Preschool Theme of the Week - Weather

I am so excited this week to be teaching my preschooler about weather. We've been doing our new homeschool preschool for a few weeks now and we've finally settled into a nice routine.

One of the very first parts of our day is getting big brothers on the bus. I've been able to use this time outside to get everyone to make observations about the weather. Once Little Man and I head inside, we talk about the weather again and how it will affect our day. If it's cold, we'll need jackets to play outside later. If it's rainy, we can put on boots and stomp in the puddles after lunch. We already love observing the weather, I know that my little man will enjoy exploring this basic concept more.

We're focusing on the letter W this week, so after coming in from the bus stop, we do a few reading, writing, and letter recognition exercises.

• There are lots of printables out there intended to be used with Bingo dot markers. These are great to use with manipulatives too. Cotton ball clouds can be placed on the letter W to practice letter recognition and fine motor control. Little Man loved this activity so much that he also put cotton balls on a Letter W tracing page I made for him.
• We love sensory trays, so I filled up a shallow plate with shaving cream and used my son's finger to trace the letter W. Then I encouraged him to trace the letter again without my help. After the letter tracing I "rained" a few drops of food coloring into the shaving cream and let him play. Fun!
•  Another sensory activity, I filled a Baggie with hair gel and some glitter then placed the bag over our letter W tracing page. My son traced the letter in the gel making a "storm" of glitter.

After our morning routine, I let my son enjoy some less structured activities to reinforce our theme. Our weather activities for the week include:

• Painting with wind: I gave my son a straw and three small blobs of paint on a piece of paper. Then I asked him to make a painting by blowing the paint with his straw. This is definitely an outside activity unless your preschooler has the self control to stop blowing the paint at the end of their paper.
• Shaving cream clouds in the bath: add a few drops of blue food coloring to the bath water and then shaving cream clouds for counting practice. 
• Homemade snow: mix just enough water into a bowl of baking soda to make it moldable. Put the mixture in the fridge until cold. Kids can play with this outside with gloves on or in the bath. Make snowballs or trace letters and shapes in the "snow". (This activity was inspired by this post over at Growing a Jeweled Rose.  However, I didn't have the right ingredients so we winged it and it worked just fine.  Phew!)
• Weather dress up: provide a dress-up bin filled with seasonal clothes including jackets, hats, and gloves, a rain jacket and hat, sun glasses and a sun hat. Encourage your child to dress up and talk about the weather they're prepared for.  Try the online version of this game over at PBS Kids.  Little Man really enjoyed Sid the Science Kid's Weather Wheel.  You spin the wheel and dress Sid for the weather that's shown when it stops.
• Make sun prints: search for interesting shapes in nature such as leaves and flowers. Lay these objects on a sheet of dark construction paper in a sunny spot. Check back in a few hours to see the power of the sun. This art project will take more time in the winter when the sun's rays are not as direct.
• Wind chime craft: make wind chimes by stringing painted terracotta pots and beads onto heavy twine. Hang them outside and listen for the wind.

How do you explore different types of weather with your preschooler?

 

Teaching Children to Leave No Trace

My boys ran inside from the backyard the other day asking for safety goggles. Never a good sign! After some investigating, I discovered that they were "taking care" of a tree stump in our backyard. How considerate of them.

This isn't the first time that their natural curiosities have led them into some destructive activity. These boys love to dig holes, flip over logs, and swing big sticks around. They've been known to take out a few small plants and have possibly displaced an ant colony or two.

My goal as a mom is to encourage their natural desire to explore nature while simultaneously teaching them to respect nature. Here are a few simple ways to teach even the youngest child to respect nature:

1. Read Eric Carle's the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Talk about what animals eat. Explain that sometimes animals eat things they should not, like food we leave behind or trash we leave on the ground. When we eat things we shouldn't, we might get a stomach ache or worse.

2. Plant seeds with your child. Plant their favorite color flower or let them pick vegetables to grow. Talk about what plants need to thrive: clean water, sunlight, and healthy soil. Explain that humans can help plants grow by safe guarding these elements.

3. Start a small compost pile. Explain that some things decompose into compost that is nutritious for gardens and plants. Some things cannot go into the compost pile and are not healthy for the soil. It's important to throw trash away because it does not decompose into compost.

4. Visit the zoo. If possible, watch local animals from a safe distance behind a nature shield. Help children to understand that animals will only thrive in their natural environment. It's important to help maintain that habitat to protect animals. As the Girl Scouts say, "take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."

