The Sweaters of Christmas!

Oh, the sweaters of Christmas, they have been given such a bad rap!

I love Christmas sweaters!

 

It was very special to have a decorated sweater for Christmas as I was growing up! It was even better if they had cute pictures, ribbons, bows, bells and sparkly thread.

Christmas-themed sweaters were first produced on a grand scale, when the Christmas holiday was becoming increasingly commercialized. Initially referred to as “Jingle Bell Sweaters,” the first sweaters saw decades of popularity!

 

Then came the word "ugly" when referring to Christmas sweaters. 

 Gaudy, bad taste, tacky, the more stuff on them the better! People hold parties to celebrate the worst sweaters of the year!

So for fun I created a cute craft activity for children to make their own version of the Christmas sweater. It is one that can also be done with parent help as a family project. 

Decorate the Sweater

 

This adorable Christmas activity includes the cover sheet, 4 different blank sweater templates to use and a parent letter.

When finished, it then becomes a prompt for story writing and telling. It is always fun to see the different methods of creating an ugly sweater!

Also see my other activities for:

Christmas

Winter

 

Maybe you will have a wonderfully ugly sweater of Christmas!

I'm pretty sure I will! 

Santa Express Geometric Christmas Train

There are so many great stories about trains for children! A very special story for the holiday season is the classic "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg's. This fun product incorporates 5 geometric shapes into the building of a train engine,
plus a creative literacy activity.

 

 Santa Express Geometric Christmas Train

 

 There are 3 complete train engine choices; 1 has red and green colors, 1 is grayscale colored, and the last is black and white. The train can be made as a stand-alone, but that is better printed on heavy paper. It can also be made by gluing the pieces down on another piece of paper.

This project is excellent practice for the fine motor skills of cutting and gluing. It is a good idea to give each child a baggie to hold their cut pieces until they have glued them all.

Introduce or review the five shapes; circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon. Decide if posting the picture of the finished Key that is included, so the children may use it for reference. When doing the black and white or grayscale engines, the children can color or decorate them when finished.

This activity can also be used in a center, but it is better if the pieces are laminated first. Some of the pieces are small so a baggie helps to keep any from getting lost.

 

The literacy activity has a black and white train paper with lines for writing and reading their creative stories. There is a cover sheet to make these stories into a class share book the students can read and reread again and again.

 

 The Geometric Train can be used for other stories about trains.

Some examples are:
1. Smokey by Bill Peet
2. Crack in the Track (Thomas the Tank Engine Story)
3. Little Train by Lois Lenski
4. The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
5. Steam, Smoke, and Steel: Back in Time with Trains by Patrick O’Brien
6. Big Book of Trains by DK Publishing
7. The Goodnight Train by June Sobel
8. The Potty Train by David Hochman
9. Dinosaur Train by John Steven Gurney
10. Freight Train by Donald Crews

 

I have another train product that can also be a Christmas train activity,

but can be used at other times of the year too.
Christmas Train Do Together Parent/Child Homework Activity

 

There are many other geometric activities and money saving geometric bundles in my store.
Geometric Activities
Also See:
Christmas Activities
Puzzles & Games
Colors & Shapes
Free Activities

Enjoy this holiday season!

Beginner Crossword Puzzle Using Color Words

Crossword puzzles are the world's most popular word games for children and adults!

This is a great product to teach the concept of crossword puzzles and review color words. It can be done one-on-one and in large or small groups.

The smaller the group being introduced, the easier to teach and observe while doing the activity. When working with a large class, depending on the age, it may be necessary to do it together step by step. You may need to do a copy of the activity along with them for all to see.

The first letter of each box is printed the color of the correct word, so the child knows where to start spelling the word. The student might notice that black and brown start in the same square, but the box is brown.

The color words are on the paper to help spell the words correctly. The numbered box is beside the word to help them locate the same square on the grid and the direction to write the word. A key is included.

