holidays Archives - The Crafty Classroom

Love Bug Valentine’s Day Printables

I don’t know about you guys, but Valentine’s Day is much anticipated holiday at our house. I’m pretty sure it should be renamed as the “Winters Almost Over” holiday, as all the chocolate and candy hearts sure feel like a well-earned reward for making it through another Homeschool Winter.

There is just something about stir-crazy boys that makes we want to add an extra bag of chocolate hearts to my shopping cart, and stash them away in a high cupboard somewhere before the kids see them.

I love Valentine’s Day candy so much, that over the years, I’ve created a few printables that can be used alongsidee Valentine’s Day Candy; like this Conversation Hearts Graphing Activity, or these John 3:16 Valentine Cards.

Today, however, I resisted the urge to create another excuse to add more candy to my cupboards, and created this set of Love Bug printables instead. These little critters are so cute, you won’t even miss the chocolate.

First, I’ve added a super fun Love Bug Shape Activity Page.
Students follow the guide to color each shape as directed, then give each of the love bugs some creepy, crawly feet. This is a great page for students who are working on some of those more difficult shapes as I’ve included 15 different shaped bugs.

Second, for students working on cutting skills, I’ve made a set of six different Valentine Love Bugs for them to cut out. Each heart features a different critter, with a Punny Valentine message. These are great for students who want to make their own Valentine’s Day Cards.

And if you want, not saying you have to, but you could…..if Valentine’s Day Candy were to go on sale, and you were at the store anyway….you might add a little chocolate heart or a strawberry blow-pop to the back of these with a little tape or something.

To continue building fine motor skills in February, I definitely recommend that you check out our February Fine Motor Pack. It’s PACKED with over 50 activity pages and skills sheets to build small motor muscles.

10 Tips for Homeschooling around Holidays

December 20, 2017 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Life can get hectic at any point during the year, but this is especially true during the holidays. While most of these tips are written with Christmas in mind, they can apply anytime your school year gets busy.

1) Learn to say NO.

Volunteer opportunities abound during the Holidays, particularly at church. Homeschooling takes as much time as a fulltime job. Be very cognizant of not putting too much extra on your plate during this busy time. It’s okay to just say no.

2) Plan for The Time Off That You Will Need

It’s best if you plan for time off during the Holidays before you even begin the school year. Working a vacation into your lesson schedule will be a major sanity saver. Try your best to make it happen if you can. Read tips on Homeschool Scheduling Here.

3) Work on Your Kid’s Favorite Subjects

When kids are dreaming of Santa and sugar plums it will be harder for them to concentrate on their lessons. Getting ahead in favorite subjects can be a fantastic way to make this distractible time work for everyone. Better yet, try out our Holiday SMART Packs. They provide you with fun, thematic, educational content for an entire week.

4) Extra Reading Time

Even when your kids aren’t in classes, independent reading time is a great way to keep them in learning mode. Take a trip to the local library and pack in some holiday themed books! I know my children love to learn about the origination of each holiday or holidays in other countries for example.

5) Play Math and Reading Games

There are plenty of ideas online with learning games for every grade. Put some prep work in the night before and get your kids playing games that will teach them at the same time. ABCya and MathPlayground are two of our favorites.

6) Eliminate Non-Essential Chores

If there are any chores you feel comfortable eliminating for a few weeks, do it. There are plenty of nonessential things that can wait until the holidays blow over.

7) Swap sitting or hire a sitter.

Between parties, and Christmas gifts sometimes you just need extra help. If a sitter isn’t in your budget consider swapping sitting time with another family.

8) Shop Online

I love getting out of the house and shopping for presents, but let’s be honest online shopping can be a huge time saver. When you’re trying to homeschool through the holidays Amazon Prime is worth the price. Try Amazon Prime Free for 30 days Here.

9) Let Someone Else Host the Party

Logistically, sometimes it’s easiest to have the family with the biggest family, or smallest baby host the Christmas party. Consider however the amount of time and deep cleaning that will go into hosting your event. If someone else is willing to host, consider letting them.

