Christmas Coupons

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If you are looking for a last minute, easy, and inexpensive gift that your kiddos will love…check out these Christmas Coupon Books. 
I bought fun glitter paper and cut a front  and back cover for each book.  Then I tied red, green, and gold ribbon onto 11/2 inch binder rings.  Last, I punched a hole through the covers and coupons and put them on the rings!  Super easy and only about $10.00 for thirty.  My firsties were so excited!  Click on the picture to download a copy of the coupons.

These darling graphics can be purchased at Scrappin Doodles

I would love to hear your ideas for Christmas gifts for your students.

School Traditions and "Handsome" Reindeer

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What would Christmas be without traditions?  I love working at a school with fun holiday traditions!  My school's traditions include  a service opportunity, a student "sing", and a "Christmas Faculty Collaboration".   

All 175 of our firsties have been working on the song, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".  I'm pretty sure that song is going to be stuck in my head for a while:)  

Last year we spent an afternoon baking cookies together and then we each took home a plate with a variety of cookies. Can you say YUMMY!!  Our collaboration this year is a gingerbread house competition.  The whole staff will be getting together to decorate gingerbread houses.  The houses will be displayed for the students to see the week before Christmas vacation.  

The students and staff are also busy collecting donations for a local children's hospital and another charitable organization that provides shoes and coats for children in need.  

Our amazing media specialist puts up this ginormous tree.  Then, she invites each class to make ornaments to decorate it. By the time it is decorated you can't even see the tree! It is darling!!!! I love, love, love, kid made ornaments...it is the best way to decorate a tree!  I was searching for fun ideas for our ornaments this year, when I found this darling blog  MommyGaga.  We made these fun little reindeer by tracing our hands on sandpaper and then giving them a little sparkle.

What are some of the fun traditions at your schools?

Santa Throws in the Towel

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TBA is having a Christmas Craft Linky Party.  Here is a fun craft I have done with pre-school kids and  my firsties .  I have seen variations of the "hand santa," but this is how I have made it.  Parents love this as a gift!

Supplies:
**White hand towels.  Watch for these to go on sale.  I can usually get them for $1 a piece.




**Fabric paint (white).  Make sure to get the Tulip "Puffy" Dimensional Fabric Paint
**Fabric paint (light pink, red, and black).  I like the Tulip "Slick" Dimensional Fabric Paint 
 


Step 1.  Paint child' entire hand with a generous layer of red paint.   Have child carefully press her hand onto the towel fingers pointing down.  


Step 2. Let dry completely (I usually do this project over several days.)

Step3.  Have child use a small paint brush to paint the bottom half of the palm part of her hand print (right above the fingers) with light pink (I usually mix in some white and a tiny bit of orange to make it a little more flesh colored). .  This will be Santa's face. 
Don't get carried away, most of the palm print is going to be Santa's hat.  He just need a little face peeking out.  


Step 4. Let it dry completely

Step 5.  Child uses the "puffy" white paint to color in her fingers on the hand print.   The fingers become Santa's beard.
(VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure to leave the thumb and the top part of the palm next to the thumb red, this will be Santa's hat.

Step 6. You guessed it...Let dry completely:)  


Step 7. Trim out Santa's hat with the white puff paint.  A line across the palm makes the brim of Santa's hat and a poof on the end of the thumb makes a pom-pom on the end of Santa's hat.
Final Steps:  When Santa has dried, two little dots right below the brim of his hat are all he needs for eyes.  Use the black paint to write child's name and the year below her hand print. Voila!! 
If you are feeling super ambitious, a jingle bell sewn to the thumbprint is darling! 

(I thought I had a finished product...and of course when I really want to find something I can't!  So, I did what any good teacher does and improvised.  Here is a little diagram in case my directions were as clear as mud:) 

 Merry Christmas in July!!