Guest Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 I am a little bit stuck at the moment as to what activities i can plan for pre-school children in a nursery setting around christmas that are free play activities and also creative.
JacquieL Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 Hello HealingWolf. What a lovely name. I am going to move your post into our Christmas Forum. Do have a look around in there as you may find lots of ideas. Posts come up on the Home page regardless of the forum they are in, so everyone will see your enquiry. I'm sure you will get plenty of replies.
HappyMaz Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 Hi HealingWolf - welcome to the Forum! We've been decorating cheap christmas tree baubles with a variety of collage materials that are in our art trolley: the children have really engaged with this and have enjoyed selecting resources to decorate their baubles in ways that reflect their own personalities. Some have spent an hour decorating theirs very deliberately and slowly ensuring each square (or should that be round?) millimetre is covered, whereas others have done six or seven in quick succession, opting for the minimalist look! This is the only timen of year when I (almost) succumb to the 'conveyor belt' approach to activities - every parent expects to take home a Christmas masterpiece and there's a fine line between encouraging every child to have a go and putting the three line whip under them to get it all done! I'll be interested to see how others approach it whilst promoting children's opportunities to make free choices! Maz
Guest Wolfie Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 Welcome to the forum HealingWolf! One activity that I've found always goes down well and keeps children interested for extended periods is wrapping presents - just provide a variety of different shaped and sized boxes, some sellotape, scissors and plenty of cheap wrapping paper. They love it. We also always had a Christmas tree that they could ecorate themselves over and over again - provide the deocrations in a box next to it or provide materials for them to make their own!
Guest Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 thankyou for that idea happymaz i will add that to my planning so far we have done glitter pictures for calenders, baked glitter salt dough shapes for the christmas tree and a big wall display. and i'm in the process of getting the christmas cards done that is for sure and trying to make sure that the 21 pre-schoolers have all made one is some task as well as practicing for their christmas play.
Guest Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 We too wrap boxes and make presents of them! We also have a box made into a sleigh for moving said presents around! We added a sign on top of the little tikes car to make it into santas delivery car!! We have 2 small trees the children can dress and undress. Also weaving is nice using ribbon and red, green, gold resources. Ours is a piece of plastic coated fencing of a type (!!) which is attached to 2 rounders poles and bases!! We have attached it to chair legs before also! One of our tables is set up at moment with santa and snowmen skittles and score cards. Also our builders tray is a small world snowy village Don't you just love Christmas?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guest Posted December 7, 2008 Posted December 7, 2008 wow thankyou so much I'm so glad that i have joined this community as you are all so helpful i have already got one days planning done for 15th dec as would like to keep on top of planning up until the new year so that we don't have much to worry about over the holidays
Guest Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 we have turned our role play into a xmas dinning room with festive place settings a small tree they can decorate themselves stockings hanging up etc it has been a hit. This week we will add some xmas and fairy costumes to dress up and some sparklebox masks. I find it hard not to turn the activities into a production line so have left lots of open ended resources in the creative area for them to help themselves. we have made tree cards that they can decorate with what they like. We have set some twigs in plaster of paris and sprayed them the children can decorate them as they wish. only just noticed we have a bit of a tree theme going here. sue
Guest Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 Last year I put what ever I could find in the garden into the builder's tray, they had great fun smelling it, looking with magnifying glasses hiding mini beasts, then I got some oasis they made their own displays with bay, lavender, holly etc put some tinfoil around it and a red bow and took it home. We are making a santas grotto tomorrow as this went down well last year. We had parents in today to help make angel print calenders with a photo of their loved one, handprinted wreaths, Placemats, cards, bells, and now they are can do some of these activities independently. Have fun
HappyMaz Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 We also always had a Christmas tree that they could ecorate themselves over and over again - provide the deocrations in a box next to it or provide materials for them to make their own! And guess what we were doing today? Our deputy supervisor reminded me that we were supposed to be decorating the christmas tree today - what a fantastic activity. The children had a brilliant time with tinsel and baubles! If I said you couldn't actually see any of the tree at all you get the picture! Maz
Guest Posted December 8, 2008 Posted December 8, 2008 (edited) my favourite christmas activity-for some reason the photo's have up-loaded in reverse!! Edited December 8, 2008 by Guest
narnia Posted December 2, 2009 Posted December 2, 2009 we give our children some binca ( the stiff fabric with holes in it), blunt darning needles, buttons, beads etc and wool, cotton or silk threads and let them sew these on to the binca, or simply sew the threads on.when this is done to their own satisfaction, we let them choose from plain card, or those cards with an oval cut out, so they can place the sewing in there.We have calendar tabs on offer too, if they'd like to turn it into a calendar.Always looks very effective, all different ( No fluffy ducks at our setting!) and even our 2 year olds have a bash......under very close supervision ( don't want anyone going home with pierced ears!!)
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