The more my boys learn about nature, the more amazed they are by the plants and animals they see all around them. They'll still swing sticks at a dead tree stump, but hopefully an ounce of respect will save a few of the plants and animals in their path.

Bus Stop Observations

With my youngest son, we are trying out a new homeschool preschool routine. It's pretty basic, easy, and flexible given his age, my experience, and the overall craziness of our days outside of the morning routine.

By the time we start school in the morning, we've already been outside at the bus stop getting big brothers off to public school.  I use this time outside to squeeze in a little education activity if I can and encourage all three of my boys to make simple observations about the weather and nature.  What a beautiful way to begin the day!

• As we get ready to head outside, we talk about what the weather may be like.  Is it cold?  We put on jackets.  Is it rainy?  We put on rain boots.
• Outside, we take a second look at the weather.  Were our predictions right?  Is it windy?  Or foggy?
• On our front porch, we always pause to look for wildlife.  Our most common encounters are a neighborhood cat that sprints out of the bushes as soon as we step outside.  Deer are often in our neighbors yard across the street munching on the tall grasses.  Spider webs crop up in our front lawn and in the bushes.  We've also enjoyed trying to spy birds nests this winter in the bare trees.
• As we wait for the bus in our driveway, I 'll ask my youngest son to call out the colors of cars as they drive past.  The older boys look for patterns.
• If dump trucks, police cars, or taxis drive by, we'll talk about who might be driving those vehicles and where they might be going.
• Finally, although my youngest will not leave home to attend Kindergarten for a few more years, he learns about bus stop expectations and how following those rules is necessary for safety.  We get outside several minutes before the bus comes and the boys are allowed to walk down to the road to wait, but must stay a safe distance from traffic.  The boys all keep watch for the bus and call out when they see her turn onto our road.  At that point, they all line up at the end of our driveway and wait single file.  The older boys don't cross the street until the bus has stopped and extended the stop signals.  My little man and I wait in the driveway and wave to the bus driver as she drives away.

I truly believe that every experience can be educational if I take the time to guide my kids in every experience.

How do you start your day with your little ones?

Preschool Polar Animals Theme

Little Man loves animals and I love winter. So I thought that a Polar Animal theme was a perfect way to kick off our homeschool preschool series. Here's a peek first at our daily routine.

We all wake up and eat breakfast before big brothers get on the bus for school. When we come back inside from the bus stop, we usually spend about thirty minutes finishing up breakfast, cleaning the kitchen, and brushing our teeth. Then we're ready to start our day. I like to talk about the weather based on bus-stop observations. I usually ask Little Man what he wants to do today. And then we sit down to read at least one book. (...while I resist the urge to check my work email until a little later in the morning.)

Each weekend, I pour through our bookshelves and fill a basket with as many books as I can find related to our upcoming theme. We usually make a library run at some point as well. These books sit on the fireplace hearth and Little Man can pretty much pick any book he wants to start the day.

Our Polar Animal reading list includes the following:
Animal Babies in Polar Lands by Jennifer Schofield
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
A Polar Bear's World by Caroline Arnold
Little Polar Bear Finds a Friend by Hans de Beer
Polar Bear Arctic Hare by Eileen Spinelli
Pug Wug and Little by Susie Jenkin-Pearce and Tina Mcnaughton
The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale by Lydia Dabcovich

The rest of our morning generally includes only a couple structured activities and some independent playtime. After lunch, we often head outside to play in the backyard or take the dog for a walk. Then it's on the couch for quiet time, a few more books, and waiting for brothers to get home. They're always excited to see what we've done during the day and Little Man likes to show his brothers what he can do. This creates a nice distraction for the two youngest during homework time.

Here are a few of the activities we'll enjoy during our Polar Animal week:

