Horns

With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!

Psalm 98:6

Preschool Activities
Here's another fun coloring page to start the day!

My little man loves to make music, so for today's activities, we decorated some empty toilet paper rolls with Christmas colors.  I covered one end with a square of wax paper and slipped a rubber band over the end of the tube to hold the wax paper in place. Then we marched outside to make some Christmas music in a kazoo parade.

Family Activities

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:13 (NIV)

I personally love listening to Christmas music, any time.  But the season officially starts on Thanksgiving night when we turn up the Christmas music loud while we wash the dishes from our Thanksgiving feast.  Music makes the season.

Ask your kids, what are their favorite sounds of the season?  Take a walk outside for a Seasonal Sounds Scavenger Hunt.  See who can find the most sounds on the list!

• bells ringing
• calling birds
• children laughing
• crunching snow 
• drummers drumming
• elves working
• fire crackling
• heavenly singing
• paws click, click, clicking (maybe not on the rooftop though...)
• paper rustling
• pipers piping
• silence
• train whistling

Service Activities
Share the good news with someone today!  Visit a nursing home and sing carols to the residents. 
If you play an instrument, learn a new song of praise and worship.  

Snacks
Have bugles for a snack today!
 
Songs
Here We Come A- Caroling
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Little Drummer Boy
 
Books
The Twelve Days of Christmas (there are many versions of this book, we read and enjoyed one by Betty Ann Schwartz)
Pete the Cat Saves Christmas, by Eric Litwin
Song of the Stars, by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Gingerbread

Preschool Activities

Today, my little man enjoyed a Gingerbread man coloring page.  Then we hung some cinnamon dough ornaments on the tree from last Christmas. It absolutely amazes me how wonderful these ornaments smell year after year. 

We talked a little bit about how people used to decorate their trees and windows at Christmas with homemade ornaments made from gingerbread dough. I pulled the ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon out of the pantry and let him smell each one. Then I used these spices to make gingerbread pancakes for lunch. I even made a few in the shape of the letter G using a turkey baster to pour the batter. Can you tell, I was pretty proud of myself!

Family Activities
When the older boys got home from school, I pulled out some graham crackers and frosting so they could build gingerbread houses. I showed them some pictures of gingerbread houses online, including this gingerbread nativity, and encouraged them to be creative. 

Once they were done their construction, we talked about the different houses we've lived in and why we've moved over the years. We prayed together, thanking God for blessing our family with the house we currently live in and prayed for each person that lives in our house. 

Service Activities
Serve as a family at a homeless shelter. Younger kids can help by sorting donations at the food pantry.

Snacks
Graham crackers and icing left over from making gingerbread houses. 

Songs
5 Little Gingerbreadmen
Gingerbread Boys and Girls 

Books
The Sweet Smell of Christmas, by Patricia Scarry
Gingerbread Friends, by Jan Brett

Family

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Romans 1:7 (NIV)

Preschool Activities
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year to learn about traditions around the world and specifically family traditions.  I explained to my kids that ancestor is a word used to describe family members that came before their own grandparents.

Many of our family's ancestors came to America from Germany.  I taught my little man about Saint Nicholas Day.  Children in Germany leave their shoes out on the night of December 5th for Saint Nicholas to fill with sweets, fruits, and nuts if they've been good.  Families then open gifts to each other on Christmas Eve.  The Veggie Tales movie, Saint Nicholas, happens to be one of my favorite movies this time of year.

Almond cookies are a traditional German Christmas treat.  Here is my Grandma Smith's recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup chopped almonds


Directions:

1. With an electric mixer, beat together butter, sugars, and salt.  Add the egg yolks, beating until combined.  Slowly mix in the flour and almonds.
2. Divide the dough in half and make two 8-inch rolls.  Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 3 hours.  
3. Preheat oven to 350*F.  
4. Slice 1/4 inch" cookie rounds and place them on a greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes 4-5 dozen cookies.

Today would be a fun day to call Grandma and Grandpa together to find out about other family traditions.  Then enjoy this Veggie Tales clip to learn about Polish Christmas food traditions!

 

Family Activities

Do you take family photos at every year on Christmas?  Pull out these pictures to share with your little ones. 

Some of my favorite family Christmas pictures are the big group photos taken at my Grandmom's house every year growing up.  We don't see these extended family members often and have lost my Grandmom and great grandparents since many of these pictures were taken.  Sharing these photos with my kids allows me a chance to reminisce and share with them great family memories.

