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Gift
Collages
Give your children rectangles cut from
posterboard. Set out holiday decorating materials, such
as scraps of gift-wrap paper, pieces of ribbon, gift-wrap
bows, and stickers. Then invite your children to glue
or tape the materials onto the posterboard rectangles
any way they wish to create holiday “gifts.”
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Handmade Gift-Wrap
Let your children use one or more of the ideas below to
create their own gift-wrap paper.
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Sponge-print holiday designs on brown wrapping
paper. |
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Decorate paper lunch bags with glitter-glue designs
and holiday stickers. |
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Rubber-stamp prints on butcher paper, using washable
inkpads in holiday colors. |
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Big Box of Bows
Set out a large box full of
gift-wrap bows in assorted colors. Let your children use
the bows for the games below.
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Sort the bows by color. |
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Count the number of red bows, the number of blue
bows, and so forth. |
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Line up the bows in patterns, such as red, green,
red, green, or red, green, gold, red, green, gold. |
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Gift
Boxes and Lids Match
Cover several shoeboxes and their lids with different
patterned or colored gift-wrap paper. Mix up the boxes
and lids, and spread them out on the floor or a table.
Invite your children to choose lids and place them on
the matching patterned or colored boxes. |
Gift Guessing Games
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Select a box with a lid and decorate it like a gift.
Set out several holiday objects or ornaments. Ask your
children to cover their eyes while you hide one of the
items in the gift box. When they uncover their eyes, let
them try to guess which item has now become a “gift.”
After they open the box to check their guesses, start
the game again, letting the child who first guessed correctly
be the one to hide an item. |
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Choose several familiar objects of various shapes,
such as a ball, a plastic bat, a soft Teddy Bear, a large
plastic animal, and a block. Wrap the objects in tissue
paper. Then let the children try to guess what’s inside
the gifts by feeling them. Have them unwrap the gifts
to check their guesses. How close were they?
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Gift
Search
For each of your children, gift-wrap a small treat, such as
a box of raisins, a holiday stencil, or some fun stickers. Put
all the wrapped gifts into a box and hide it somewhere in the
room. Then give the children a map of the room that shows where
the box is hidden. Encourage them to use the map clues to find
the box. When they have done so, let them each take out a gift
to open. |
I'm giving you a present
Tune: “Eensy-Weensy Spider”
I’m giving you a present,
I’m wrapping it so well.
Can you guess what’s in it?
I will never tell!
Soon you will unwrap it,
And right before your eyes,
I hope my special present
Will be a big surprise!
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Gift Wrapped Snacks
In a large bowl, stir together such foods as dry cereal pieces,
sunflower seeds, raisins, nuts, and mini marshmallows. For
each of your children, place a few spoonfuls of the mixture
in the center of a holiday napkin. Bring the sides of the
napkin together and secure with a piece of colorful ribbon.
Then set out the “gift snacks” for the children to open and
enjoy.
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