For a quick craft, draw a house template or find one online. Decorate the house with photos of the children's family members and display the houses to reinforce a discussion about families. Offer craft sticks, clay, pipe cleaners, pom poms and other craft materials to the children and allow them to design their own houses.
During the holiday season, read the story "Gingerbread Baby," by Jan Brett. Use butcher paper or a large cardboard box to make a gingerbread house in the classroom pretend center. Add masks of the characters so the children can act out the story. Draw a house on brown construction paper for each child and draw candies on brightly colored card stock. Cut out the candies and glue them on the house. You can also have them make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, candy and frosting. Secure the graham crackers to small milk cartons to make them more stable. Visit www.janbrett.com for a printable house.
After reading "The Three Little Javelinas" by Susan Lowell, make houses for the little javelinas. Make a house template on white construction paper and give the children small weeds and sticks to glue on it. Mix sand, mud and water and pour into a mold, such as a cardboard milk carton. Bake the mixture or dry it in the sun to make adobe. Alternatively, read a traditional version of "The Three Little Pigs" and make houses out of straw, stricks and bricks.
After a study of animal homes, give the children clay, yarn, sticks and ribbon. Help them build a small nest out of clay and cover it with the art materials to make a bird's nest. Use cardboard boxes to make caves and burrows in the classroom.