Gingerbread Pokey

Each child is given one puppet and then acts out the following song with a version of the Hokey Pokey:

You put your cookie up, you put your cookie down, you put your cookie up and you shake him all around

You do the cookie pokey and you turn yourself around and that’s what it’s all about!

You put your cookie in the front, you put your cookie in the back

You put your cookie in the front and you give your knee a whack.

You do the cookie pokey and you turn yourself around and that’s what it’s all about!

You put your cookie to your head, you put your cookie to your toe

You put your cookie to your head and you wobble to and fro

You do the cookie pokey and you turn yourself around and that’s what it’s all about!!

Christmas Around the World--Ideas for Preschool

Felt Board Christmas Tree Activities

Christmas is a magical time for young children, and the winter time is filled with many holiday celebrations. Depending on the community, a Preschool or Early Childhood Centre is situated in, the cultural make up of families may vary greatly and the Early Childhood curriculum should always be sensitive to other cultures when program planning. Preschool children are beginning to understand about other countries and their cultures. Christmas traditions are a great way to show children our diversities as well as our similarities.

  Celebrating Hanukkah

Hanukkah could be discussed for longer than a day, or celebrated for the full eight days of the holiday within an early childhood setting. Preschool children could learn about the importance of the Menorah, play with a Dreidel and eat latkes, to name a few things. For more ideas, click HERE

                                         

Christmas in Australia

Christmas down under is still celebrated but there are many variation due to the summer weather. Many Australians spend Christmas day at the beach. Create a summer scene with Santa to illustrate an  Aussie Christmas. Santa could be dressed in a a bathing suit, or swim trunks as they say in Australia! Combine this with an Indoor Beach Party.

Christmas in France

In France, it is a Christmas tradition to place shoes in front of a fire, in hopes that they will be filled with goodies from Santa (Pere Noel). A craft that would match well with the learning of France's Christmas customs is to have the children decorate cut out shoes with Christmas stickers, glitter or whatever choice seems appropriate for the classroom philosophy.

    Christmas in Mexico

Feliz Nevidad in Mexico is celebrated with many fun filled events, like a Pinata party! The poinsetta is an important symbol with Mexican Christmas Celebration. To make a poinsetta in a preschool setting, provide children with five cut out leaves for them to glue onto green construction paper. The children could then tear yellow paper to make the center of the flower. For more information about the Poinsetta and printable crafts, click HERE

                                       

Christmas in the Phillipines

One of the unique aspects of Christmas celebration in the Phillipines are the paper lanterns called Parols that are used for decoration. Young children would love to have their own paper lantern to bring home. The lanterns could be simplified in this preschool craft project to a big yellow star with ribbon coming off the pointed ends. Click here for more instructions.

Around the World Christmas Wreath

Lastly, perhaps the best way to Celebrate Christmas around the world is to make a craft celebrating the world itself! Cut the center of a paperplate and provide children material for glueing onto their wreaths. The material could be pre-cut, or placed out with scissors, to foster fine motor development. Here are some suggestions:

• used Christmas cards
• used mailing stamps
• envelopes with addresses
• maps cut into pieces
• postcards
• magazine pictures of children from around the world
• different ways to say Merry Christmas : printed on paper

Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas

Present Exchange Ideas for the Staff Christmas Party

Christmas shopping can get so expensive and stressful. Why not try a gift exchange this year, whether it's used at the Christmas work party, a holiday gathering with friends, or around the Christmas tree with family. With an exchange, each person only has to buy one gift. The gift exchange holds many variations, predominantly Secret Santa and the White Elephant Game. Following are some fun ideas for Christmas gift exchanges that will involve some creativity, but not a lot of money.

Tackiest Christmas Present Exchange

Every guest must bring the tackiest present they can find. There are many sources to buy such gifts:the neighbourhood second hand store, regifting, garage sales and yard sales. Whatever gift the guest leaves with must be displayed in his/her home over the holidays. Try giving a prize to the person who is deemed the best tackiest present giver.

Gifts that are Consumable

With this Christmas gift exchange, the guidelines are, the present and the wrapping has to be material which can be consumed. The presents may be edible or perhaps consumed in other manners, such as candles, tin foil or cleaning supplies. Hopefully the shopper can think about what is appropriate for the person who he/she is buying the consumable present for.

