Christmas/Advent

Personal Social and Emotional

Talk about what advent calendars are and how we use them to count the days to Christmas day. Introduce a soft toy reindeer as Rudolph. Explain the story of Rudolph and how the other reindeer wouldn’t let him play. Encourage the children to talk about feelings and think about how Rudolph might be feeling. What could the children do to help?

Communication and Language

Play a Christmas-themed attention and listening game. Place several Christmas objects on a tray and encourage the children to look carefully and discuss them. Ask the children to close their eyes and remove and hide one of the objects. Can the children recognise which object is missing? Create a Christmas display for children to look at and talk about. Provide interesting Christmas objects, such as a Nativity set, decorations, or photos for children to talk about and describe.                                                                                                    

Physical Development           

Create a follow the star physical activity! Hide paper stars around the outside area. On each star write a physical activity instruction for children to complete, such as do five-star jumps.  Play a musical ‘Christmas Freeze’ game. Play some Christmas music and when the music is paused, children should create a pose to hold until the music starts again.           

Literacy                                                                         

Read some Christmas-themed books to the children, e.g. ‘The Christmas Advent’. Encourage to talk about the story and illustrations.       

Mathematics                                                                                     

Count numbers on the advent calendar which the children make.  Around the outside area, hide some sacks or stockings containing varying numbers of presents from one to five. Invite children to find and compare the numbers of presents they find.

Understanding the World

 Encourage the children to talk about how they celebrate Christmas. What different family traditions do they have?   Fill a large activity tray with Christmas items for the children to explore and talk about. Include shatter-proof plastic baubles, tinsel, paper chains, plastic fairy lights, battery-operated candles, and pom-pom snowballs. Encourage children to talk about the differences between the materials.                                                                                                                       

Expressive Art and Design

Make a Christmas advent calendar.     Provide the children with a variety of Christmas dressing-up clothes. The children can create stories and songs as they play with others.

 Focused Vocabulary

Advent Calendar, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Crackers, Father Christmas, Santa,   Elf, Rudolph, Presents,