• Cotton ball sensory bin: Fill a large shoe box with cotton balls then hide polar animal figurines inside. Show your child pictures of the hidden animals on a laptop or iPad while he digs around trying to find each one. This is a cool sensory experience and also gives you a chance to identify several animals by name. You can also provide your child clues to find each animal based on concepts of color and texture. 
• Baby animal match: show your child pictures of baby animals on your iPad, etc. and ask them to match the baby in the picture to the adult figurine. This is a fun way to play while encouraging critical thinking. 
• Build habitats with white playdough: with those same figurines, add white playdough to build a snowy habitat. This is a fun way to learn about where animals live. Stamp footprint trails into playdough landscapes and let your child narrate a creative story about the animal families. 
• Ice skating penguins: sand and water tables can be great all-season toys.  If you have snow, fill up your sand table with heaps of snow and let the kids explore, build, and march animal figures or drive small cars through the snowy landscape.  If not, you can fill the table with water and hopefully it will freeze overnight.  Then you can play with figures on the ice even talking about how animals must navigate snow and ice jammed water ways to find food in the winter.
• Torn paper snow storm: I don't know why, but kids love to tear paper. Give your child some white construction paper to tear into little pieces. Help your child practice self control by placing all the torn paper into a box. Draw polar animals, or place stickers onto a piece of colorful construction paper. Then invite them to glue pieces of snow onto the scene. 
•  Polar animal march: This is a fun game to play with preschoolers outside where they have lots of room to move around.  Lead your children in a Simon Says-like game.  Roar like a polar bear.  Waddle like a penguin.  Jump like a whale.  Run like a fox.

Each week too, we'll focus on a different letter.  For this week, we'll work on letter recognition activities for the letter P:

• I have bottle caps with capital letters written on one side and lower case letters written on the other side.  I'll pull out several P's and ask Little Man to sort the capital and lower case P's.
• Starfall.com has some great (free!) letter recognition games perfect for preschoolers.
• We also use printable coloring pages like these penguin and polar bear pages from DLTK.
• I also love the pre-writing pages from 3 Dinosaurs Tot Packs like the ones in this winter pack.

Preschool Theme of the Week Series

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?  Studies show that most people who make New Year's Resolutions have already abandoned them by mid-way through January... That's actually not a real study, just my gut feeling.  None-the-less, I've set a few goals for myself this year and one of those goals is to be more intentional about teaching my three-year old basic preschool skills.  Everything from letters and numbers to colors and shapes and so much more.

In the past few months, establishing a routine with my little man and carving out time to be a teacher to him has been a real challenge for me.  Between relocating the family and starting a new work-from-home position, I've been easily distracted from what I'd like our normal day to look like.  But I've had enough of not putting my best effort into my most important job.

To accomplish that goal while also allowing some flexibility in our days, I decided to compile a list of weekly themes with coordinating activities to get through at some point throughout the week.  In addition, we'll go to the library each week and check out a bunch of books on that theme with the goal of reading at least one topical book at the start of every day.

I've selected six outdoor-inspired themes that we'll work through this Spring:

1. Polar Animals
2. Weather
3. Bugs
4. Gardens
5. Farm Animals
6. and the Beach

Be sure to follow along as we explore each theme with stories, crafts, games, snacks, and songs.  And know that I'm new to this whole homeschool, preschool thing.  So please leave your ideas, advice, and encouragement in the comments!

Bad Weather Days

I love the temperate weather of North Carolina.  We've just enjoyed a week of sunny, mid-50s weather days making outside activities very enjoyable.  After lunch each day, my preschool-aged son, myself, and our energetic lab puppy suit up in weather appropriate clothes and take a walk.

This last beautiful weather week though, my son has had the same request every single day.  He's wanted nothing more than to put on his frog boots and stomp in puddles.  The only problem - no puddles, not a drop of rain.  It got me thinking though, how easy it is for adults (myself very much included!) to use "bad weather" as an excuse to stay inside.  I even have an entire Pinterest board devoted to Rainy Day activities, and most of them are inside activities!

So today, it's raining and chilly, and we're making it a point to get outside to stomp in some puddles.  Here are some of our other favorite bad weather day outside activities:

1. Hunt for worms and follow them as they slowly make their way into the mud
2. Build sandcastles in the sand box when the sand is wet and very moldable
3. Play in a mud pie kitchen
4. Make tracks in the mud with different trucks and toys
5. Collect rain in different containers and measure the rainfall
6. Have a kid's toy car wash and let the rain wash the bubbles away
7. Blow bubbles and try to catch them to see how bubbles act differently in the rain
8. Draw with chalk on the driveway, enjoy the vibrant colors thanks to the rain
9. Grab an umbrella and sing
10. Look for rainbows as the rain stops and the sun starts to shine again

How do you enjoy rainy days with your little ones?

Happy New Year

2012 has been an amazing year for our family!

After working so hard for four years, my husband completed his education and landed a wonderful post graduation job.  We relocated to a beautiful area of the country with wonderful schools.  And after years of working full time, I was able to find a work from home position and enjoy spending my days with my youngest son.  I've enjoyed spending time with each of my kids outside and exploring the scenery around our new home.

I hope you had a great New Year's celebration.  As we gear up for our first outdoor experiences of 2013, I wanted to revisit some of our favorite posts from last year.