10) Relax, and Enjoy.

Don’t let life get too hectic. Take time to sing, bake cookies, read books, make art project and absorb the season. Get plenty of pictures, and try to remember the smiles for years to come.

BONUS TIP: Try out our Holiday S.M.A.R.T. Packs for an entire week’s worth of engaging holiday learning!

Printable Thanksgiving Placemat with Bible Verse

November 13, 2017 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

This free printable Thanksgiving Placemat is perfect for your children this holiday. Featuring adorable animals and fall decorations this printable placemat reads, “Give Thanks,” and includes the bible verse, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for his is good. His mercy endureth for ever.”

This is a special sample freebie taken from our Thanksgiving Bible Activity pack, which includes a variety of low-prep activities, games, and printables for K-5 students.

Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Bible Activity Pack

35+ Pages Suggested Age K-5 $5.00

This Thanksgiving activity pack reminds children that God calls us to have a thankful heart. Christ-centered activities point students in the right direction as they learn key scripture and ways to GIVE BACK to their community in this Bible-based, Christian Activity Pack. Includes 35 pages of multi-age activities, games, worksheets, songs, crafts and more. Designed to be low-prep and hands-on to keep little hearts and minds engaged.

St. Patrick’s Day Bible Coloring

February 17, 2015 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Instead of focusing on greedy leprechauns, St. Patrick’s Day is a great opportunity to teach children about the Trinity. St. Patrick himself used the three leaves of a shamrock to explain the concept of Trinity by explaining that there was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all part of the same God.

Today I’ve made a simple coloring page or craft you can use with your students. This is a printable shamrock with the three parts of the trinity written on the front. There is a small song sung to the tune of Frere Jacques that children can cut out and glue on the back. You can turn this into a classroom art project by printing on cardstock, cutting out the shamrocks and providing children with green and gold glitter to decorate their shamrocks.

Print Here: Shamrock Trinity Coloring Page

Find More St. Patrick’s Day Crafts & Printables Here

We also have an entire Bible Verse unit for St. Patrick’s Day Here

Find Free St. Patrick’s Day File Folder Games

Here are some stories of St. Patrick you can use for your storytime lessons:

Shamrock Images (c) Monkeying Around in First

Preschool Printables

February 20, 2014 By Valerie Mcclintick 4 Comments

I have recently updated our Free Preschool Printables section of PreschoolMom.com!

We have over 30 themes with numerous printables and activities you can use in your homeschool or classroom.

Here’s a sneak peek…..Click Here for links to all these units!

Be sure to check out more resources at KindergartenMom.com

BTW- We have a separate newsletter for our Preschool Mom website!

Many of these sets include handwriting practice, alphabet themes, printable charts, file folder games, wordwall cards, crafts, science activities and more!

Alphabet Printables

American Sign Language Printables

Australia Printables

Butterfly Printables

Colors Printables

Community Helper Printables

Days of the Week Printables

Dinosaur Printables

Click Here for Full List

Pop-Up Nativity & Talking Jesus Giveaway!

November 15, 2009 By Valerie Mcclintick 500 Comments

Okay, Okay….I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet and I’m posting Christmas stuff.

But I wanted to make sure that you’d get these in time to use them for the month of December so I decided to have the giveaway in November!

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I have two sets of these to give away!

So two people will each get a Pop-Up Nativity set, and a Talking Jesus toy.

(Those are the closest links I could find for them, they’re not exact but very close, sorry.)

Anyway, the nativity set is really neat, you press out all of the different characters and buildings to created your own nativity.
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This would be fantastic for children who are learning about the nativity story, and can handle them.
(My three year old would tear them to pieces, I’m sure!)

When you’re finished the set will look something like this:

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The talking Jesus toy is also really neat! We have this at home ourselves, and my son can literally repeat verbatim what Jesus says. It’s nice because he says a few different verses as well.

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