As the queen of Thanksgiving, I’m here to tell you I’m equally as passionate about Christmas! Today I’m sharing a few ways to add Christmas into your work trays.
If I had to pick a favorite tool, it would be pom poms. They are so versatile, cheap, and easy to transport. I use them for everything. I happened to find some mini bows in a tube of 10 for .99 at Walmart last week and knew I needed to add them to my Christmas themed work trays. I’ve used large bows in the past, but I couldn’t pass up these tiny guys! They’ve already proven to be just as versatile as their pom pom friends.
This was an easy set up that I didn’t get a chance to snap an action shot! I presented this basket to my charge J, who is 17 months, to show him the difference in textures. We’re finally out our mouthing stage so I didn’t have to remind him that these objects aren’t food! His sister, E, who is 3, sorted bows and poms.
Keeping on the bow theme, this tray is a fun loose parts play decorating the tree. The foam Christmas tree is from Dollar Tree. Its pretty thick and durable, which I love! You could also add more trees to this basket to extend your child’s play.
I added glass jars, another favorite tool, to this tray for some color matching. I placed one bow in each jar for E to sort. Since the jars are different sizes we tried to get into a discussion on size discrimination but it didn’t go over as well with the 3 year old set! One thing she did notice was the different green color bows. I had not anticipated that because in the past she would have just put them all together. All our hard visual discrimination work has not been in vain!
J had a blast filling and dumping. Next week I’ll add our milk creamer jars to see what he remembers!
You can’t let December go by without trying a color match pom pom tree! I even have a printable version in my latest Christmas Active Learning Journal in my TPT shop.
We also tried it with the bows, which was a hit!
This tray had originally been set for loose parts play but E wasn’t really into it. So taking her cue, I set the trees up with a pom pom on top to color sort. The triangles are a recycled cardboard box colored green. I’m wondering if I should color the other sides red and white to make another color sorting tool! What do you think?
After we sorted with pom poms, E asked to sort with the bows!
If you only get a chance to DIY one project this month, make it a pom pom push tree. This was pretty easy to make and has been fun to play with. I did have to adjust the size of some of the holes. J has found a few spots that work really well. He’s loving the object permanence aspect of pushing poms through the holes and picking up the box to see where they went.
I hope you were able to get a few new ideas to add to your rotation this month! Christmas is such a magical time!
As always, connect with me if you try any of these ideas. I’m on Instagram @rachrunstx or theteachingnannyblog@gmail.com
The Teaching Nanny 
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