A-Z Countdown to Christmas Series

Fall Spelling Words

Why I Love Playgrounds in the Fall

Help Kids Get Over a Fear of Bugs

Learning About Animals Through Play

How Outside Play Has Made Me a Better Mom

Nature Themed Birthday Party for All Seasons

Unwind Outside After School

9 Backyard Science Experiments

Planting for the Second Harvest

What outside activities are you looking forward to this year?

The After Christmas Glow

I hope that you and your family had a truly wonderful Christmas!  

I know that we did.  It's been colder here, but we were spared the snow that our northern neighbors got.  I personally missed the white Christmas!  But we were able to enjoy an afternoon at the park today without snow boots and winter coats, so that's something!

As much as I try to make Christmas not about the gifts, after a morning spent with family opening said gifts, I can't help but encourage the boys to enjoy those gifts and all the love they were wrapped in.  And this was a good year for gifts.  Lots of games, books, crafts, and things to be enjoyed outside as a family.

From under this year's tree, here are a few of our favorite outdoor gifts:

1. skateboards, helmets, and pads
2. street hockey goal, sticks, and balls
3. walkie talkies that have the boys tromping all through the yard just to find each other again
4. a mini trampoline
5. lots of tools
6. and a tent big enough for our family

What was under your tree this year and how have you enjoyed Christmas outside?

Y&Z

Family Activities
We're making Christmas cookies as a family today to share with a few neighbors.  The boys love to be involved in the kitchen so I enlisted their help selecting recipes, gathering ingredients, stirring, and of course cleaning up!

After baking and delivering cookies, we changed into warm pjs and lit a fire where we'll spend the rest of the evening reading stories and listening to Christmas music.

Service Activities
In addition to the treats we took to our neighbors, we made a few special treats for our puppy and theirs.  I love this simple recipe I found on Pinterest for peanut butter dog treats.

Snacks
Enjoy some Christmas cookies and hot cocoa while reading Twas the Night Before Christmas as a family.


Songs
Christmas Cookies
Marshmallow World
The Great Christmas Eve Cookie Calamity


Books
Twas the Night Before Christmas

Xylophone

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

Psalm 98:4

Preschool Activities
We went to our Christmas Eve service at church last night as a family (the kids usually go to their own age appropriate program).  Much to the delight of my middle child who just started drum lessons, the very first song played was Little Drummer Boy.  As we left church, we enjoyed our very favorite version of that song again by TobyMac.

There were lots of other percussion instruments in last night's worship band: jingle bells and xylophones among them.  I wanted to continue that theme of worship today by making music at home.  So we decided to try to make some instruments at home using recycled items we already have around the house.

I filled four glasses with different volumes of water and dyed the water green and red.  Then I let the boys softly strike the side of the glass with a pencil to listen to the different sounds made by our homemade xylophone.
We turned an old oatmeal container into a drum, using unsharpened pencils as drum sticks.
The boys made some maracas by filling small plastic food storage containers with beads.
We pulled out our jingle sticks (jingle bells on pipe cleaners) from J is Jingle Bells.
Our toilet paper roll horns didn't last more than a few days, so we pulled out some kazoos.
I stretched several rubber bands over the open end of a small shoe box to make a small guitar.
I tried to teach them to play the spoons, but they all found it a little difficult and lost interest very quickly!

Service Activities
Go caroling at a nursing home.  It's best to call ahead and find out the best time of day to stop by.  Right before or after lunch, there is often a congregation of people in the common or dining areas.


Snacks
Mixed nuts in a metal can.  After pouring snack portions into individual cups, I left the metal cans on the table and allowed the kids to shake and drum on them along to our Christmas music!

Songs
 
 
Books
The Little Drummer Boy, by Ezra Jack Keats

Wreath

Preschool Activities
I wanted to do one last fun crafty activity with the kids before the craziness of Christmas Eve services started.  After today's activities, we'll spend every evening at church serving and attending services.

So I pulled out paper plates and red and green bingo stampers.  The older kids cut out the middle circle leaving a wreath of paper around the edges of the plates.  Then the kids decorated with their stampers.  My oldest filled in almost every space with green before strategically placing red berries on his wreath.  My middle child alternated colors until his wreathed was filled in rather randomly.  And my littlest grabbed both stampers, stamped his wreath a few times, the table, his leg and called it done.  I just love to sit back and watch the process.

