until all dough is used.  Place cookie sheet in oven and bake for 2 1/2 hours.  Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet.  Gently thread ribbon through the hole and hang on the Christmas tree.  

Materials
M&M’s in Christmas colors (red and green)
Small bowl
3 heart shaped cookie cutters
Die

Directions
Sorting Activity:
Place red and green M&M’s in one heart-shaped cookie cutter.  Invite your toddler to sort the M&M’s by placing the red ones in another heart cookie cutter and the green ones in the third cookie cutter.

Counting Activity:
Place M&M’s in a small bowl.  Invite your preschooler to roll the die.  Count the number of dots on the die and place that many M&M’s into one of the heart cookie cutters.  Roll two more times, adding M&M’s to the other two cookie cutters.  Which one has more? Which one has less?  

For an added challenge, roll two dice.  Ask your child to add together the number of dots on the dice and place the same number of M&M’s into a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

Additional math activities:

• Encourage your child to copy a pattern made with red and green M&M’s by you.
• Encourage your child to xtend the pattern
• Invite your child to make her own repeating pattern using the M&M’s 

Ingredients

Whole milk or half and half
Green & red food coloring
Liquid Dish soap
1 Craft Stick
Small shallow pan or plastic container
Red and Green Glitter (optional)
Peppermint Extract (optional)

Directions
Pour a small amount of milk or half and half into a shallow pan or plastic container. Add a drop of peppermint extract to give it a festive scent. Add a few drops of green and red food coloring, and sprinkle glitter on top of the milk. Dip one end of the craft stick into the liquid dish soap and invite your child to place the soap-covered end into the middle of the milk dish. Watch what happens!

The glitter will jump to the edge of the container and the colors of milk will begin to swirl. Dip the craft stick again in soap and back into the milk to continue the swirling.

Materials
Cone-shape Styrofoam
Green Tape
Thumbtack
Small pompoms, foam pieces, sequins, tissue paper, etc.

Directions
Using the green tape, wrap it around the Styrofoam cone, sticky side out.  Use a thumb tack to secure it at the top.  Continue wrapping the tape around the cone until the cone is completely covered.  Place the cone on a plate or tray.  Invite your child to stick various pompoms, sequins, small pieces of tissue paper, foam pieces, etc. onto the tree. Once the tree is deorated, display for all to enjoy.

Materials
10 Green construction paper Christmas tree shapes
Avery Dot stickers in various colors
10 Clothes pins

Directions
Place from 1 to 10 dots on each of the paper Christmas trees. Write numerals 1-10 on each of the clothes pins.  Invite your child to count the dots on a Christmas tree and find the corresponding numeral writtn on the clothes pin.  Have him clip the clothes pin to the bottom of the tree to look like the trunk. Match all clothes pins to the Christmas trees.  Encourage your child to line the trees up in correct numerical sequence.

Materials
Green Tempera Paint
Red Tempera Paint
Dish Brushes
Large White Paper

Directions
With a pencil, lightly draw a large circle on the white paper.  Invite your child to dip a dish brush into green tempera paint and dab it on the pencil line, making a green circle. Ecourage your child to gently dip her index finger into the red paint and make fingerprints on the wreath to look like holly berries. Allow wreath to dry.  Cut out and hang.

Materials
1 sponge cut into shape of a Christmas tree
Small bowl of grass seed
Tray or shallow pan
Spray water bottle

Directions
Soak tree cut sponge in water and place on a tray or shallow pan. Invite your child to place grass seed on top of the wet sponge.  Gently press into sponge.  Using the spray water bottle, ask child to spray the sponge.  Place tray near window.  Water daily using the spray water bottle and keep a small amount of water in the the bottom of the pan or tray.  Grass should grow within two weeks.  As grass grows longer, invite your child to trim the grass with scissors.