This Christmas Gift Exchange is Brought to You By the Letter...

Following the Sesame Street Slogan, choose a letter for the holiday gift giving. Everyone must find a gift starting with the letter. The giving should have a dollar limit. The shoppers might find one gift or more than one gift, such as a basket filled with items, as long as each gift starts with the same letter. Inevitably, some letters will be harder than others.

Providing a Service for the Christmas Present Exchange

If the crowd of people are really tight with their budget this year, then this gift exchange is very appropriate. Everyone involved must provide a service, such as washing your car, baking a cake, fixing some furniture and so on. Each person has his/her own talent and it will be very appreciated by another person. It may be the best gift one receives. This gift exchange works well in a set up where the gifts can be snatched from others.

The Christmas Present Exchange titled, "Do I use this?"

Guests must go through their belongings, and ask themselves, "do I use this?" If he/she has not used the item over the last year and it was something he/she purchased, then it can be used for this gift exchange. The gift must be in good condition and there should be a price limit. So, when the item was purchased, it cost under a certain amount of money.


Of course, giving gifts should be meaningful, but also it should be fun. These Christmas gift exchange ideas will hopefully bring some laughter and entertainment to the holiday party

Preschool Christmas Presents

To prepare for the holiday season, preschool and daycare educators begin planning a variety of arts and crafts for children to make. One of the art projects will be the "Christmas" gift for the parents. This gift tends to be one of those projects that is more product orientated, and teacher directed. Many teachers and caregivers prefer to have young children make presents that are orientated around winter holiday celebration versus traditional Christmas gifts. This way each family, regardless of their personal beliefs and religion, can appreciate the gifts being made. Following are some ideas for this holiday gift making process.


The Holiday Centerpiece

This centerpiece can be used with real pine branches, which of course will be a temporary gift, or plastic pine branches that can be purchased at most shopping outlets. Each child will have a container holding a floral foam that is usually used for flower arrangements (a firm play dough mixture can be used as well). In the middle a candle will be placed, and then children will be given a variety of branches and other decorative items to place around the candle. Adults, ahead of time, should prepare sticks, for example, skewers or chopsticks, by glueing items on top such as small bells, tiny bows, pinecones and so forth. The branches and the other sticks can be pushed into the foam to create a wonderful centerpiece that can be used to help decorate a family home.


The Holiday Handprint Wreath

The handprints will be made either by having a child dip his/her hand repeatedly into green paint, or by tracing his/her hands onto green construction paper. The handprints can be placed onto firm paper, a paper plate or material, such as a large napkin. Once the paper handprints are cut out they are ready to be glued onto paper or paperplates to create the wreath.If older children are tracing their hands, they can also cut out the handprints. Approximately 8-10 handprints are needed. The handprints can be positioned different ways to make the holiday wreath. One way is to have the palms of the hands in the middle, facing out and the other is to have the hands one behind the other in a circle. If painting, red thumbprints can make the berries, or small hearts can be used. Finish the wreath with a big red bow, and this poem:

My handprints made this wreath
My thumbprints, each berry
I hope this helps you have
A Christmas, that's merry!


Handprint Gift for Toddlers to Make

This art project for toddlers to make for mommy and daddy is very simple. Have a child place their hands into redpaint and place onto firm construction paper. When the handprints are dry, the adult will cut out the handprints and place a magnet on the back. Add a poem to add a special touch to this present. Alternatively, have the young children decorate the handprints with glitter and glue and place a string on each hand for Christmas Tree decorations


Picture Frame Holiday Present

A photo of a child always make a wonderful present. In this arts and crafts project, children will decorate stryofoam trays with pasta. Collect styrofoam trays that are used for packaging at grocery stores ahead of time or try and have them donated by family members or stores themselves.
Each child will decorate the outside of a tray with pasta. Bowtie pasta works well for this holiday gift. When the glue is all dry, an adult will spray paint the entire tray with silver or gold paint. Make sure to wear a facemask in a well vented area and away from all children for this step. When the tray is completely dry, finish the gift by placing the child's photo in the middle and by putting a magnet on the back.

Read my blog article on picture frames for more ideas!


Christmas Tree Decorations

 

The tree decorations are age and developmentally appropriate for preschool and toddler aged children. Above is one idea. For more, please visit my Pinterest Board.