Christmas is a feast for all the senses and children’s brains use the senses for learning, interacting, and building kindergarten readiness. There’s no doubt that the sense of sight is a primary sense channel and kids will learn to use their eyes naturally. We can encourage kids to build on what they know and try different activities.
The blog, Fireflies and Mud Pies, had a fun puzzle activity using craft sticks and a picture from an old book. We looked thru some old and new Christmas cards and Big Sister chose one that was brightly colored and cut the back off. Then, she played with the sticks for a few minutes, making a chimney and fireplace.
First, we laid all the sticks in a row and being the grownup, I spread the glue on them. Kids could put the glue all over using a paint brush, but the brush had turned invisible and the white glue got used up making Santa slime. We had to use the glue ready to paste pictures into Christmas cards.
Step 2 was carefully putting the card on the sticks and leaving the project to dry. After lunch, the grownup hands did slice between the sticks using a letter opener. (The scissors were too fat.) Then, it was time to play with the puzzle. Although the picture was fairly simple, this was a challenge because the pieces were all the same shape. There were no clues about what shape matched up with others. At one point, Big Sister realized she had all the pieces in the correct order but part of the picture was upside down. Because there were some extra sticks, we made one for Little Sister too.
This was a fun activity that took a few minutes here and there to create. It didn’t take very long for playing, but it can be done over another time. There was learning value in the playing and the making. Later, the puzzle can be tucked away with the Christmas decorations for next year when it will seem like something new and old at the same time. This was very inexpensive too. Would your child like to make one for a friend?