Christmas Ideas

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"It's the most wonderful time of the year..." Click here to share your activities for the Christmas season!

I Know A Man
Tune: BINGO
I Know a man with a long white beard
And Santa is his name-o
S-A-N-T-A, S-A-N-T-A, S-A-N-T-A,
And Santa is his name-o.
 
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Try the Reindeer Pokey (tune of The Hokey Pokey)!  You can put in your antlers, hooves, tail, etc.
 
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Fingerplay: A Chubby Little Snowman
A chubby little snowman
Had a carrot nose (point to nose)
Along came a bunny (make bunny ears on head)
And what do you suppose? (put hands out - palms up - as if asking a question)
That hungry little bunny (rub tummy)
Looking for his lunch (hold hand above eyes, searching)
Ate that snowmans carrot nose,
Nibble, nibble, crunch. (pretend to eat a carrot)
 
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Fingerplay: Five Little Snowmen
Five little snowmen standing in a row (hold up 5 fingers)
Each had two eyes, and a carrot nose (point to eyes and nose)
Out came the sun, and shone all day (make a sun above head with arms)
And one little snowman melted away (melt to ground - with body or just hands)
 
Four little snowmen...
Three little snowmen...
Two little snowmen...
 
One little snowman standing all alone
He had two eyes and a carrot nose
Our came the sun and shone all day
And that little snowman melted away
 
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Fingerplay: Ten Little Snowman
(ala 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed)
Ten little snowmen riding on a sled,
One fell off and bumped his head.
Frosty called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more snowmen riding on that sled!"
 
This one might be fun to do with a felt board or something - removing each snowman as a visual for counting backwards...
 
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Goodbye Song: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
I did this with my preschool class for our last lesson before Christmas:
 
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy New Year!
 
Then sing the name of each child, keeping the beat in a different place each time (ie. clapping, patching, stomping, rocking, bouncing, waving, etc.) - kids can even choose where they would like to keep the beat.
 
Ie.
 
Let's all clap goodbye to Jessica,
Let's all clap goodbye to Jessica,
Let's all clap goodbye to Jessica,
We'll see you next year!
 
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Tapping, Tapping
Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle
One of my little preschoolsers shared this song with me, so we used it as a stick tapping song, keeping the beat in different places with our sticks:
 
Tapping, tapping, little elf,
As you work upon your shelf,
Working hard to make some toys,
All for little girls and boys,
Tapping, Tapping, little elf,
As you work upon your shelf.
 
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Christmas Music Bingo - Susan Young
  Here is something I do each year, and so far my students have really liked it. It would also help them not get bored with singing Christmas songs.

Christmas Music Bingo

  Have students fill in a blank Bingo card (I made mine in Excel) with names of nine of their favorite Christmas carols. They may pick from a list of Christmas carols you put on the board.
  The teacher has a deck of index cards with one Christmas carol listed on each. (I play the carols on the piano, so I have the page number of the song with the title. If you use a CD or CDs, then you could list the slot of your CD player and the track for easy reference. If you sing all the time, this would be just for reference to make sure you don't double a song.) The teacher then plays the song that is listed on the card she draws. Once a student knows (or thinks s/he knows) the name of the song, s/he stands up. When called upon, s/he names the song. Once a correct title is given, all students with that song on their cards may put a bingo chip on that square. The winner will get three in a row (just like Bingo).

  You can play this over and over again as time allows. My students like to trade cards and play this the last two weeks before Christmas break. 
  

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold,
everything is softer and more beautiful.
- Norman Vincent Peale
 
Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.
- Hamilton Wright Mabie