Pile onto the sofa or a beautifully decorated park bench and take a new family photo this Christmas.  Also, have each child trace their hand and write their name to remember them just as they are right now for years to come.

Sit around the table together and write out Christmas cards to extended family members.  Share some favorite memories about each family member as you address their card.  Explain to younger children the family connection to aunts, uncles, cousins, and great grandparents.  Encourage older children to draw a family tree mapping those relationships. 

Service Activities
Do something nice for someone in your family:

• do a chore around the house without being asked
• make the bed for your sibling
• play your sibling's favorite game
• read a story to your siblings at bed time
• help make your sibling's favorite dinner 
• make a craft to give to Mom and Dad
• say something extra nice to everyone in your family 
• give a hug and kiss to your Dad as soon as he gets home

Snacks
Share a muffin tin family favorites snack. Pull out a muffin tin or individual muffin liners. Fill each one with a single serving of each family member's favorite snack.
We will be sharing cinnamon cereal, gold fish, raisins, and strawberries.

Songs
Over the River and Through the Woods
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad


Books
God Gave us Christmas
Home for Christmas

Evergreen

Preschool Activities
It feels more like fall here than winter, which means we still enjoy lots of time outside creating art.  The evergreen trees in our yard have branches that make excellent natural paint brushes.  I poured a puddle of green paint onto a paper plate for my preschooler and encouraged him to paint his own forest of evergreen trees. 

Family Activities

 Evergreen trees were originally used in Christmas and winter solstice celebrations to signify the promise of life in the dead of winter.   I love the smell of a freshly cut Christmas tree.  If you don't already have a tree up, today is a great day to head out as a family to cut down a fresh evergreen tree.    

Daily checking the water level of the tree is an appropriate chore for school-aged children.   In addition to your family tree, consider finding small live trees for each of your children to decorate this Christmas and then plant at the end of the holiday season.

Save two branches trimmed from the bottom of your Christmas tree and tie them together in the shape of a cross.  Display this cross in your home among the Christmas decorations pointing your attention toward Easter. 

Service Activities
Cover pine cones with peanut butter, then roll in bird seed. Hang these feeders outside for the birds to enjoy through the winter.    

Snacks

Green is the theme of today's snack ideas.  Cucumbers and snap peas with a ranch dipping sauce.  Also, green apple slices dipped in caramel sauce.
 
Songs
O Tannenbaum (translated from German, it means O Fir Tree)
Evergreen Morning  

Books
The Littlest Christman Tree
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story

Donkey

Preschool Activities
My preschooler loves the nativity scene that has been displayed on our bookshelf for a few days now.  He is always spying the baby, the wise men, and especially the animals.  Today was a perfect day to explore our nativity animals including sheep, a camel, and a donkey.

I explained to him that shepherds kept sheep for their wool, hides, and meat.
Camels helped move people and their things through the dessert in a time before cars and trucks.
Donkeys were also used as a form of transportation, perhaps even carrying a very pregnant Mary to Bethlehem.

We wanted to create a few hand print animals (here was our inspiration).  So I painted my little guy's hands, one brown and one gray, then pressed them onto paper.  For the donkey, we drew a face and a tail onto the thumb with a black marker.  For the camel, we added a brown hump to the palm print and drew a face.

Donkeys and camels are very common residents of petting zoos; many petting zoos will even host or participate in live nativities this time of year.  If you can, visit one with your preschooler and talk about the animals that you meet there.

Older children may also enjoy learning more about camels at the Answers is Genesis site. 
 
Family Activities
Go to Google Maps (or something similar) and get walking directions from Nazareth, Israel to Bethlehem, Israel.  How long do you think it took Joseph and a pregnant Mary to make that trip 2000 years ago? 

Talk to your kids about what that journey would have been like without major roads and modern transportation.  While camels and donkeys were often used as transportation in biblical times, they were not mentioned in the story of Jesus' birth.  Can you imagine walking for 33 hours!

Take a walk together outside.  Pretend that you are walking to a city very far away from your home.  What do you eat?  Where do you sleep?

Service Activities
Send a Christmas card to the staff at your vet's office or the local Humane Society thanking them for all they do caring for the animals there.

Snacks
Enjoy a donkey's favorite snack - a pile of hay, otherwise known as pretzel sticks.