Find this activity here:  

 

My First Crossword Puzzle

Enjoy this freebie page!

You can instill the love of using words, along with the educational benefits and maybe create a lifelong puzzler! 

Enjoy!

Twelve Years Ago, I Can't Believe It Has Been That Long! Celebrate With My Anniversary Sale!

 In October 2012, I decided to join a rather new “out of the box idea” online site 

called

TeacherspayTeachers!

In 2006, Paul Edelman, a former NYC public school teacher created this new concept for teachers to save them time in the classroom. It was becoming one of the fastest growing companies in the US!

So......I just uploaded tried and true products I had created and used in my classroom, for other teachers to purchase to use with their students. I also found many activities that I could use that had been uploaded by other teachers, so I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel!

 

What a blessing it has been! 

Not just for teachers, but homeschools, parents, grandparents, preschools, daycares, religious schools, online education, private schools, after-school programs and international education systems!

 

To celebrate I am having an Anniversary Sale! 

My entire store will be 10% off October 18-20, 2024!

Christine Maxwell Hand to Heart

 

Plus Halloween is coming with no tricks, just treats! 

Enjoy! 

Free Bingo Game 0-15 for Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving!

This free colorful, fun math activity will help to introduce students to the concept of playing Bingo, or provide practice for proficient players. Great to play during fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving.

My First Bingo 0-15

 

This game includes 3 pumpkin board templates, a nine grid, a twelve grid and a sixteen grid. Also included are little pumpkin calling cards 0-15, plus directions and suggestions for playing.

 

I've added little leaves, jacks and turkey pumpkins cards as an extra surprise to create some excitement. I used candy corn as my counters to mark the numbers and when a picture card is show each student gets a piece of candy to eat!

 

You will need to write the numbers on the pumpkin boards. 

 Another way to use this activity is to give each student a pumpkin and have them write the numbers in the various squares. For example, you assign the numbers 0-10 on the 9 space grid pumpkin. They use a pencil to write the numbers first, to make sure they have written them correctly, and then trace over them with crayon or marker.

 

This product can also be printed in grayscale to save colored ink!

When playing the game, students can trade cards for each different game.
 The children look forward to practicing their numbers and I get a good visual evaluation of their progress.

Enjoy! 

Halloween is Coming With ABCs

There are so many fun activities for Halloween, especially using the letters.

I love to make books that are child created by using pages made by little learners. Those pages are then laminated, bound together in the book and able to be

shared again and again!

 

A favorite one for Halloween is

 Halloween Trick or Treat ABC Class Book Trace Dotted Letters & Illustrate

I've made a Halloween Trick or Treat ABC Book with 26 pages of A thru Z words. All the words are made with dotted lines that the children need to trace! Have each child pick a letter and draw themselves in that costume or draw how they might look as that example. They will illustrate and color a picture that goes with the words.

BUT if you don't like the words I've picked, I have added other choices for most of the letters. Just print the one you want for each letter to change the original story or have the child pick the one they want. The extra pages are listed after the ABC Story.

Print the 26 A-Z pages you want for the book.

Don't print them all!

Here are some examples of the other B letter choices.

 

The first word listed is in the story, and the other words are pages to choose from.
A-astronaut, angel, alien
B-ballerina, bat, bunny, baseball player, basketball player, bride, butterfly
C-clown, cat, cowboy, cowgirl, cupcake, candy
D-doctor, dog, dinosaur, dragon, diva
E-elf, elephant, engineer
F-fireman, fairy, football player, farmer
G-ghost, gorilla, gladiator, gnome, gypsy, genie
H-horse, hiker
I-Indian, ice cream cone, imp
J-jack-o-lantern, jester, jellyfish
K-kitty, king, knight
L-lion, leopard, ladybug, lamb
M-monster, monkey, mummy, mermaid
N-nurse, ninja
O-owl, ogre, octopus
P-pirate, princess, prince, policeman, policewoman
Q-queen
R-robot, rock star
S-superhero, skeleton, scarecrow, spider, superstar, soccer player,
T-teacher, T-rex, tiger, troll
U-unicorn, umpire
V-veterinarian, Viking
W-wizard, warrior
X-x-ray, eXtraterrestrial
Y-yoyo, yellow duck, yellow bee
Z-zebra, zzzzzz Trick or treat is over. Good night.

