Gingerbread is a Christmas tradition that many celebrate. One activity would be to read The Gingerbread Man story. Children are delighted at this tale. To add to this activity, print out a picture of a gingerbread man for them to color. In addition, have some little gingerbread cookies for them to sample afterward. Not only will the children have a chance to be creative, but they will also get to have a treat.
A Christmas shapes and color tree activity works on teaching colors and shapes to preschoolers. Print out a Christmas tree picture with presents around the tree. Find one on word art with multiple shapes that include presents that are square, rectangle and round. Print them out in color, allowing the children to work on their colors. Make each of the shaped presents a different color and number each one. Have each child identify the colors and have them count the number of presents. Older preschoolers that are pre-k aged can even practice writing the numbers under the presents and the colors as well. Present younger students with a black and white version for them to color.
Your preschooler will enjoy this easily made Santa hat. For each student, gather up a large sheet of red construction paper, glue, cotton balls, scissors, ruler, and pencil. In advance, use the ruler and find the center at the top of the paper using the long side. Mark the center with a dot and then draw lines down to both the left and right corners to make a triangle. Cut the triangle out. Have the children place a wide band of glue at the bottom of the hat and glue the cotton balls on two rows high to cover the entire bottom. Put some glue on the point of the hat and place a cotton ball there. For some additional pop, glue on some red glitter. When the project is dry, write each child's name on the back.
Preschoolers have less manual dexterity than older children do. Pasta is easy for toddlers to grasp and it can be used to make a pasta Christmas wreath. To start, cut the center of a large paper plate out in advance. Have the children glue the pasta all over the bare ring, making sure all areas are covered. When they are dry, help them spray the pasta entirely in green, then spray streaks of gold or silver as desired for some added glitz. Add a colored bow or some tinsel around the top of the project and write the child's name on the back.