Family Activities
We've received so many Christmas cards already from wonderful family members and friends.  I had the boys help me attach our cards to an old foam wreath form with a few straight pins.  As we pinned each card, we read the message aloud and prayed for the family that sent it.

Service Activities
Find someone who is feeling sad today and give them a hug - circle them in love.
Don't forget to invite someone to the Christmas Eve service at your church.

Snacks
Bagel wreaths:
Mix green food coloring into plain cream cheese.  Spread cream cheese onto half of a mini bagel.  Top with dried cranberries. 

Songs
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
The Holy and the Ivy
On Christmas Night

Books
Mama's Wreaths, by Julia Taylor Ebel (to read aloud with the older ones)

Village

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Micah 5:2 (ESV)

Preschool Activities
Today is our first day of Christmas break with all the kids home!  I wanted to maintain Little Man's routine as much as possible while allowing the bigger boys to relax and have fun on their vacation from school.  Lego's are a perennial favorite at our house, and with three boys, we have blocks in every size, shape and color.  So I pulled out the bin of traditional sized Legos for the older boys to build with and the big Duplo blocks for little brother to enjoy.  I asked them first to build villages, small cities, with roads connecting them.  Then I handed my middle and my most artistic child Popsicle stick nativity story puppets that I'd made, but never used.  They had a good time acting out the story of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem and then reenacted some aspects of the nativity story.  When they were done, I didn't push the issue.  They built all afternoon with their blocks, playing side-by-side.

Family Activities
Since we talked a little bit about the village of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, earlier in the day, I thought it would be great to head downtown together and enjoy the Christmas decorations.  The storefronts are all decked out for Christmas and every Friday there are carolers, treats, and horse drawn carriage rides.  Little Man especially was enthralled with the horses - they were huge standing next to my toddler!  We also had a lot of fun riding through town, singing Christmas songs, and seeing the lights.

Service Activities
Today is a great day to emphasize that little people can do big things!  We're making snowflakes (again), but this time we're sending them to the new Sandy Hook building to open on January 12.  We have answered any questions the kids had from overhearing conversations or news stories, but we didn't delve into deep conversations about what had happened in Connecticut.  In our service project today, I just wanted them to know that they were really helping kids at another school who were scared and sad to go back. 

If you would like to participate with your family as well, here is the information I received about the project:

"When school resumes for Sandy Hook, it will be in a new building. Parent-volunteers want to ensure that the students are welcomed back by a winter wonederland with the entire school decorated with as many unique snowflakes as possible.  So, please help the students of Sandy Hook have a winter wonterland at their new school! 

Please send your snowflakes to the Connecticut PTSA no later than Jan 12, 2013:

Connecticut PTSA
60 Connoly Parkway
Building 12, Suite 103
Hamden, CT 06514"

Snacks
We had a humble snack today, but a family favorite: apple and cheese slices with crackers

Songs
O Little Town of Bethlehem
How Far is it to Bethlehem
In this Town

Books
B is for Bethlehem, by Isabel Wilner

Unto

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given; 
And the government will be upon His shoulder. 
And His name will be called 
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 (NKJ)

Preschool Activities
It's getting busy around here.  We're just a few days from Christmas which means presents need to be wrapped, meals need to be planned, and the house needs to be cleaned to prepare for guests.  So today I needed something that could occupy my little man while I accomplished a few things on my own.  He loves to put together puzzles, but I don't have anything Christmas themed.  Since we've also been working on basic number and letter recognition, I decided to make a magnetic popsicle stick number puzzle for him to work on at the fridge.  

I lined up eight popsicle sticks and taped them together before drawing the baby Jesus in a manger (thank goodness for Activity Village's tutorial!).  I wrote the numbers 1-8 on each popsicle stick and attached magnets to the back.  Then I let him get to work sorting out the puzzle pieces while I mopped the kitchen floor.  When he was done, we counted together while I pointed to each number.  Then I asked him who was on the puzzle.  Baby Jesus is always the right answer at Christmas-time!  

Then I explained that Baby Jesus was a gift given to us by God.  Jesus was born to live on this earth so that we would have an example of how to live without sin.  And since sometimes we do still struggle with sin, Jesus died so that all of our sins would be taken away and we can live with him forever in heaven.  

While I don't expect my three-year old to fully understand this truth in his heart until he's older, it's my hope that he will grow up with a certain vocabulary that will make it easier for him to accept Jesus.

Family Activities
Baby Jesus, the greatest gift ever given, was born unto us. We have a set of the Names of Jesus ornaments.  In scrawling letters, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, decorate Christmas globes.

