Santa Claus Craft | Practice Shapes | Christmas
 Preschool Lesson Plan Printable Activities

Themes

Instructions and Suggestions

Materials

More fun with Santa Claus!

Visit the Santa Claus theme lesson plan for various activities to incorporate with this craft activity:  alphabet letter S is for Santa, fun with colors and shapes, Santa songs, online stories and more. 

Activity #1:  Santa Claus  Easy Shapes Craft - Ages 2.5+

The craft for this activity is a Santa Claus face composed entirely of basic shapes (4 ovals, 2 circles, 1 triangle, 1 rectangle - total 8 pieces) .  The black & white templates will help children everywhere to adapt the craft to their special St. Nicholas version.  Review learning activities below before craft assembly.

Printing and assembly options:
Option 1:  Print color template version, cut out, conduct learning activities of your choice and assemble (add other decorations as desired review other decoration ideas below).  Discuss colors on the templates.  Some of the learning activities should be conducted prior to assembly.
Option 2:  Print black & white templates.  Children can color or paint, cut out and proceed as above.  

 Craft Assembly Procedure (after pieces are colored in and cut out)
Show the small image of the finished craft briefly (featured in the template) to help the children see how the finished craft looks and to aid them in positioning the pieces.  Make a quick demonstration of the sequence and allow the children to assemble by memory, provide assistance when needed.

1.  Color pieces that apply on the black & white template (hat triangle, eyes, nose, and face oval).  Conduct shape/number/pre-math activities of your choice below. 

2.  Assemble hat:  Glue hat trim and circle tip to triangle.

2.  Paste medium oval in horizontal position over large oval above the smile about 3/4" of upper edge.

4.  Glue the assembled hat. 

5.   Glue eyes close to the edge of the hat and then glue nose where beard and face meet.

Optional decorations:  

1.  After the craft is assembled, glue divided cotton balls to the beard,  hat trim & circle tip (one standard cotton ball can be divided into two to three portions.  Glue a piece of dark yarn to form the smile over the cotton balls.  Tip:  For the hat trim - take one cotton ball and stretch slowly and measure over the templates .  The children can now glue these on their own.

2.  Add wiggly eyes on top of blue oval eyes.

3.  Tape the craft to a craft stick (Popsicle stick) to make a hand puppet. 

4.  Christmas tree ornament: Tape or glue a piece of ribbon/yarn (6 to 8 inches long fold in half to form a loop and attach to the back of the hat tip)  to hang as an ornament on the Christmas tree.

5.  Use the craft to decorate plain gift bags, or as a large gift tag for a large gift.

6.  For older children:  Print black & white version templates, cut out, and trace templates over fun foam sheets or clean white Styrofoam trays.  Assemble and draw in smile with permanent marker (adult) or glue a dark color pipe cleaner.  

Learning Activities:  Conduct your choice of learning activities outlined below.  Some activities need to be conducted prior to craft assembly. 

**Idea: Listen to related holiday music while doing the craft see Santa songs below

Learning Activity #1: Shapes & Color Activity

Before craft assembly:
1.  Identify the shapes for all template pieces.   Discuss the colors, on the template  or the colors chosen by the children to color the pieces.  Some children like to discuss the colors as they choose them while coloring or painting the templates.

Learning Activity #2:  Numbers/Pre-Math Activities:
To conduct these activities template pieces should be colored and cut out.

1. Sorting/Sizing/Categorizing:  Have the children sort the template shapes by size.  Have the children arrange the sorted shape piles from smallest to largest. 

2. Counting:  Count how many of each are in each pile/size.   You may want to write the numbers as you count on the blank side of the template to acquaint the children with printed numbers. 

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