Sneaky Christmas Activities

Like most kids, my kids LOVE Christmas time. We have been doing lots of Christmas activities including reading Christmas books and making cookies. We also recently made a gingerbread house. I cheat with that one... I get the premaid kits and then provide our own candy to decorate it with. It's just a lot easier than trying to get the gingerbread perfect on my own.

I am always looking for ways ton incorporate other subjects into fun activities. Kate has been recently working on patterning. I figured this was the perfect way for her to practice. It is also a great review on patterns for both of my boys, even though patterning is usually fairly easy for them. Take a look! 

I tried to include patterns all over the place. I made Kate figure out which one to put next to keep up with the pattern. She caught on really quickly. Ben and Andrew named the types of patterns that we used. More than anything, the kids had fun and learned something too (not to mention ate enough sugar for a month). 

Creating Christmas memories with the kids.

Other math activities that I did while working on the gingerbread house is asking Ben and Andrew how many more of a certain candy that we needed to make a certain total. For instance, "Ben, we have 2 Mike and Ikes on this row and we need 4, how many more do we need to get that many." After some practice, they quickly figured out the answers. This is a skill that Benjamin has really been having a difficult time understanding. I am trying to include as many real life examples into his teaching as possible in hopes that it will click.

We have also been working on crafts for the grandparents. Every year, my kids make ornaments to send to the grandparents for Christmas. Unfortunately, I can't post the ornament ideas on this blog right now because all of the grandparents read this blog and I want to keep them a surprise. Here's a sneak peek of Benjamin working diligently on the crafts. I will post the finished product once the grandparents get and open their ornaments. More to come!