 

This is also a fun activity for a child to work on between now and Halloween,

doing just a couple pages a day with a finished book to keep and reread!

 

Another good learning activity for a variety of ages, is to see how many words can be made using the letters for the words Happy Halloween!

Halloween Words to Make

Students, especially younger ones love to be able to arrange and rearrange letters to make different words. The activity includes the letters in two sizes to manipulate during play.

There are different versions in this product, see the link. There are two sheets with the letters large enough for a chart or group work in color and black & white. They can also have magnets put on the back for magnetic play.

Also included are two worksheets with little Happy Halloween letters at the bottom to cut off for arranging the letters into various words. Color and black & white copies in my TpT Store. Snack size baggies would help students keep track of their letters.

 Even beginning readers can make simple words like: A, he, we, all, etc.

 The only extra thing needed is a pen or pencil!
Excellent activity for fast finishers or when there are a few extra minutes in the day.

So enjoy part of this activity FREE, only on here on my blog!

 

Be sure a visit my

Christine Maxwell Hand to Heart TpT Store

to see other products I have for

Halloween!

 

Don't forget to Follow, you never know when I will add another free activity!



Kleenex Box Dice for Halloween!

No Tricks, just Treats!

Sometimes trying to make paper dice with little learners is too hard for them to put together.

 

This is when cube Kleenex Tissue boxes are sooooo helpful!

So I have updated and added to this product to make it easier to use,

plus the size makes it an awesome class activity!

 

Halloween Pumpkin Roll and Graph.



The children roll their dice and color in the correct box on the graph showing the same pumpkin. Several faces are similar so they need to look carefully before coloring the box.

See which pumpkin reaches the top first! This activity can also be used in small groups or in a center.

Enjoy!

Turkey Races Graphing Using Cube Kleenex Box or Dice Template!

Horizontal and vertical graphing can sometimes be very confusing for little learners, but turkeys can make it a concept easy to understand!

I have created a new turkey version of a similar winter snowman product. It also includes large and small pieces for a better visual understanding of the objective. Learning to do graphing should be a fun unforgettable activity!

 

Thanksgiving Turkey Roll and Graph Using A Cube Kleenex Box or Dice Template

This is a creative Thanksgiving or fall turkey horizontal and vertical graphing activity using a Kleenex Tissue box or a cube template to make dice for graphing the different turkeys. It is a favorite with children!

 The product has pieces to do a large floor size graphing activity and a regular sized activity! It works best to print the activity out first, to help you decide, what size you want to make the large graphing grid. (Large graphing grid not included.)

(These are pictures of the large grid, but being used with the snowman graphing activity.)

For the large activity, you will need to create your own large graphing grid, preferably one that can be reused again and again! It can be any size you wish! Plus you will need colored paper to fill the grid squares, unless coloring them in with a onetime use.

You can use any size large piece of paper, heavy vinyl picnic table cover or plastic like a shower curtain and create a large visual floor graph to use with the pieces.

You can also create a large graphing grid on a chalkboard, whiteboard or paper, then carefully taping the pieces on, creating a large wall hands on activity.

There is a page to make your own dice using the turkey dice template, which is tricky for many children! An easier version is to create a large die using the six larger turkeys and a square Kleenex box (Not included.) or cut the small turkeys and glue them to small wooden cubes to create dice. 

Just add the turkeys and colored pieces of paper to fill in the boxes as each turkey progresses in the graph. They can be taped on, but I like to use binder clips to have the turkeys standing up!

