5 Senses
Christmas
Book
The 5 senses Christmas book is really fun to make. There are 7 pages all together, counting the cover and the last page. I usually do the senses pages at center time, and the rest of the pages at free time or with helpers. Please adapt the book as needed for what works best for you. I have given you an idea of what each page looks like, along with directions on how I did each page. Feel free to change anything!
Before I even start the book, I have the following in a chart on the wall and we do it everyday during large group time.
Christmas looks like presents.
Christmas feels like Santa's beard.
Christmas tastes like candy canes.
Christmas sounds like Rudolph's bell.
Christmas smells like gingerbread.
Christmas is love.
I have pictures instead of words for the present, beard, candy cane, bell, gingerbread...and a heart for love. After the kids are confident in "reading" the words, we start the books.
Page 1. Words are at the bottom of the page--
Christmas looks like presents. I give the kids an assortment of wrapping paper and they cut a piece of the paper into a square shape. They get to put a real bow on the top of the square to make the "present."
Page 2. Christmas feels like Santa's beard is at the bottom of the page. The picture is just a Santa that I got out of a coloring book with a nice beard. I let the kids color Santa and use cotton to fill in the beard.
Page 3. Christmas tastes like candy canes is at the bottom of the page. All the kids do here is tape a real candy cane to the page and then they get to eat it at home after they read the book to someone.
Page 4. Christmas sounds like Rudolph's bell is at the bottom of the page. Again, I just have the kids color a picture of Rudolph that I got out of a coloring book. Then we string bells from the dollar store and tape the bell onto the page by Rudolph's neck. The kids love to "jingle" this page.
Page 5. Christmas smells like ginerbread is at the bottom of the page. For this page, the kids "paint" a gingerbread man outline...they could color it first if desired...with gingerbread mix that I water down. Then I put a couple of gingerbread man cookies in a bag and attach it to that page. One box of gingerbread mix will last a couple of years! You really don't use that much for painting! Sometimes we mix up a batch to eat and then it REALLY smells great.
Page 6. Christmas is love is at the bottom of the page. At the top is a large heart. All the kids do is color or paint it. Very simple. All pages are put in order, stapled together, and sent home. It is really a cute book.
For the cover, I just have a picture of a Christmas tree with the words
5 Senses
Christmas Book on it. The kids color the tree. You could do whatever you like.
A cute idea that I do at the sensory table for December is...I buy bags of pretend snow at the dollar store to put in the table (or individual tubs). I have little plastic snowmen and trees that the kids add. They love to play with these...and what's nice about the pretend snow, is that you can keep it at the table during winter months, not just December.
Another thing we do is make reindeer food. I love it as much as the kids. I have a gold box shaped like a star. A few days before vacation, the principal brings us the box and tells us that a little elf left it for us.
We open the box and find the following things inside..
.
1. a small gold gift bag filled with glitter.
2. a santa gift bag filled with oatmeal.
3. a small and large measuring spoon that I spray painted gold.
4. a letter from Santa explaining everything.
5. small colored paper begs--one for each child
6. xeroxed copies of the reindeer directions
Here are copies of the letter from Santa and the reindeer directions. Adapt as needed.
Dear Mrs. Brady and kids,
Here are all the things you need to make the secret reindeer food that will help my reindeer find the way to your houses on Christmas Eve.There are 2 golden spoons and 2 bags of secret ingredients. Use the big spoon and scoop out 2 spoon fulls of magic food. Use the small spoon and scoop 1 spoon full of magic gold. Mix them together in the bag. Sprinkle this on your lawn or sidewalk on Christmas Eve so we can find your house or apartment. Don't worry if some is left over...sometimes reindeer don't eat a lot. I sent along some directions for you to take home with the magic food. Be Good!! HO! HO! HO! Love Santa Claus
MAGIC REINDEER FOOD
Sprinkle on the lawn at night.
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
Santa's reindeer fly and roam.
This will help them find your home.
