Practice estimation skills with a Christmas stocking game adapted from the Kaboose website. Show children a stocking and pieces of wrapped candy. Ask children to estimate the number of candies it will take to fill the stocking. Write down children's estimates on a large piece of paper. Encourage the children to help you count aloud as you drop in the candies one at a time. When the stocking is full, write the actual number of candies on the paper, and circle the name of the child whose estimate was the closest. For very large stockings, children could estimate the number of scoops of candy rather than individual pieces of candy.
Challenge children to guess the identity of an object hidden in a stocking. Choose a child to secretly place an object inside a Christmas stocking. Invite the other children to feel the object through the stocking. Write down children's guesses before revealing the object.
Help children develop listening skills with a guessing game adapted from Just Preschool Themes.com. Collect several small boxes and pairs of objects. Smaller objects that make noise when shaken are best, such as paperclips, jingle bells, uncooked noodles or pebbles. Place one object in each box and tape on the lid. Cover the boxes with Christmas wrapping paper and top each box with a bow. Children can shake each box to find a matching pair. For an extra challenge, children can guess what objects might be inside each box.
The Activity Village website suggests a Christmas-themed version of a memory matching game. Children can match the pictures on decorative paper gift tags for a simple version of the game. Increase the difficulty of the game by writing uppercase and lowercase letters, or numerals and dots, on the backs of the gift tags. To make the game using self-adhesive gift tags, stick the tags onto blank index cards that have been cut in half.
Work on shape recognition by decorating a tree with circles, triangles, stars and other shapes. Cut a green tree and colored shape ornaments from sheets of craft foam. Glue the ornaments onto the tree for a craft project. For a water game, dunk the tree into water and stick it to the side of a tile wall, a bathtub or a sensory table. Wet the foam ornaments and stick the shapes to the tree.