Like yin and yang, I fill mye life with color and monochrome, for work and home. For the festive Christmas countdown at work last year I went all out making colorful feltornaments for the preschool kids. Here are some ideas I would like to share.

Color

• felt tree

As an advent calendar with focus on learning new words and syllables, there is an ornament for every child in the group. The child can feel the felt tree, feel special putting up ornaments and have fun learning. Kids need to grab it to get it! A trad.Norwegian Christmas carol sings about a “Clapland”. Base the learning of new words on clapping the syllables, really listening out the word. Add counting syllables and you get a bit of math in there aswell!

We made a bigger tree out of plywood covered in felt. The kids need a small ladder to help place the ornament. Just like the real thing. They were so excited!

• secret santa notes

Make it exciting, create a note with clues about the child who is going to put the ornament on the tree. Let the children try to guess who it is. Remember to put wonderful compliments in to every child in the group. Put the note in a Secret Santa`s bag, together with the ornament. Add something silly which isn`t a Christmas ornament. And the kids will have a laugh as you pull out the things from the bag. “What did the Secret Santa think we should do with this??? Ask if the children know what the silly thing is, make it fun:-D

• hall (-mark) greeting

Season greetings from the whole lot attending kindergarten is heartwarming and welcoming. Here is a simple way how: Take pictures of every child, digitally upload in Word or Powerpoint file, crop as figure, place into Christmas frames collected from the internet.

• stockings

I have made stockings in felt but also from paperbags. Careful with the sewing machine! You don`t want to reverse :-) For all those presents and crafts the children make for their loved ones in December it needs something to collect it in, if not wrapping paper.

• giveaway cookies

When it comes to Christmas, baking is quite essential. As a teacher or parentsgift a cookie will do the trick! Let the kids choose and glue eyes themselves on the wrapping. The more abstract, the funnier looking!

Use gingerbread cookie cutters to different cookie doughs. Get familiar with Christmas colors using icing color and let the children get creative mixing the doughs. Crushed candy can also be a cool color sensory play experience. Making elephant saddles out of candy, it will look like stained glass when melted.

• Indoor sleighride

For a final Pow Wow, the Grande Finale, the kindergarten’s Christmas party, we made sleighrides! Since outdoor sleighride competitons may be tricky due to weather (although we are pretty close to the North Pole) we made indoor sleighrides. Originally leftover cardboard boxes supported by plywood and added wheels. Ta-daaa!

I upholstered with silk and felt fabric. Use what you have! The kids certainly had a blast.

Monochrome Christmas

• hama beads

Letting children make bespoke Christmas ornaments with Hama beads is wonderful fine motorskill exercise. The ornaments will also outlast generations! In color or black and white! Unfortunate, but fortunate in this case, plastic is fantastic…! If the Hama bead lacks detail, you can lend a hand painting details in acryllic paint on top.

• reusable wrapping paper

A greener choice for the wrapping paper is using wallpaper samples for giftwrapping the advent calendar. Use silk ribbons and it can be used again and again :-)

• jewellery

Actually an old custom from the days when the idea of Christmas tree indoors was new in the 1800s. Trim the tree with strands of pearls. I used big strands bought in a toystore when my daughter was little. Now that she doesn`t play with them, The Christmas tree can have them! Any homemade, bespoke ornament with a piece of history to it, earrings or jewellery that is broken or never worn can be beautiful gems on the tree.

• homemade stockings

Go for capital letters , monograms, or try an ethnic twist, how about a Norwegian boot meets a traditional Arab slipper? :-D I have also done slender velvet stockings on requests with embroidered monograms.

• NEW years party props

Monochrome colorscheme is a natural for that black tie dinner party! Sew a small piece of silk ribbon as a napkin holder and place around black napkins. Cute bow ties! The gold party curtain is made of party plates with a shell rim, cut in circles, and yarn. Go crazy with the lengths!

Have a holly, jolly Christmas wherever you are when that time comes, and have a happy New Year!!