I have not set a strong enough example for my children in my own prayer life.  If I were praying unceasingly, my children should see that, and not just before meals and bed.  So I asked them to all come together for a quick family prayer.  First, I asked them what name do they use when they pray to God.  I heard Father in Heaven and Jesus as I expected.  I read to them the names on our ornaments and a few others found throughout scripture.  The point that I want my kids to understand, is that it doesn't matter what we call Him.  The important thing is that we talk to God throughout our day and know that he listens.  I encouraged them to pray when they wake up, before they eat lunch at school, and every time they see someone sad or needing help.  I know that this is the type of lesson that won't sink in until I practice what I preach.  Isn't it amazing how parenting becomes this process that makes us better as our kids grow?

Service Activities
Today is the last day of school before Christmas break for the boys.  So we put together sweet little snowman gift bags for their teachers filled with oranges, Hershey's kisses, hand sanitizer, tissues, and individually wrapped tea bags.

The snowmen are made from white paper bags.  For each, I cut out two black circles and one orange triangle.  The boys glued them in place for eyes and a nose.  The smile is just drawn on with a Sharpie marker.
 
Snacks
For snack, we enjoyed some left over oranges and Hershey kisses.  The kisses because God so loved the world that he sent his only son, born unto us - John 3:16.

Tree

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Isaiah 11:1 (ESV)

Preschool Activities
The boys love to help decorate the tree.  As a result, most of our ornaments are grouped together in bunches about little boy height.  I'm also constantly straightening the tree skirt and even the star on the top that gets a little crooked when the tree is shaken by curious little hands.  I loved Bethany's idea over at No Twiddle Twaddle to give the kids their own Christmas Tree decorating station. I didn't have an extra mini tree to hand over to the kids so we simplified the idea quite a bit.

I cut a Christmas tree shape out of a triangle of leftover green felt.  Then I cut a bunch of shapes out of the colorful scraps left over from other felt projects.  Little man had a hard time grabbing some of the small felt ornaments, so I gave him a pair of plastic tweezers.  He had so much fun decorating his very own tree and scored some great fine motor practice too!


If you don't have extra felt laying around to make a Christmas tree, try a coloring page!

The Christmas Tugboat: How the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Came to New York City, by George Matteson

Family Activities
As a child, there was nothing I loved more than hiking through a vast tree farm looking for that perfect tree.  Once we found it, my dad would cut down the tree, carry it back to the car, tie it to the roof of the car, bring it home, and set it up in our living room.  It was difficult, dirty work that resulted in a beautiful Christmas tradition.  I remember that wonderful fresh smell.  I remember decorating the tree as a  family.  I remember the year the tree fell over.  I remember the year my mom decorated the tree with a bunch of envelopes filled with our presents.

Our downtown association hosted an event this year called Christmas Tree Lane.  A line of trees on Main Street was decorated by local businesses.  Each one was decorated in a theme that represented that business.  We walked past and admired each one while sipping hot chocolate and apple cider.  The boys loved the travel agent's tree decorated with sun glasses and beach balls!

All whimsy and wonder aside, the Christmas tree is a beautiful symbol for Christ's love for each of us.  Strong, constant, and pointing toward heaven.  Jelly Fish labs produced a short video, The History of the Christmas Tree, that explains some of that symbolism.

Service Activities
String popcorn to decorate a tree outside.  Watch from a window to see who comes to enjoy the snack.

Snacks
Decorate ice cream cone Christmas trees with green frosting and colorful candies.  

Songs
5 Little Christmas Trees
The Littlest Christmas Tree 

Books
Jesus, Me, and My Christmas Tree, by Crystal Bowman
The Pine Tree Parable, by Lizz Curtis Higgs

The Tale of Three Trees, by Catherine McCafferty

Star

After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Matthew 2:9-10 (ESV)

Preschool Activities

Regardless of who puts gifts under tree, even my little man knows that the star on top is the star of Bethlehem pointing all of our Christmas activities toward Jesus.

Way back at the beginning of our countdown alphabet, we had so much fun making playdough to explore the role of angels in our nativity story. So today, we made another batch of playdough. After making the dough, we added in some yellow food coloring and gold glitter. When the dough cooled we rolled it out and stamped it with a star-shaped cookie cutter.

At the last minute, I also put together a star-themed letter game.  I pulled out our ABC bottle tops and wrote STAR on a piece of scrap paper.  Then little man went on a hunt for the letters to build the word.