Songs
Can't Smile Without Ewe, Veggie Tales
Dominick the Donkey  

Books
Ronta the Lucky Donkey
Christmas in the Barn
Clopper the Christmas Donkey

Candy Canes

Preschool Activities
We love to make shaving cream paint for the bath, so I was really excited when I saw this Candy Cane paint recipe from Bath Activities for Kids.  Just mix the ingredients together in a plastic cup and let little ones paint the wall, their bath toys, even themselves.  The food dye washes off very easily with just a little soap and water.
For a more festive bath, you can also add food coloring and glitter right into the bath water.  A word of warning though, red paint plus green water makes for brown water by the end of the bath.

There are so many fun candy cane crafts to enjoy that we just didn't get to:

• Paper chains made with red and white construction paper can be used to decorate the kid's room.  
• Simple candy cane ornaments can be made by twisting red and white pipe cleaners together.  
• Threading buttons onto pipe cleaners is great fine motor practice for little ones and can be used as a patterning excise with older children.

Family Activities

I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:11 (NIV)

Candy canes were not originally created as a religious symbol.  However, candy canes can be used as a reminder of the Christmas story.  Shaped like a shepherd's staff used to keep and care for sheep, candy canes remind us that Jesus is our Good Shepherd, sent to walk on this earth and keep and care for us throughout eternity.

Play a Shepherding game: Scatter white pom poms or cotton balls on a table top.  Use candy canes to gather as many pom poms as possible in 30 seconds.  (If your candy cane hits another player's, neither player gets that pom pom.)  The player with the most pom poms when the timer goes off wins!

Service Activities
Decorate a tree outside with wrapped candy canes for others to enjoy.  If the tree is in a public place, be sure to ask permission first. 

Snacks
Hot chocolate with candy cane stir sticks is a great warm way to enjoy a pepperminty treat.
Snack time could become science time too if you carefully observe and discuss what happens to candy canes in a hot liquid.  Be sure to check out Teach Mama's other candy cane science experiment ideas.

Songs

 
Books
I Spy a Candy Cane
The Twelve Days of Christmas Candy: A Counting Book
Peyton's Candy Cane Adventure 

Baby

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's angel crafts and activities. I'm so excited to continue this series and today we are delving right into the true meaning of this entire season and the letter B.

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 (NIV)

Preschool Activities
Again, we start with a coloring page because it's a great calming activity for my energetic son and it gives me a few minutes to get prepared for the rest of the day. 

Then we read the nativity story from our Storybook Bible and helped Mary take care of baby Jesus. I have three boys, but we've always let them play with dolls. Doll play is a great way to encourage a nurturing side in boys that is often overlooked or outright discouraged. 
Provide white blankets or gauze to wrap the baby and a soft place to lay him down. A laundry basket with a pillow inside makes a great pretend-play manger. For an authentic feel, go outside and talk about how to protect the baby from the elements. 

The perfect manger!  It's a ring or ornamental grasses, cut back for winter.

Family Activities
Pull out those family photo albums and look at everyone's baby pictures. Did the kids get Mom's eyes? Dad's chin?  

Talk about Jesus's family. Do you think Jesus looked like Mary and Joseph? Why or why not?

Talk about what Jesus may have been like as a baby.  Do you think baby Jesus ever cried?  Do you think he made messes?  Do you think he threw temper tantrums?  Why?

Jesus came to earth to save us from our sins.  He experienced all that we experience in this world but he never sinned! 

(These are admittedly hard questions that adults and theologians wrestle with. Posing questions like this to your kids shouldn't be about finding the right answer but about thinking the story through.  You may be amazed at the insightful answers your kids provide.)
 
Like Jesus, we have an earthly family and a Heavenly Father. Say a prayer of thanks together. Take turns thanking God for each member of the family. Thank God for being our Heavenly Father. 

Service Activities
Take a magazine and a cup of tea to a new mom.  While she relaxes, give the baby a bath, clean the house, cook a meal. Spend time reading to or plaing games with older siblings.

Snacks
Make lil' baby smokies. 
Cut crescent rolls into two skinny triangles. 
Wrap each strip around a lil' smoky, tucking one end under so they look like a swaddled baby. 
Bake according to the package directions. 

Songs
What Child is This

Books 
Tiny Baby Jesus
Baby Jesus Touch and Feel Book
One Baby Jesus: A New Twelve Days of Christmas
Jesus, Me, and My Christmas Tree 
Enjoy an online reading of the Veggie Tales Christmas is Finally Here!