December can be a challenging month in the elementary world. Minds are racing everywhere. It can be hard to stay focused with all the hubbub of the Christmas season. It can be a struggle for adults, imagine how hard it can be for the students! Remember to be kind and give yourself (and your students) a break!
To help keep focus on school, there are tons of fun things that can be integrated into the classroom to make learning engaging and holiday themed.We love to do holiday themed writing, games, task cards, break outs. But in our classrooms there are always tons of crafts being made as well.
When the holidays approach I always consider them a time to hone the students' OT skill sets! Fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination are important. And what better way to practice those skills than to craft!
Classroom Holiday Crafts
I love to make crafts with the kids and have them bring them home for a gift. Their faces light up when they have the opportunity to give a gift to someone. We do have some staple ornaments and projects that we do every year, such as these adorable candy cane ornaments--> Easy Christmas Ornaments.
Students come back and tell us, “I still have the ice cream cone ornament” or “I hang my puzzle piece wreath every year!” I know I cherish the ornaments that my daughter has brought home over the years.
This year since I am team teaching again (with 3 sections) and we decided to handle crafts with a team approach. We wanted to make sure each student in the grade level would have identical gifts to bring home. This sounds like a great plan until you have to make 75 of this and 75 of that! But once we got organized the process was like a mini assembly line.
Our first step was to decide what to make. We then talked about supplies we already had in the closets, and finally we divided up the crafting time. It worked out very well because with each of us focused on different curriculum we were able to break up the day (and the crafting time) based on where each teacher was in the scope and sequence for their curriculum.
Below are some of the crafting and holiday-themed items we have sent home to families:
Snowmen Ornaments
Handprint snowmen were done in one classroom. The teacher did a mini lesson for the day and then had the class working on content related tasks that were review, so they didn’t need explicit teaching during this time. She was able to call over each student one at a time to paint their hands. (A parent volunteer came in and put all of the names and date on each of the bulbs.) This helped with time and she was able to get all 75 students’ hands printed on the bulbs. The bulbs came in a great box of 100, so reorganizing them back into the box to dry was a life saver. Paper plates or shoe boxes would also be a storage option.
The next day, once all of the paint was dry, the students came back and worked in small groups to decorate the snowmen. They used permanent and craft markers. The teacher noticed that the permanent markers dried out quickly due to coloring over the paint. So she switched to cheaper markers and they did the job just the same. Once they were all done, she loaded them back into the organizer bin until we were ready to send them home.
Materials Needed:
- one ornament per student (we used glass but plastic works well too)
- white paint
- colored markers
Time:
- 1 day to stamp hands and dry
- 1 day to decorate
Process:
- label each ornament with the student's name and the year
- paint each student's hand white and press it on the ornament (we kept our snowman count to 3)
- wait for the ornament to dry
- have students decorate their snowman family using markers
Family Traditions Book
One of the tasks the students worked on while we were crafting in small groups was a paragraph about their favorite family tradition. They could choose a holiday or winter themed tradition to write about. Once these writing pieces were complete, we made a grade level book of their traditions. This became a keepsake to send home with the students. We did give support with grammar and mechanics, but kept the content as they wrote it. It was nice to see how they all celebrate family during the holidays.
Family Recipe Book
Another memorable keepsake that doesn’t take too much time to put together is a grade level family recipe book. We sent home a flyer requesting a special family recipe to be sent into school. If you plan on doing this make sure you are specific in your request. Ask families to send the recipe via email. We have done this in the past where we had to retype all of the recipes when they came in hand written!
Once you get the recipes, they need to be formatted and complemented with some clip art. In years past we have printed books in a smaller format so we could create a bound book. We would have each student bring in a cereal box to use for the book cover. We would copy the recipes on a half sheet of copy paper. Then we would cut the cardboard boxes to make covers to support that size.The students cover the cardboard with wallpaper, wrapping paper, art work decorated by themselves. It makes a nicer presentation than just the stapled packet.
Foam Ornaments
The bulk packages that you can buy make a great and simple ornament for the kids. Our parent volunteers spend quite a bit of time trying to separate all the parts that go with each ornament. This is a time saver for sure! We put all the supplies out on the table and bag up what is needed for each ornament. Sometimes it gets a little crazy when the same kit has reindeer, Santa, and a snowman in it. All of those have different accessories, so bag them up and be ready for those crazy crafters to come to the table! These ornaments are also great a great place to stick those school pictures! My teammate loves to grab these foam kits the day after Christmas for 50-75% off. Grab them cheap after the holidays, throw them into storage, and you will be ready to rock once next December gets here!
