There is something truly magical about a child during the holiday season. Their little faces all aglow, their bodies restless with anticipation of upcoming events. They are bubbling with tales of wonder and excitement!
"Did you know my Christmas tree is brighter than the sun?! The lights are bright and they sparkle!"
"My grandma is coming and she is going to make so much candy!"
"I think Santa is going to bring me 200 presents!"
This time of year is particularly fun for a preschool teacher because you get the joy of experiencing the holidays in many different ways through your students. Each family has their own special way of celebrating the holidays, and having your students share stories of all the different traditions is such a wonderful experience! After several small group discussions about the holidays, we decided to take some of our traditions and explore them in different ways.
The first and most talked about tradition was putting up a Christmas tree. In most of our homes it happens several weeks before the holiday takes place so there is plenty of time to examine and explore the beauty of the evergreen trees. Many of the children pointed out how much they like the smell of their Christmas tree which led us to a fun exploration of the most popular smells during the holiday season.
Some of the children decided to draw pictures of their Christmas trees, but there was some discrepancy as to exactly what color green the tree should be:
L: "My tree at home is much greener than that!"
A: "I don't think so. I think the green crayon is the right color."
C: "Well I think that green is too light. You need a dark one for the Christmas tree!"
So we decided to mix some of our paints together and explore the different shades of green that our trees might be:
The first and most talked about tradition was putting up a Christmas tree. In most of our homes it happens several weeks before the holiday takes place so there is plenty of time to examine and explore the beauty of the evergreen trees. Many of the children pointed out how much they like the smell of their Christmas tree which led us to a fun exploration of the most popular smells during the holiday season.
Some of the children decided to draw pictures of their Christmas trees, but there was some discrepancy as to exactly what color green the tree should be:
L: "My tree at home is much greener than that!"
A: "I don't think so. I think the green crayon is the right color."
C: "Well I think that green is too light. You need a dark one for the Christmas tree!"
So we decided to mix some of our paints together and explore the different shades of green that our trees might be:
The students were also very excited to talk about the many different treats they would get to eat during the holidays. The most talked about treats were candy canes which allowed us to have some fun experimenting with peppermint smells and with red and white patterns. In the science center several of the students began to make patterns with our red and white stones, so we decided to move this activity to the light table to see how the light reflected on the stones.
After a fun filled week of discovery, we were all very excited to spend some quality time at home with our loved ones.
