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!