Snow Globe Ornaments
This is a craft we have been looking at for years but had never actually done it. After some late-night messaging on social media, we decided to give it a shot.
To start, we took a picture of each student in an “open jumping jack” pose. The goal was to have them appear to be trapped in a snow globe. We then had to transfer the images to PPT and ask for them to be printed in color.
Then, cutting, cutting, cutting. We trimmed each student’s picture so there was only an outline of their body.
For lamination, we used lamination sheets (3 globes per sheet). After drawing the circles on the sheet, we painted the snowdrift on the bottom portion and then asked students to use their fingers to make snowflakes in the upper portion. We sprinkled some glitter to give it a little pizzazz. Lastly, we added in a globe base (pre-printed with the year) and the student picture. The sheets were ready for lamination!
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| A tiny dab of paint will help keep the base and picture in place. |
WARNING: it is IMPERATIVE that the paint be dry before you laminate. Give the sheets overnight to dry; otherwise you will end up with a smeared mess when the sheets go through the machine.
ALSO NOTE: this is such a cute craft, you may end up making some with your own children, pets, or coworkers’ families!
Materials Needed:
- one picture of each student
- lamination sheets and machine
- white paint
- snow globe bases
- string for hanger (optional)
Time:
- 1 day to take, format, and print picture
- 1 day to cut out the silhouettes
- 1 day to prep the sheets
- 1-2 days to add each student's fingertip snowflakes, glitter, base and picture (and laminate)
Process:
- take each student's picture
- format and print the pictures in color (I fit 6 students on the page vertically, 3 per row, in order to be sized properly for the globe)
- cut the pictures
- prep the lamination sheets: draw circles for the globes, open the sheets and paint the snow drift, allow to dry overnight
- have students add their fingertip snowflakes (allow to dry)
- add the glitter, students picture, and snow globe base
- laminate
- cut out the globes
- add hanger (or a magnet to make it for the fridge!)
This is one of the most intense holiday crafts I have ever done. There was quite a bit of stress and frustration with certain parts of the process. However, like childbirth, I will probably forget about the pain, focus on the product, and do it again!
Holiday Canvas Bags
Every year I have seen these adorable string of light crafts where the students make the light bulbs with their fingerprints. Like the snow globes, they are always begging us to make them. This year we decided to make 75 of them! We actually used our PTO mini-grant to help support the cost of these. We found what we needed on Amazon and applied for two mini-grants to cover the cost.
We did the bags in steps and divided the work between the classes. One of us put a piece of masking tape on the top corner and labeled all the names. We organized them into their home/classrooms so they were ready for mass production. Once they were labeled we used a sharpie marker and created unique light string designs on each bag. Then it was time to pass them off to the next teacher.
Before getting to the painting portion of the craft, we cut down manila folders to fit into the bag. The layer added protection from paint bleeding onto the back side of the bag. When we were done with the bags, we easily pulled the folders out of the bags and put them into storage for next time.
In another classroom, students used their fingertips and paint to create a holiday string of lights.
Students worked in small groups at a designated craft/paint table while the rest of the class worked through a Google Classroom assignment. These festive bags were used for students to transport their holiday items home and made a nice gift themselves!
Materials Needed:
- one canvas bag per student
- permanent marker
- paint (various bright colors)
Time:
- one day to label bag, draw the strings, and insert the folder
- one day for students to paint their bag
- one day for students to write a holiday message
Process:
- have students come to a craft table set with paint
- students dip their fingers in the paint and gently touch spots along the string
For a Christmas Craft Project that doubles as a ready-made bulletin board you can visit this blog post --> Classroom Christmas Craft
Our days are super busy with curriculum, but this time of year it is important to take time to be present in the holiday spirit. Many days our classrooms looked a lot like Santa’s workshop! But, in the end, the students had an adorable holiday bag filled with timeless childhood keepsakes.These simple crafts will provide memories for a lifetime. Find ways to fit crafts into your plans and don’t forget to lean on parent volunteers and teammates to get the job done!
Happy Crafting!