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Help the preschool children create snowmen out of paper plates. Decide if you think they should decorate large paper plates, or if the smaller dessert size might work better for young children. Give each child three plates of the same size and demonstrate how to decorate each one. Show them how to make eyes and a mouth out of black pom-poms. Help them roll up a small piece of orange construction paper for the nose, before filling the rest of the empty spots on the plate with cotton balls. Help them add black buttons to the middle plate for his coal buttons, and attach the third plate to the body with glue. Fill in the rest of the plates with more cotton.
You can also make sock snowmen with the children out of adult sized white socks and rice. As you fill each child's sock with a measuring cup, have her guess how much rice it will take to fill the sock and make a snowman. After you fill the sock about a quarter of the way, have the child put a rubber band there, repeating the step two more times to form the snowman's body. Only the teacher will use a hot glue gun to secure the body, and then will assist the children in making hats for their snowman, by folding the edges of the white sock over, and adding the cuff of a child's sock as fringe. Demonstrate how to decorate a face on their snowman with paint, and how to add a colorful scarf from scraps of fabric. -
For Christmas, preschool teachers often make simple and heartfelt gifts with their class to give to their parents. Take a picture of each child in your class, either on a digital camera or a Polaroid. Crop the photos and distribute them to the children, along with bookmark strips out of card stock, glue and thin markers. Show the children how to glue their photos onto the card stock, and then let them decorate their bookmarks by printing their name and making hugs and kisses symbols--"X" and "O."
As Valentine's Day nears, educators may also have the children make cards for their family. Bring in your old magazines and have the children pick things that are opposite, such as large and small animals like a mouse and a giraffe. Have the children practice their cutting skills by cutting out the pictures and gluing it on a red paper heart. Write on the children's heart cards a text like: "Even though you are big and I am little, I want to be your valentine."
