The One with December Plans: Week One

Here comes Christmastime! I can't even believe the year has flown by so fast! This month I have the typical letter/shape/number/color, but I tried to also incorporate lots of fun crafts. Our family specifically doesn't celebrate with Santa, but feel free to incorporate him in if he is part of your family traditions.

Here's December's printable calendar! 
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Objectives:
Letters: J, K, L
Color: White
Shape: Triangle
Number: 10
Theme: Christmas Trees, snowman, nativity (or substitute/add Santa if desired!)
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Jj Dot Art*

Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase J. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big J" and which one is "Little j" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. 

Triangle Popsicle Tree
Directions: paint 3 popsicle sticks green. Glue the sticks together into a triangle shape. Describe the attributes of a triangle (3 straight lines, 3 corners). Decorate the sticks to look like a Christmas tree using craft supplies (glitter, buttons, pom-poms, sequins, etc).

Manger Handprint
Directions: paint your child's hand brown. Add straw and a baby Jesus for decoration. It looks like a cute little manger! Tell the story of Jesus' birth! (This would be a great keepsake for grandma!)

J is for Jellyfish Snack
Directions: poke lots of uncooked spaghetti sticks into hot dog pieces. Boil the hot dogs (with sticks attached) until the pasta is tender. It looks just like a jellyfish! It's a fun lunch! Talk about how jellyfish starts with the letter J.

(picture coming soon!)

White Snow Pictures
Directions: use white crayons/chalk to draw snow on a black piece of paper. (Kids think it's so fun how you can't see the white crayon on white paper, but it shows up on black paper!)

Mitten Sort*
Directions: print file. Cut apart pictures from page 2. Mix up the small pieces and allow the child to sort them onto the corresponding color of mitten. Describe the colors of each mitten as you match.

Play Dough Christmas Tree Counting
Directions: cut Christmas tree shapes out of play dough with cookie cutters.  Roll a die to see how many ornaments to put on the tree. Use pony beads (or any other small decorative items) as ornaments in the game.  "Let's count the dots on the die! There are six dots! Let's put 6 ornaments on the tree!"

Printables here!
December Calendar
J Dot Art
Mitten Color Sorting