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Monday, January 9, 2012

Christmas Tot School & Preschool Corner

M is 3 2/3 years old

Tot School
R is 25 months old
December was so laid back for us, I am just now starting to get back to reality!  Here is all the fun that we had during December!

Printables
Nativity Christmas Preschool Unit from Musings of Me
She had to remove this unit because of copyright issues, but we still had it from last year so we went ahead and used it again.
Shadow Match from The Nativity Pack from 2 Teaching Mommies (Forgot to take pictures!)

Nativity Preschool Pack from 1+1+1=1
Size Sort, Christmas Counting, Beginning Sounds

Connect the Dots Number Page
No idea where I got this from.  I found it (unworked on) in last year's Nativity Folder, so I laminated it so that we could reuse it next year too!

Nativity Pre-K Pack from Over the Big Moon
Which One is Different

Connect the Letter (M) and Coloring Page (R) from Making Learning Fun
I also have to point out that this is the first time M has actually colored sections intentionally rather than just scribbling all over the page!
Montessori Style Trays
Color Matching
R matched colored pom poms to the Christmas lights printable from Tons of Fun

Bow Tweezing
M transferred the mini bows from a bowl to their original tube packaging using tweezers.

Ornaments
They both added ornaments to their mini Christmas trees ($5 at Target!).
Takes a lot of fine motor skill to get them hanging just right!

Jingle Bell Sound Sort
There were several bells in my package of jingle bells that didn't have the little ball inside and so were silent.  M sorted them by shaking and listening.

Jingle Bell Open and Close
I put a bell inside each of the containers above and they had to open them and put the bells into the little basket.
R had a rough time with a few of them but M did great.

Bow Size Sorting
R sorted the bows according to size (large and small).

Stocking Hanging
M clipped the mini stockings to the edge of an empty box.
This was a bit difficult for her - I think we need to work a bit more with clothespins.

Gift Color Sort
R sorted these mini gift ornaments according to color.

Bow Fine Motor Work
M put the bows back into their original packaging.
This took a bit of concentration to fit both ties in the back of the bow into the tiny holes.

Pouring
R's favorite activity is pouring, so he found a couple of containers and spent a long time pouring both the red ribbons and mini gifts back and forth between the containers.

Gift Patterning
M spent some time making patterns out of the mini gifts.
Art
We did a lot of art and crafting over the break, but I didn't really take any pictures.  Here is a picture of one of their little Christmas trees full of ornaments that they crafted.

Activities
Daddy shows up in a lot of these pictures because as a school teacher, he had 3 weeks off from work!
Christmas PE
Anytime the kids started driving me crazy, I handed out instruments and turned on our Pandora Christmas station.  Probably their favorite time of day, and what a great workout for me too!

Hot Cocoa Spoons
We went to a friends house one day to make hot cocoa spoons as gifts for family members.  The kids mostly just ate chocolate off of spoons, but it was still fun!

Graham Cracker Gingerbread House Making
We split into teams with Daddy helping R and Mommy helping M.  Guess which one the girls made? 

Lots and LOTS of reading!  We checked out a ton of Christmas books from the library and read them all about a billion times.

Christmas Cookies
We made Chocolate Orange Snaps, which were absolutely divine!
Field Trips
We went to the local Christmas light parade.  It was FREEZING, but the kids were begging to go so we couln't miss it!
We visited the Christmas Corral - a tree lot that has tons of other activities for the kids to do too (for free!).
Bean Bag Toss

Candycane Maze

Snowman Golf

This is usually where the jolly old elf sits, but we went on a day that he wasn't there.  Photo op!
Supper w/ Santa & River of Lights - Our aquarium/botanic garden puts on an awesome Christmas light display every winter.  We decided this year to eat dinner at the Aquarium, a special offering to eat and hang out with Santa!
Meeting Santa!  You can see that R has absolutely no desire to go near him, other than the fact that he is being offered a candycane!

Bundled up and checking out the lights!
Life
December held TONS of snow for our area - highly unusual given that we live in a fairly snow-free corner of the Southwest.  In fact, we were snowed into our house for at least a week!  The kids didn't seem to mind all the snow though!



We had a very relaxing Christmas this year.  The kids both opened up a few presents (most of them handmade) at home and then we spent the afternoon at my sister's hanging out with family.
Opening Presents

Playing with Grandpa later in the day
Books



Pinterest
Are you on Pinterest? I always have so many more ideas than what I actually use, so check out my Advent and Christmas Theme Pinterest boards if you are looking for more ideas or for the original sources for many of our activities.

Past Unit
Make sure to check out our past Christmas Activities and Advent Activities!

That's all for this week! To see what other toddlers and preschoolers are learning this week, check out the official Preschool Corner website and Tot School Website!

We are also participating in:



Montessori Monday

Sunday, January 8, 2012

St. Nicholas Day

We celebrated a fairly low-key St. Nicholas Day this year.
The kids woke up to treats in their shoes!

Chocolate coins, a St. Nicholas coloring page, and a St. Nick Ornament for their little trees.

Coloring their pages.
We also ready a few books about St. Nicholas and played a few online games.  If you are looking for ways to celebrate this special day, make sure to check out the online St. Nicholas Center!