Family Activities
The Star of Bethlehem pointed shepherds and wise men to the baby Jesus. The star indicated the fulfillment of an ancient prophesy. The appearance of that star marked the birth of a King. But inquiring minds wonder just where that star came from. Answers in Genesis has another great video, What Was the Christmas Star, that addresses just that question. 

It's been a little cloudy here lately, but tonight, if the sky is clear, we'll head outside before bedtime to look at the stars. We'll look for some winter constellations and the North Star. I'll explain to my kids how the stars can help travelers to navigate by identifying cardinal directions. 

Service Activities
Visit with someone who cannot see and read to them the Christmas story. Stay to help them complete small tasks around the house such as cleaning or cooking meals that will be easy to reheat and serve. 


Snacks
Build a star with pretzel sticks and marshmallows.


Songs
I'm a Little Star
Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star
Beautiful Star of Bethlehem


Books
Only a Star, by Margery Facklam
Follow the Star, by Andy Mansfield
A Star for Jesus, by Crystal Bowman

Reindeer

Preschool Activities
We've dealt with Santa three different ways with three different children. I don't think my oldest ever believed. He's very literal, very smart. I don't think he would have believed us if we'd told him his Christmas presents came from a troop of elves in the North Pole. My middle son whole heartily believed in everything magic about Christmas despite the fact that we tried hard to never acknowledge or perpetuate the myth of Santa. Then one day, we bluntly told him the whole truth at the tender age of five. With my youngest, we've tried to limit his exposure to Santa and redirect when asked the inevitable "Are you ready for Santa?" questions. But overall, our strategy has been avoid and don't lie.

Despite our efforts, or lack there of, he loves Santa. Loves Frosty the Snowman.  And loves Rudolph. So, for at least this year again, we're keeping quiet and avoiding the issue. We're not pushing the Santa myth, but we're also not correcting or discouraging his excitement.

And since today is just a fun day, we're reading lots of books, coloring, and painting our noses red.

Family Activities
When the older boys get home from school, we decided that we'll play some reindeer games - like Monopoly!

Whenever possible, I do try to redeem secular Christmas traditions. Flying reindeer may only exist in books and movies, but I love to teach my kids about interesting animals and Answers in Genesis provides an informative page about reindeer that the older boys especially enjoyed.

Service Activities

Learn about therapeutic horse riding for children with special needs.  Make a donation to a location center - they often need supplies or volunteers.




Snacks
"Reindeer food" aka trail mix:
Use whatever ingredients you have on hand, including some of the following:
pretzel squares
Chex cereal
peanuts
popcorn
red and green M&Ms
chocolate chips
raising  

Songs
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Up on the Housetop  

Books
The Wild Christmas Reindeer, by Jan Brett
Olive, the Other Reindeer, by Vivian Walsh 

Quilt

Preschool Activities
I love to save old Christmas cards for crafts.  I usually use last year's cards to make Christmas tree ornaments or gift tags.  I pulled a few old cards out for today's craft.  With safety scissors, I allowed my little man to cut a few cards into large pieces.  Then I had him piece together the shapes on contact paper.  The result was adorable an Christmas quilt placemat.

(...an adorable Christmas quilt placemat that fell apart - I assume because the cards were too thick.  So, if you want to make this craft, I recommend laminating your placemat before it gets too much use)

Family Activities
We have a big old Bradford Pear Tree in our backyard that I love to sit under and read with the boys.  It's not particularly cold here yet, but it has been rather overcast.  So we went outside with lots of blankets and lots of books.  One thick quilt was laid on the ground, we hung two sheets over a clothes line and wrapped up in the rest.

Of course, if the weather prohibited outdoor story time, you could always build a blanket fort inside or wrap up in a quilt to read stories and drink hot chocolate by the fireplace.

Service Activities
Donate warm blankets to the homeless shelter. 
 
Snacks
Using a few different flavors and colors of fruit leathers, cut small squares.  Have each child create a pattern, piecing together the squares into their own quilt.  

Songs
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)


Books
The Christmas Memory Quilt, by Kimberly Webb (out of print)

Presents

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17(ESV)

Preschool Activities
Just say the word presents and my kids get visibly excited this time of year.  But I'm trying very hard to combat the mentality that Christmas is all about the presents that "I" get.  To that end, today we're going to make homemade wrapping paper to wrap presents for others.

Just start with a roll of white craft paper, or you could even use newspaper.  Stamps can be made from potatoes or with foam stickers and bottle caps.  You can also just decorate your wrapping paper with handprints and finger paints.

When we were done painting, we left the paper outside to dry in the sun until a little later in the day.

