Quick and Easy Classroom Christmas Cards

Don't throw away those Christmas cards you received this year. Tear off the fronts and save them for next year.

When it comes time for the kids to prepare their gifts for their parents, give each child a sheet of construction paper or tag. Let them pick a card cover to glue on the front. Then inside, let them copy a simple message you've written on the board. A piece of single-folded construction paper makes an excellent envelope.

Fivesies, a Quick and Easy Math Game

This is a fast-paced game that reinforces counting and instant recognition of numbers up to 6. More than that, it's a ton of fun. Plus, if you're needing a filler for your centers, or a way to pass the time when the weather is too bad to go outside, this fits the bill.

It's called "Fivesies", and you can play it in four different ways.
Also, it's important that each student needs their own set of 5 dice.

Basically, to begin, each child rolls all five dice at once (or dump from a cup). They look to see what number repeated. Ex: if they have 3 threes. Then that's the number they aim for. Their goal is to be the first person to end up with 5 of the same number. Or in this case, 5 threes.

The first child rolls, puts aside those repeated dice, and the next child rolls. When it's Child #1's turn again, he rolls only the dice that didn't turn up the repeated number. So if he got 3 threes the first time around, he only rolls the 2 dice that weren't a three. If he gets another three, he puts that die aside, and next time he rolls the single leftover die.

Each child gets one roll per turn. The winner is the student who is first to get all their dice with the same number.

Variation #2
Give them a specific number to aim for. Ex: the number six. Again, each child rolls their dice, saving the ones that show a six and re-rolling the dice that didn't. Winner is the first one to get 5 sixes.

Variation #3
Play 1-6. In other words, they have to end up with their dice in numeric order, showing the numbers one through six to win.

Variation #4
This is a quickie game. Each child gets One Roll of the dice. The winner is the student with the most repeated number. In case of a tie, just those students re-roll their dice to determine the winner.

Another Quick and Easy Christmas Activity - Santa, Please Fill My Stocking (pattern included!)

Short and sweet, the children get to color their stocking however they want. Then they can either draw what they want Santa to put into their stocking (or, in our case, they found a picture in a catalog), and glued it on. Add some cotton balls for the fluffy cuff, and you have a hangable work of art. (For those students with good scissor skills, they can cut out the stocking before working on it.)  Click here for a PDF copy of the pattern.

Quick and Easy Christmas Decoration - a Fingerprint Tree!

This is a super easy and super quick Christmas decoration or ornament. I found a tree template online, shrunk it so four fit on a page, and ran them off on cardstock. The children used their watercolors to decorate. Cut out after it dries, add some glitter here and there, and voila! Hang with yarn or a bent paperclip.

I'm using fun ideas like this one to "blackmail" my kids into doing their work first. Everyone's tired, but anticipating the holidays. Or they're not feeling well. So I've resorted to the old tried and true, "As soon as your work is done, you can make this!"