What’s on Our Shelf: Christmas Theme

I always tend to go overboard during Christmas. I give too many options which leaves some of the activities untouched and I end up frustrated with myself! Since I created so many things last year, it wasn’t hard to par down to a few fun but simple activities.

Remember, when creating for my charges I always use my rules:

Needs to be used in multiple ways
Able to be transported
Hands on but educational

My love for pom poms is well documented! This tray came about because I wanted a visual representation of size order. This makes it easier to be an independent activity!

Another tray using pom poms is for color sorting. I’m using my vintage nut tray but you could easily use colored paper.

These cute erasers were a dollar tree find that I love! In this tray I dumped 10 of each kind in a basket along with three boxes for sorting. We are also using them for counters in our 10 Frame.

Do you have a bag of bows lying around your house? Use them to graph by color or size!

Another dollar tree score are these tiny trees which fit perfectly in our Ten Frame (Found in my Shop!)You could add some numbers for your child to chose from when she is counting out trees.

I try to purchase table scatter from Hobby Lobby each season. Our Christmas version is wonderful for scooping, pouring, color sorting, and water play. Here we’re using them to make patterns.

Here we are using the same table scatter with dollar tree mirrors for some loose part play. The kids love hearing the sounds the scatter makes when it drops on the mirror!

When I found a pack of mini clothespins at the dollar tree I knew they would be the right size for fine motor play. The rubber bands add a fun challenge for my 4.5 year old.