Decide which activity you are going to do and if using the color or the grayshade activity. This activity includes 2 different dice pages, 4 different graph pages with two types of graphs, large and small movable turkey pieces and the ending question sheet.

 

The turkey pictures can be cut apart and put in blinder clips to move with the activity. Children love picking out their favorite turkey to race and quietly cheering them to the finish and moving the big and little turkeys on the big and little graphs! See which turkey is the winner!

There are two different versions of the horizontal and vertical included graphs; one in each has more boxes to color in when doing the activity with older children.

It is important to notice that the turkeys look very similar, so the children need to look very carefully before coloring the box. The children roll their die and color in the correct box on the graph showing the same exact turkey.

This is a wonderful way to have hands on learning activity, especially for little learners being introduced to graphing.

You may want to start by introducing the large graphing activity using only two or three turkeys and gradually add all six. The included paper grids can be trimmed so that only a 2 or 3 grid is used!

This product makes a good visual discrimination practice and evaluation activity, as well as graphing. This activity can be used with individual students, small groups,
the whole class and also in a center or pocket chart.

 Another activity that can be played by printing out extra turkeys is Concentration.

I also have a similar product called

Winter Snowman Roll and Graph Using Cube Kleenex Box or Dice Template

 I plan on making several other activities with the same concept including the large pieces, as children love them and with practice they can do them without adult help!

I also have a Thanksgiving writing product

  Turkey Writing Paper for Thanksgiving-Three Grids and Ideas

Enjoy!

 See my other activities for:

Thanksgiving

Christmas 

Winter

I have a wide variety of other educational fun products to help children learn! I would love for you to Follow to keep updated on new activities, freebies, linkups and so much more!

Sending you best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

 

Here A Turkey, There A Turkey, Everywhere Turkeys And Turkeys!

Looking for a different and simple way to create the turkey bird with little people?

 

 This project uses pinecones which can be found anywhere that there are evergreen trees. While there are many different kinds of cones, for this activity I used the rounded ones. They have an evergreen tree shape when sitting on their flat bottoms.

After gathering them, I want to make sure that they are free of any tiny hosts that could be
hiding in them. I place them on a foil lined cookie sheet and 

bake at 250 degrees for about 45 minutes.

It makes the house smell like a pine forest!

To make the turkey body turn the cone on the side and glue it to a circle paper base. Allow it to dry for a day before adding the other parts. 

I used a heart punch to create the pieces, but you do not need a punch to do this activity. 

I will explain with two other ideas, so keep reading!

The head is one half of a heart and add a paper beak and waddle from paper scraps. The eyes are wiggly just for fun, but can simply be paper circles from scraps. Make the head completely flat on the table and let dry for a little while. It goes on the front of the cone with the branch pieces called scales sticking out.

The tail feathers are colored papers, but can be printed ones for a different look. They go near the back side of the pinecone between the scales with a touch of glue to keep them in place. See the picture above of the side turkey.

Little touches like hats, bows and fake leaves are not needed, but fun to add.

No heart paper punch, no problem!

A simple way for little people to create hearts is to have them fold a piece of paper in half. They grasp the paper on the folded side with their thumb on the top and pointer finger behind as shown in the picture. Thank you to my husband for letting me use his thumb in the picture!

They can then trace around the thumb or have another child do it, then cut on the line. When they open it, they have a heart! It is such fun to see all the different shapes and sizes of the hearts.

 Another easier way is to have them fold the paper in half and write the number 2 on the fold. Then they only cut the half heart part of the two on the fold and not the tail.

When they open it again there is a heart!
They are always so proud that they have learned how to make hearts and
will remember forever!

A Thanksgiving activity that is fun to do with making these turkeys is to have the child creative spell what they are thankful for and write it on each tail feather. The littlest learners can dictate what they are happy to have and someone can write them on the feathers for them.

This little turkey is thankful for his friends, family, dog, food, house and toys!
What a cute keepsake for the feast table!

