Christmas Goodies

The winter season is upon us and the excitement of Christmas is in the air.  We also just had two snow days in Oregon - well, one snow day and one ice day.  But, it was a Thursday and a Friday and so that meant a surprise four day weekend for everyone!  I actually caught a bit of a cold though so the time off of school was actually good timing for my health.

I will be ready for one more fun-filled week with my kinder kiddos before the winter break!  We have our winter party on Thursday and I was so excited to receive the box from Oriental Trading Company to help us celebrate!  Have you seen the goodies they have for Christmas/winter?  They have so many wonderful choices and I can't wait to share with you what I have for my students.  I am using most of these materials at our winter party on Thursday and on Friday before the winter break.

If your kiddos are anything like mine, they LOVE stickers!  As we check their work together, we talk about it, and then they often get a sticker.  They love seeing the different stickers I have and sometimes they will even ask for a certain sticker.  I know they will totally dig these big and sparkly stickers!  The great thing is, I can use the snowman and snowflake stickers in January as well!

As my students walk into my room on Thursday morning, they will walk through this beautiful snowflake door hanger!  It is cute and festive and will help jazz up our party!  And, they will enjoy walking through it each time they enter or exit the classroom.  Currently, I hung a few up in the window that looks out to the playground and they absolutely love it!  This is not one long attached door hanger, but instead, individual snowflake lines and so this allows you to hang them in many different areas of your classroom or home.  Isn't it so pretty? (FYI - this was taken about 8:30 AM.  It still looks dark out still - welcome to Oregon!)

Another cute decoration I received are these beautiful hanging Christmas print fans that are hung from our lights.  They noticed these neat decorations right away! I decided to hang these up Monday morning to start our week off with a little extra pizazz.  :) These also add a little more holiday cheer in our room!  I hung them back to back because they only have color on one side.  I added a little bit of tape once I closed them up on the back side to make sure there was not a gap in them and they are perfect!

I like to do centers at my winter party and the children love rotating around and completing each station.  One of my stations is a cute, but simple station that can be run independently if I don't have parent help.  The students will get these gingerbread sticker scenes and they will go crazy over these! The background is adorable and there are so many sticker choices and design possibilities that they will be engaged for quite awhile.  The stickers are easy to peel and these are very kid friendly!

Another sticker scene I will have my students work on is this adorable Christmas Train Sticker Scene. I will give this to my students on Friday afternoon as a calming activity just hours before winter break begins.  These will be so fun!!!!

I also got these super cute foam gingerbread house magnets.  I will let the students pick which one they want to decorate, and then they can be creative!  Each gingerbread house comes in an individual baggie so all of the supplies to create it are right there.  And, the project is also self sticking so it is super easy for the kiddos to decorate!  You will see one project out of the bag with directions, and then the others are in bags with different color gingerbread houses.

I always have an M&M sorting station and I use a packet from my TpT store that you can find at the link.  Normally, I just pour a small handful on the table and have the students sort and count.  This year though, I have these adorable Santa's Suit cupcake holders!  I will have the M&M's already poured into the cupcake holder.  This makes for a cute, and fast set up for this center!  After the math portion is finished, the students will then put the Santa Suit cupcake holder with M&M's on their party plate which can be eaten during the food portion of the party.  I can't get enough of these!

While I adore all of the goodies I received, I think my favorite item is the elf photo booth props!  I seriously can't wait to share these with my kiddos!  They will go crazy over these!  I have a parent who is a photographer and she is going to come in and take some photos for us - she has a backdrop and everything :)  These will make great photo ops and fun memories.  I will have some of the pictures printed so that each child has a photo to take home.

And..........I couldn't help but pose to try out the props!  Teehee.

Do you give your students a Christmas gift?  I always buy a book from Scholastic for $1.00.  I never wrap them though.  I usually just tie yarn in a bow around them, but I am super excited to have this cute twine and cute Christmas gift tags.  They will really jazz up my students gifts this year.  I will pass these out at the end of our winter party.

This year is going to be extra special with all of these fun goodies from OTC!  Thanks so much for stopping by and reading about the treats my students will enjoy this week.  What special things do you do with your students?

Have a great week with your kiddos and enjoy a well-deserved winter break!

**The reviews of any products in this post are based strictly on my own opinion. Others may have a different experience or opinion about the products listed above. I was provided the products free of charge by Oriental Trading Company, and after using the products, I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.