25 Days of Christmas: 2014

Here we go... December is here, and it's time for our 25 Days of Christmas!!!  As you know, I have been horrible about updating my blog, and I apologize for not bringing you more lessons to share with your children.  Because of this, I have decided to make things a little simpler this year so we can all truly enjoy this time and not just rush to get it all done.  So...instead of doing 25 lessons and 25 Random Acts of Christmas Kindness, I will be cutting each category in half and alternating between them.  {12 Christmas lessons/activities and 13 RACKs}  And, as always, we will be doing Advent verses for each day.  Join us as we share the joy of Christmas with those around us and celebrate the true meaning of this season!

{Visit these links to see previous years: 2011, 2012.  Last year was spent just enjoying our newest addition to the family! :)}

* 25 Days of Advent *

* We are doing "A Meaningful Christmas" by Carrie Rogers and Brittany Poe again this year, so I have included those topics and verses below.  Here are a few other links to bible verses to read each day with your children:
~ The Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Verses from Home with the Boys
~ 25 Days of Christmas Scripture Chain from The Things I Love
~ 25 Names of Jesus from I Am Momma Hear Me Roar

1.  Alpha and Omega - Revelation 22:13
2.  The Trinity - Colossians 1:15-16, John 14:16-17
3.  Creation - Acts 17:24
4.  Love - 1 John 4:16
5.  Believe - John 3:16
6.  Bethlehem - Micah 5:2
7.  Promises - Isaiah 7:14
8.  Mary is Chosen - Luke 1:26-28
9.  Trusting God - Luke 1:29-37
10. Immanuel - Matthew 1:20-23
11. Having a Good Attitude - Luke 2:1-5
12. No Room in the Inn - Luke 2:6-7
13. Born in a Manger - Luke 2:6-7
14. Shepherds Were Afraid - Luke 2:8-12
15. Go and Tell - Luke 2:16-18
16. The Wise Men - Matthew 2:1-2
17. The Greatest Gift - Matthew 2:9-10
18. The Word - John 1:1-3
19. The Good Shepherd - John 10:14
20. The Vine - John 15:5
21. The Light of the World - John 8:12
22. The Bread of Life - John 6:48
23. The Way, The Truth, The Life - John 14:6
24. The Lamb of God - John 1:29
25. Happy Birthday, Jesus - Luke 2:11

{Here are printables for the lessons and RACKs if you would like to have something to put in your Advent calendar, as well as a RACK card to place with your gifts.}

* 12 Christmas Lessons *
{Lessons and RACKs will not necessarily be done in this order, but I will post pics and details as we go. Remember, we will be alternating each day!}

1.  Christmas Bingo: Crazy Little Projects

BINGO!!!

BINGO!!!

Baby girl kept yelling BINGO, too!!!

2. Christmas Pattern Blocks: PreKinders 

3. Nativity Stick Puppets: My Joy Filled Life

4. Christmas Tree Fact Families: From Me :)
* For this activity, cut out a few Christmas trees and small circles with construction paper.  Write single numbers on the trees and their correlating fact families on the circles.  Have your child find the correct equations for each tree and place them on the trees like ornaments.

5. Fun Christmas Snacks
* I have seen tons of different versions of this snack on Pinterest, as well as lots of other fun Christmas snacks you can make.  We just used items that we had on hand.  Feel free to create whatever you would like!

"Do you want to eat a snowman?!?!"

6.Christmas Fingerprint Crafts: U Create

7. Snow Dough: Buggy and Buddy

8. Snowflake Science Experiment: Blissfully Domestic
* We used sugar instead of Borax, so it will take a little longer for the snowflakes to crystalize.  The website says you can also use salt. I will post pics of how they turn out!

9. The Grinch Who Stole Words: Babbling Abby

10. O is for Olaf: Crafty Morning
11. Gingerbread Man Sequencing: Teachers Pay Teachers
12. Christmas Potato Stamping: Crafty Morning

* 13 Random Acts of Christmas Kindness *

1. Place Barnes and Noble gift cards around the store.

2. Buy and donate toys to Toys for Tots.

3. Write Christmas letters to missionaries.

4. Donate to World Vision Gifts.
* We decided to sponsor 3 children (same age/gender as our kids).  We looked at their pictures and videos, found their country on our globe, sent emails to them, and prayed for each one.

