CHRISTMAS IDEAS FOR PRESCHOOLERS

(1) Foil Ornaments

Every child brings a toilet paper roll. Give each child a square of aluminum foil to wrap around the roll (glue is not needed). Have them stick the ends of the foil in the roll. Then put dots of tack glue on each roll and give the children some colored pasta. The children can glue their chosen colored noodles on their glue spots. Then give them each a piece of ribbon or yard to put through the roll holl. Tie and shazam a homemade ornament.

(2) Wheatie Christmas wreaths

Give each child 3 to 5 frosted mini wheat cereal pieces. Have them crumble them pieces into a cup. Make sure the pieces are small. Add glue and mix until they have a thick mixture. Add green food coloring and stir until all is cereal is coated green. Drop the mixture on wax paper and shape into a doughnut type Christmas wreath shape. Sprinkle with glitter or add red sequins. Glue on a ribbon bow. Let dry.

Cut out candy cane shapes and have each child marble paint with different colors to create their own candy canes. White paper turns out very pretty.

Collect the lids of yogurt containers. Cut out circles from colored paper. Place the colored circles inside the lids. Now take lace and glue to the edges of the yogurt lid. Now take a small photograph and glue it into the lid. Attach a piece of magnet onto the back and these are cute refrigerator magnets of a day at preschool pictures.

Glue holiday pictures or old christmas cards onto plastic pringle lids or margarine lids. Punch a hole at the top of the lid. String or yarn to make an ornament.

Supplies needed:
• 1 roll of solid green foil wrapping paper,
• 1 roll of wrapping
• paper with toys or ornaments on it,poster board (full sheet),
• brown construction paper,small piece of gold goil wrapping foil wrapping
• paper
• glue

Cut poster board into a large triangle. Parts cut off can be taped together to make a 2nd tree. Cut brown construction paper for the trunk. Glue to base of triangle. Glue on backside of tree. Unroll green wrapping paper face down. Use yours and every child’s hands and trace around all of the hands. Be sure to spread your fingers apart a little and use both hands. Cut out the hands a row at a time. Glue the hands, starting at the bottom of the tree. Glue them fingers down. (The pinkie side goes well along the edges of the tree). Don't overlap, just put close together. The next row over laps the first a little bit. (Almost like shingles on a roof) Cover the posterboard like this all the way to the top. If you have little bits of posterboard peeking through, use your scrap pieces to fill them in. Next cut a star from shirt board or poster board. Cover with the gold foil paper. glue to the top of the tree. Take the paper with toys ornaments and cut the whole items from the paper. You should only use about 2 full rows of items down the length of the roll. glue these on the tree. Now you have a full decorated tree!

Use film canisters and cut the lid in half. Hot glue them to the sides for their wings. Finish up by adding a white foam belly and an orange beak and 2 google eyes.

Mix two parts glue to one part of water. Dab snowflake shaped sponges into the glue mixture and place onto blue construction paper. Have the children shake glitter on top of their snowflakes. Set aside to dry.

Mix an equal part of Epsom Salts and boiling water together. Mix the mix- ture well and set aside to cool. Have the children draw with crayons on dark colored construction paper any winter scene of their choice. After each child is done drawing, paint a light coat of the mixture over the drawing for a frosty appearance. It turns frosty only after drying.

Out of newspaper draw a snowperson shape, make sure that you have two shapes when you trace and cut. Have each child paint the snow person the color white, painting both sides. After drying staple the two sides together. Leave an opening so you can stuff the little snow person. Stuff the snow person using more small pieces of paper. Finish stapling the rest of the person. Add scarves out of scraps of fabric and put out a variety of other materials for eyes, nose, mouth and buttons. Let the children experience their own little creation.

Fill three jelly roll pans with water and freeze the day before the activity. Collect small cars, spoons, salt and sand. Have each child try to drive the cars over the ice. What happens when they try? Spoon slat over one sheet of ice and sand over another. The kids love this activity.

Using Real Mittens. Hangs a clothesline with clothespins between two chairs. Clip one mitten from each pair onto the clothesline. Put the mitten mates in a bag. Hold up the bag. Have a child come up and pull one mitten out of the bag. Have the child look at the mittens hanging on the clothes- line and find the mitten that matches the one that they are holding. Have them clip it next to the matching one. Continue until all the mittens have matched up.

For each child, cut a large ginger bread person shape out of brown paper. Glue it to the front of a large brown grocery sack. Cut a face hole in the ginger bread person head and cut arm hols on the sides of the grocery sack. Let your children decorate their costumes with ribbons,buttons and scraps of fabric or paper. Now Recite the following poem when each child is wearing their costume.

Ginger bread cookies, Run around.
Ginger bread cookies, touch the ground.
Ginger bread cookies, around you go.
Ginger bread cookies, Now Go SLow!!!!!

Draw on paper grocery bags in the shape of a stocking. Have the children cut on the lines. Each child should have two pieces of the stocking. Put the bags together and punch holes around the edge of the stockings=20 except at the top. Let the children draw or use cutouts for ears, eyes and for the nose. (Make the toes part of the stocking--the nose area). Take colored yarn and lace the stockings together. Hang and enjoy. Remember to let the kids make their own designs- they can all be different.

Have the children look in magazines for things that remind them of winter time. Some typical pictures include warm clothes, ice skating, skiing, sledding, hot cocoa, snow, Christmas, candles, etc. Display for parents.

Draw an outline of a snowman on a piece of construction paper. Fill in the snowman with cotton balls. Add details (eyes,nose, etc.) with construction paper.

Draw a winter scene on construction paper. Glue on salt to represent the winter snow.

You put your antlers in. You put your antles out.
You put your antlers in and you shake them all about.
You do the reindeer pokey and you turn your self around.
That's what it's all about.
(Other phrases: You put your hooves in, You put your red nose in, You put your fluffy tail in, You put your reindeer body in.)