Holiday - The Mommy Teacher

What Does Not Belong?

Recently, at a birthday party, Sean Patrick was given a little activity book of hidden pictures as a party favor. We had a great time working on this little booklet together and we ended up talking about the bigger pictures on each page as well as the hidden images.

So, I wanted to make a “bigger picture” that led to even better discussions.

This can set up great conversation for discussing the nativity setting (where the birth of Jesus took place). The “characters” (who was at the birth of Jesus) including who is not pictured. And much more. Leave a comment if you do this so I can learn from what came out of your conversations.

You can also talk about what was not there – a car is “silly” to be in the picture because when Jesus was a baby people went from place to place by walking. They didn’t have cars.

People wore sandals not tennis shoes. I’m trying to give you ideas here discussing the hidden images as prompts but I’m kind of running out haha.

The Wise Men brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, not pencils and paintbrushes.

Visual discrimination is a great skill for kids to learn. They have to concentrate, focus, and isolate objects which is easy for us, but difficult for kids who are still learning what the objects are called.

You don’t have to print this… you can pull it up on your computer and you can search for the hidden images on the screen and click “edit” on the PDF and put a circle image around it when they find each picture.

Click HERE to get it!

December 11, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Elf on the Shelf Art

Casey is subbing for her son’s class next week and was brainstorming an activity to do with the students. Casey is so good at coming with Elf on the Shelf ideas that I thought it would be cute if she did an Elf on the Shelf Art and Writing activity with his class.

My former co-worker had her students make an elf using construction paper and measure their elves using paper strips of cube towers.

elf art

elf measure

So, I thought it would be helpful to come up with a template.
I made a single page elf template:

An elf template for coloring an elf on the shelf in detail.

And I also made multiple pages of shapes for tracing and cutting out the template to make a large construction paper elf.
I also added a writing page so that older kids could give their elf a story.

When I sell activities like this on TeachersPayTeachers I also make them available for members. My membership is currently at an all time low price but will go up.

Click HERE to get the templates. They are included in my membership (which is just $5 a year) OR you can purchase them for just $1.50 in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

“Like” and keep up with our album: 24 Days of Christmas Printables! I post freebies every few days!

December 10, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Candy Cane Pattern Starters

I like using seasonal and fun things like candy canes to teach about things that I want Sean Patrick to learn or to practice.

Sean Patrick is familiar with patterns and he likes to finger-paint a lot, but he still needs a lot of practice so we are still working with AB patterns.

So, we are going to finish these patterns by taking turns.

For the first candy cane I will paint one color and he will paint the next.

Then, we will switch for the second candy cane. He will paint with the color I used the first time, and then I will paint with the other color.

Finally, I am going to ask him if he wants to make up another pattern on a blank template.

Here is a short video of us painting our second template – it is spur of the moment iPhone videoing so you get to see the real-life clip of our flighty pattern painting moment.

Click HERE to get the templates. They are included in my membership (which is just $5 a year) OR you can purchase them for just $1 in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

December 9, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Gingerbread Templates

I do not have time to post pictures of my little ones doing these crafts at the rate I am making these printables for the “24 Days of Christmas Printables!” (You can like the album on our Facebook page to get notifications when I add new ones each day). I am enjoying filling our playroom with options.

This gingerbread man template is great for choosing to use it however you feel up to it maybe after reading a Gingerbread Man book you check out from the library or after making a gingerbread house in time for Christmas.

Each day the kids get excited about the templates because I give them options like:

Do you want to decorate the gingerbread man with glue and sprinkles?

Do you want to color him or paint him?

Can you trace the gingerbread man with markers?

Can we give him sticker buttons and yarn hair?

These templates just make it easy to use however you feel up to it.

Click HERE to get the templates. They are included in my membership (which is just $5 a year) OR you can purchase them for just $1 in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

December 8, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments