Polar Express, December Fun and Winter Ideas!

Polar Express is one of my favorite activities I do with my kids! Kids love it, no matter what their age!

I created this Polar Express Unit which contains everything you'll need in the month of December to plan a perfect Polar Express Day for K-1 and have activities for all of December! 

I've also created a Polar Express Unit for Grades 2-3, check it out here!

Everything you need is included- from letters to parents, invites for kids, tickets, letter from Santa, conductor hats, an emergent reader, writing paper, language arts and writing activities, math activities and winter math centers all geared for young children. 

 I've also included a write up on how I did Polar Express Day in case you need some ideas. Here are just some of the activities:

Recently updated (Dec 2022) to include even more activities! 

You'll also receive my Vehicles Pattern Activity for FREE (below) for a limited time so that kids can create a pattern center with trains!

Here are our bells from Santa!

Grab a FREEBIE color by number ! 

Color by Number Elf Freebie!

A little Christmas cheer for you... enjoy this freebie from my store for comparing numbers. Grab it here! There are 3 different levels so you can use it K-3.  Enjoy! 

CRAFTS AND IDEAS FOR THE CLASSROOM

One of my favorite crafts to make with the kids is the Five Snowman Ornament and Poem.

It's not too hard to make. Here's a quick rundown:

I use a round plastic ornament. 

This year, we used blue, gold and green. 

Before you begin, you may want to write the child's name or initials at the top of the ball.  Once you have the little hand prints done, you'll never remember who belongs to each hand print =)

1. Paint each child's hand with white paint and place the ornament in the center on their palm. The child wraps their fingers around the ornament (as if they are holding a tennis ball) and then releases it.  

2. The next day, I hand out Painty Pens to add the hat, scarf, arms, buttons,snowflakes and the face.

When all is dry, hole punch and tie on the poem with a ribbon.  All done!!

We wrapped our ornaments in a clear cellophane bag with a little tissue paper and tie it with a ribbon. They looked great!

 

.There are a few choices of poems.

There is an updated one in my store as well! 

You can grab a copy of this poem to print out at my store by clicking here!  Enjoy and happy holidays!

Other fun holiday projects:

Create Christmas trees with strips of green paper  cut in different sizes in length and have children practice putting them in size order. Add ornaments with circle stick ons or hand out small squares and have children cut off the corners to create circles. 

Another suggestion could be using the hole puncher to cut out small circles.  Complete the tree with a star. These were stars that were copied on yellow paper and cut out. 

 Students can create Menorahs:

Each student gets 10 short strips and 1 long blue strip of paper. 9 of the strips are used for candles and 1 strip is cut in half and used to create the stand.  You can use yellow tissue paper for the lights.

Reindeer are also so much fun to create

 using the student's hands:
Follow the directions below.
This is not my idea..but I do not know where the original idea came from.. please let me know if it's you!

I always like to make a cheat sheet so I know what I need for the craft at a quick glance. Here's what you need to create the reindeer:

Sock snowmen:

After reading The Snowy Day, create your own snowy day writing.  

Create the snow paint by mixing equal parts shaving cream with equal parts of glue.

Have your kids 'Elf Themselves' with this glyph. Grab it here.

Snowman Ornament:

Paint both sides of a large popsicle stick white.  Add a cute face with some sharpies and glue on some sequins or buttons.  Cut out a felt hat and tie on a felt scarf to finish the ornament. I used a hot glue gun to add on the string, but you could use regular glue ahead of time to make it easy!

Another cute idea is to do the same thing with a paint stirrer and add the inch markers to it. Use it to measure the snow!  

Need a quick and easy way to decorate your room, I created these banners which are so easy to put up. Just print, cut and fold over.  Hang up a string to hang them on and that's it.

 I usually print mine on card stock, cut them out on a paper cutter and they last! Each banner has an original chevron, polka-dot or festive background and a picture to separate words as seen below:

 Enjoy!

Grab it here.