The first week of December we focused on the Nativity and Gingerbread People. We started our Advent tradition and readings on Monday evening of that week (TK was still here with us!).
Verse: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13
Bible figures: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the angel Gabriel
We used Homeschool Creations' Gingerbread Baby printables and 1+1+1's Nativity printables.
Tot Trays:
Felt Gingerbread People: I got these last year and was excited to use them for this unit. We had SO much fun with these. We counted them and then did a song similar to 5 Little Pumpkins, then we did 10 little gingerbread and I made up a song about one going away.
10 little gingerbread standing in a line, 1 walked away and then there were 9.
9 little gingerbread walking through a gate, 1 stayed behind and then there were 8.
8 little gingerbread praying up to heaven, 1 fell asleep and then there were 7.
7 little gingerbread picking up some sticks, 1 went to play and then there were 6.
6 little gingerbread playing near a hive, 1 ran away and then there were 5.
5 little gingerbread standing at the door, 1 went in and then there were 4.
4 little gingerbread climbing in a tree, 1 fell out and then there were 3.
3 little gingerbread going to the zoo, 1 got lost and then there were 2.
2 little gingerbread out to have some fun, 1 went home and then there was 1.
1 little gingerbread just for me, lying on a plate he looks good enough to eat!
What Color Are The Buttons? Each gingerbread baby had different colored buttons (there were 8). I asked "What color are the buttons?" And she'd say the color and put the appropriate colored pompon on the card. She even wanted to put a pompon on the gingerbread baby on the front!
Advent Wreath: I found a huge bag of craft supplies at a garage sale this summer and this was one of them. It's from Oriental Trading and although it was a little old for her, she helped glue on all the pieces. We use it for our Advent readings each week.
Size sequencing: We did smallest to largest and largest to smallest.
Sensory: I can't remember what this stuff is called and it has recently been all mixed together, but she LOVED it for 2 weeks. She would play with this stuff all day! I added popsicle sticks and a couple of other tools for her to use with it.
J is for Jesus and Playdoh: I helped her roll the playdoh into J's, but she was really more interested in just playing than J-ing.
Animal/People Sort:
Prewriting Practice: She LOVES these and loves to color on them after she traces the lines. Her lines aren't perfect, of course, but she does a great job.
Gingerbread Baby Letter Match: We only did A-H because she wasn't too into this. She did enjoy the fact that there was a boy on the uppercase and girl on the lowercase letters.
Felt Gingerbread Dress-Up Doll: See link for details
Activities:
Gingerbread Man Puzzle: I laminated, cut out and glue the puzzle to magnets. Sometimes these puzzles are hard to put and keep together so the magnets really helped.
Gingerbread Man coloring sheet: Sweet P was all about coloring this week. I'd say "Can you color his buttons orange" and she'd color that area.
Gingerbread number dot: I traced our foam gingerbread boy and created this. Sweet P lost interested after number 10, but we walked through the rest of the numbers since we have just started doing and recognizing teens. She also traced around him with the dot marker!
Christmas collage: She'd been asking to do the Christmas collage ever since she saw me cut out the pictures for it and then wasn't really interested when we did it. She did like putting on the Christmas stickers.
Gingerbread house coloring sheet: She did this with the Farmer one afternoon.
Gingerbread Man stickers: I traced this gingerbread man too. I held the sticker book and asked her "What sticker do you want for his eyes, his buttons, his mouth, etc." We had so much fun with this and she put all the stickers on! I was so impressed with the mouth!
Gingerbread Coloring poster: This was an advent gift that week.
Mary & Joseph wooden figures: She also colored this with the Farmer while Baby Brother and I went to MOPS.
Other Activities:
Christmas Sensory Bucket: We did a lot of matching pairs and sorting in a muffin tin with the items in her sensory bucket. I found several pairs of awesome tongs at Hobby Lobby in the holiday section for 99cents!
Reading books from her Christmas Book Advent Calendar:
Playing with Nativity Magnets:
Playing with her carmat:
Decorating Christmas cards for Holiday Mail for Heroes: See link for details.
Making pizza:
Making a gingerbread house: See link for details
She also decorated a gingerbread man on Starfall.com.