Family Activities
Once our wrapping paper was dry, we sat down as a family to wrap presents for teachers and family members.  I'm not a fantastic present wrapper myself and the craft paper we painted earlier is thicker than regular wrapping paper, so it was easy to not worry about how all the presents looked wrapped.  I gave the kids some basic instructions, lots of tape, and pretty much let them wrap.

Next I wanted to teach them a little bit about traditional presents around the world.  I found a travel blog that provides a brief list of traditional Christmas gifts in other parts of the world (it's not a kid's site, so I read from the laptop, they listened).  The kids were really interested in the Mexican tradition of Christmas pinatas.  I also challenged them to see if they could come up with a rhyme to go with their present to their siblings like the Sweedish tradition listed.

Service Activities
Volunteer at a wrapping station for charity.
 
Snacks
Peanut butter cup stuffed brownies:
Make brownies according to the box directions.  Half way through cooking, remove the brownies from the oven and push peanut butter cups down into the batter.  Return to the oven to finish cooking.
When the brownies are done, each brownie will have a surprise peanut butter cup center.
 
Songs
The 12 Days of Christmas
All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
 
Books
What God Wants for Christmas, by Barbara Rainey
Christmas Gifts, by Susan Heyboer O'Keefe
A Gift for the Christ Child, by Tina Jahnert

Ornaments

Preschool Activities
The kids have been excited about the Christmas tree since it went up.  They've loved hanging and rearranging ornaments .  Maybe your tree looks like mine with all of the ornaments  together in small clumbs, each as tall as one of my children.

I wanted to give my youngest his own Christmas tree to decorate.  So I cut a triangle out of green felt.  Then I cut a variety of shapes out of whatever felt scraps I could find.  Decorating and undecorating his tree kept little man occupied for quite a while

Family Activities
I love making homemade ornaments with the kids to decorate the family Christmas Tree and creating keepsakes for years to come.  We made simple cardboard ornaments this year.  I cut shapes out of a cardboard box waiting to be recycled.  The kids painted their shapes with red and green washable paint.  Then we decorated ornaments with glitter glue, sequins, and stickers.  I had some gold embroidery floss that we wrapped around the ornaments leaving a loop to hang them on the tree.

Salt dough ornaments are also a lot of fun to make with little ones (here's a link to my recipe for salt dough).

Service Activities
Give ornaments to your neighbors.  Hang a tag on each ornament hook with an invitation to your church's Christmas Eve service.  Be sure to include service dates and times as well as directions to your church.


Snacks
I would have loved to make these adorable apple ornament snacks, but I didn't have time.  So we just had sliced apples with peanut butter.
 
Songs
Deck the Halls
Let's Decorate the Christmas Tree

Books
Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas, by Jane O'Connor
The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg

Nativity

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Luke 2:6-7

Preschool Activities
<sup>I love to hear my little man try to say the word nativity.  Generally when he uses the word, he's referring to our nativity scene - the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, Magi, and animals all sitting on our bookcase at little boy eye level.  Our family nativity is fairly precious to me so we also have a Little People nativity that allow hands on time for little ones.  My goal through our play with the nativity today was just to name all the characters of the nativity.  Character play will help with story comprehension as we continue to read the nativity story leading up to Christmas.

Then, as I prepared lunch, little man worked on a coloring page.</sup>

Family Activities

Later that day, we went as a family to visit a live nativity. This particular production was quite impressive. We were led through a marketplace where merchants retold the story of Mary and Joseph's travels to Bethlehem. We were then introduced to some shepherds and their live animals in the fields when an angel appeared, directing our attention to a small stable. There we met the baby, sleeping in the hay. Seeing and even participating in the story really brought it to life for all the kids. Spending time outside, walking through the marketplace, and meeting the nativity animals was a fun addition to our experience.

If you can't visit a live nativity near your home, watch this video from Answers in Genesis with your older children exploring the truth ad the myths in the traditional nativity story.

Service Activities
Make room in your house.  Invite someone who lives alone to have dinner with your family tonight. Send them home with left overs. 
 
Snacks
Haystacks:
Melt one package of chocolate chips with 1/2 cup peanut butter in the microwave or over a double boiler, checking and stirring frequently. Pour over 4 cups broken chow mein noodles. Scoop the noodles onto wax paper into little haystacks. Allow to cool before eating.

Songs
Away in a Manger
No Room at the Inn
  
Books
Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale, by Martin Waddell
This is the Stable, by Cynthia Cotten