5. Give a Christmas gift to the mailman.

6. Buy and wrap gifts for children in need.

7. Donate coats and blankets to a local charity.

8. Make shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

9. Mail a care package to a deployed soldier. Operation Gratitude

10. Pay for the person behind you in the drive-through line.

11. Donate old toys to charity.
(Originally we were going to donate food to the food bank, but we decided to give toys away instead.)

12. Color and mail pictures to Color A Smile.

13. Give a gift to someone working on Christmas Day.
(We went to the new gas station that opened right by our house and gave our gift to one of the clerks!  Thank you for working on this holiday!)

Thinking Theme: Dinosaurs

Lesson #1: Fossils
Objectives:
* To learn what a paleontologist is and what kind of work they do
* To explore in the sand and pretend to be a paleontologist
* To understand what a fossil is
* To create pretend fossils

Materials:
* cake pan or box
* sand
* paintbrushes and/or shovels
* toy dinosaurs
* playdough

Procedure:
1.  Explain to your child that a paleontologist is a scientist who studies dinosaurs and fossils.  They dig up bones and fossils and study them.  Explain that a fossil is an imprint of a plant or an animal, like a picture inside of a rock.  You can show them pictures of fossils so they can understand better.

2.  Pour some sand into a box or pan and bury some toy dinosaurs in it.  Allow your child to dig for the dinosaurs and use brushes to wipe away the dirt and study the bones just like a paleontologist.

3. Then help your child push the dinosaurs into the play dough to make an imprint of the dinosaur, just like a fossil.  Let them continue to explore and discover!

Lesson #2: Paper Plate Dinos from Imgur
Obejectives:
* To create a dinosaur using paper plates
* To recall the characteristics of the different dinosaurs
* To use the fine motor skills involved with cutting, stapling, and painting

Materials:
* 3-4 paper plates
* 3-4 paint colors
* paint brushes
* scissors
* stapler or glue

Procedure:
1. I found this activity on Pinterest from Imgur. I just looked at the picture and helped the kids make a dinosaur similar to those on the site. I used a stapler to put the pieces together to make sure it would not fall apart while the kids were painting.  Enjoy!

Lesson #3: Dinosaur Book
Obejectives:
* To create a book about different types of dinosaurs
* To record characteristics of each dinosaur
* To use the fine motor skills involved with cutting, gluing, coloring, and writing

Materials:
* construction paper
* crayons, markers, or colored pencils
* scissors
* glue
* stapler
* Dinosaur Printable from Pre-Kinders

Procedure:
1. I found some great dinosaur pictures from Pre-Kinders, so I decided that the boys could make a dinosaur book with them.  Start by folding 4 pieces of construction paper together and stapling along the "spine" of the book like this.

2. Have your child write (or help them write) the title of their book on the front along with their name.

3.  Let them cut out the pictures of the dinosaurs and glue one to each page of the book.

4.  While the glue is drying, have your child write the names of each dinosaur on the pages.  (You can vary this step according to your child's level.  My 5 year old wrote the names of the dinosaurs as well as a special fact about each one.  My 3 year old said the name of each dinosaur and figured out the first letter that each one started with.  Then he did letter writing practice with just that letter.)

5.  Then let your kiddo color the dinosaurs, and you're finished!

Lesson #4: Dinosaur Bones
Obejectives:
* To understand that dinosaurs have bones that make a skeleton just like we do
* To create a picture of a dinosaur skeleton using Q-tips
* To use the fine motor skills involved with cutting and gluing

Materials:
* black and white construction paper
* Q-tips
* glue
* scissors
* black marker

Procedure:
1. This was another fun Pinterest find from Give Your Octopus a Paintbrush .  Have fun making these dinosaur skeletons!

Extra: Dinosaur Exhibit
* There was a dinosaur exhibit at our local children's museum, so a visit there was the perfect way to end this unit!  Find an exhibit near you!