Happy Thanksgiving!

See Turkeys Run! Run Turkeys Run! Fun Graphing Activity!

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for all of our blessings!

Little people sometimes say it best! I have so many blessings in my life! I want to take this time to say how thankful I am for the blessing of your friendship!

 

I have posted this before, but it is so popular I am sharing it again!

Turkey Writing Paper for Thanksgiving-Three Grids and Ideas

 

This is a set of black and white realistic turkeys for literacy activities.

There are three different writing grids, so you can pick the right one for your age group. Also included is a blank turkey page so students can add a picture to their story or the littlest learners can just draw and dictate thankful pictures.

Great for students to color, after their story is written or pictures are drawn. They are extra cute when stuff as added, feathers, beads, etc.

There are 3 Title Pages: What I Am Thankful For, How To Cook A Turkey, and How To Disguise A Turkey and an Ending Page: Happy Thanksgiving.

The students love to share their stories! They can be made into a class book to be read and reread or posted for all to see.

 

See Turkeys Run! Run Turkeys Run!

This is a new activity that I posted a few days ago!

Thanksgiving Turkey Roll and Graph Using A Cube Kleenex Box or Dice Template

 

Horizontal and vertical graphing can sometimes be very confusing for little learners, so I have created this Thanksgiving product to include large and small pieces for a better visual understanding of the concept. Learning to do graphing should be a fun unforgettable activity!

Please note….. I picked turkey clipart that is lifelike. They look like real turkeys and are very similar! This can be confusing for some children, but this makes a good visual discrimination practice and evaluation activity, as well as graphing.



There is a page to make your own dice using the turkey dice template, which is tricky for many children! An easier version is to create a large dice using the six larger turkeys and a square Kleenex box or cut the small turkeys and glue them to small wooden cubes to create dice.

 

It works best to print the activity out first, to help you decide, what size you want to make the large graphing grid. (Not included.)

For the large activity, you will need to create your own large graphing grid, preferably one that can be reused again and again! It can be any size you wish! Plus you will need colored paper to fill the grid squares, unless coloring them in with a onetime use.

You can use any size large piece of paper, heavy vinyl picnic table cover or plastic like a shower curtain and create a large visual floor graph to use with the pieces. Just add the turkeys and colored pieces of paper to fill in the boxes as each turkey progresses in the graph. They can be taped on, but I like to use binder clips to have the turkeys standing up! This is a wonderful way to have a hands on learning activity, especially for little learners being introduced to graphing.

You can also create a large graphing grid on a chalkboard, whiteboard or paper, then carefully taping the pieces on, creating a large wall hands on activity.

You may want to start by introducing the large graphing activity using only two or three turkeys and gradually add all six. The included paper grids can be trimmed so that only a 2 or 3 grid is used!

Children love picking out their favorite turkeys and quietly cheering them to the finish.

This activity can be used with individual students, small groups, the whole class and also in a center or pocket chart. Another activity that can be played by printing out extra turkeys is Concentration.

Note the large graphing grid is not included in this product! Download the three page Preview in my store to see the complete activity.

Also see other turkey activities and Thanksgiving products in my

Christine Maxwell Hand to Heart TpT Store.

 

Thanksgiving Turkey Handprint Poem and Keepsake
Thanksgiving Geometric Turkey
Thanksgiving Song And Posters G-O-BB-L-E Was His Name-O
Thanksgiving Thankful Badges & Bookmarks for Teachers, Students, Staff & Parents
Thanksgiving Turkey Do Together Parent/Child Homework Activity
10 Little Turkey Birds Songs, Number Puzzles and 10 Props for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Secret Number Letter Puzzle Messages Skip Count
Free! Turkey Writing Paper for Thanksgiving-Various Ages-Three Grids
10 Little Turkeys Class Book and Student Book for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day Skip Counting Cut And Glue
Thanksgiving Turkey Tails
Thanksgiving Hand Turkey Handful of Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!