Are you looking for a fun activity to do with your class to celebrate the holidays? This year, why not have a holiday book exchange? I’ve created a Class Holiday Book Exchange Letter for you to send home with your students to make it extra easy this year!

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Class Holiday Book Exchange

We all know that reading is important, so what better way to kick off winter break than with a new book to read?! During your holiday party is a great time to exchange books!

Send home our Class Holiday Book Exchange Letter, and make sure to fill in the date that you’d like to have the books returned.

You’ll want to have a handful of backup books wrapped up in case you have a few students who cannot or forget to bring in a book.

On the last day of school before break or during your holiday party, each student grabs the book he/she brought. Have the class sit in a circle around the carpet. You’ll want to choose a book to read ahead of time. My favorite to book to read for this activity is How Santa Got His Job. Every time that I say the word “Santa” the students will pass their book to the person next to them and so on throughout the book. When the book has been finished, everyone gets to open the book that they currently have. New books for all!

You can download the FREE Holiday Book Exchange Letter by clicking the green box below.

Tips for the holiday book exchange

• If a student ends up with the book that they brought. If this happens, ask the class if anyone wants to trade. You can also do this if a boy or girl gets a Barbie book or a Spiderman book or something of that nature and wants to trade. Simple to trade!
• If a student doesn’t bring in a book. Not a problem. Just be prepared and have a few extra books on hand that are wrapped that you can give to them. I always pick up extra books at the thrift store when I find them!

If you’re looking for some other fun holiday party game ideas, our holiday sock exchange is a similar activity but each student brings in a pair of fun socks instead. You can get the details and letter to send home for that activity here.

And we also have another fun circle time holiday game that involves candy canes. You can get the details of that game here.

Do you have any other fun game ideas that you play during your holiday party?

I hope you enjoy this special holiday season with your students!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Class Holiday Book Exchange appeared first on Primary Playground.

Halloween parties can be so much fun with your students! I have gathered up some of my favorite Halloween Party Ideas For The Classroom and am sharing them with you today! I’ve separated them into games, snacks, and activities so you can easily find some new and fun ideas that work for your classroom!

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Each of our classroom parties usually lasts one to one and a half hours. I usually plan a game, a snack, and a whole-group activity. Setting up stations is another great option! Set up four different stations that the students can rotate to if you have some parent volunteers to help out!

Games

• Spider Toss– Grab a pack of spider webs and string them across some items and have the students toss spiders into the web to try and make them stick.
• Pin the Heart on the Skeleton. – Grab a large cardboard skeleton decoration from Dollar Tree and cut out enough hearts for each student to try and pin the heart on the skeleton.
• Ghost Says – Just like Simon Says, but use Ghost says instead.
• Play Bingo – Bingo is always a hit with the students no matter the age. Grab our Halloween Bingo set here and a few small prizes or candy to give to the winners.

• Pass the Pumpkin – Play like hot potato. Play some music and pass the pumpkin. When the music stops, the person who has the pumpkin is out.
• Mummy Wrap – grab a roll of toilet paper for each team and they have to wrap up one of their teammates like a mummy.
• Play Minute to Win It Games – I have a bunch of fun Fall Minute To Win It game ideas here.

Snacks

• Make Monster Mash – Put out a bunch of different snack options and let the students make their own Monster Mash! Some great options would be chocolate chips, marshmallows, blue chips, Cheetos, popcorn, and candy corn. Have them put it into a small baggie or cup so they can enjoy their snack.
• Caramel Apple Bar – Cut apples into slices using an apple cutter. The students can then use a skewer to dip their apple slice into some caramel or chocolate and then add some toppings like, mini chocolate chips, mini M&M’s, or spinkles.
• Make Monster Popcorn Hands– You’ll need clear disposable gloves, candy corn, popcorn, and a ribbon or pipe cleaner for each student. Optional – Halloween spider rings. First, you’ll have the students put a candy corn piece in each of the fingers. Next, fill the glove with popcorn. Last, tie the glove up with a pipe cleaner or ribbon and the student can add a spider ring if you have the.

Activities

• Dance and Freeze– use Halloween music
• Bobbing for Donuts – hang a few strings from the ceiling and attach a mini donut to each. Have the students hold their hands behind their backs and try to eat the donut off.
• Halloween Directed Drawing. – lots of great options on Art for Kids Hub.

• Have a Costume Parade- You can plan something school wide, or just take your class and pick a route to walk around the school to let the students show off their costumes.
• Make Mystery Boxes- Make different boxes the students can put their hands in and not see the contents of the box. They can touch several different things and try to guess what they are. Coming up with creative names for the items is always an extra bit of fun!
• Pain Mini Pumpkins– Grab some paint and brushes and let the students decorate their own mini pumpkins.

• Make A Craft – This cat newspaper collage is a fun one that we’ve done for a few years and is always a hit.
• Halloween Fun Pack – This is a great option to have your students work on the activities and play the games while they are waiting for their turn to play a game or make their snack. Grab the Halloween Fun Pack here.

Hopefully, you have got some new Halloween Party Ideas for the Classroom! If you’re looking for even more ideas, in the past I have shared another post with even more Halloween party ideas here. And I have a bunch of Fall Party Ideas here that you can check out too.

Hope you have a fantastic time with your students during your Halloween party!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Halloween Party Ideas for the Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

I’m seeing hearts everywhere which means Valentine’s Day is coming! Today I have a fun LoVe Bug Hat, perfect for your students to make and wear! There are so many fun ways you could use this Free Printable Love Bug Hat! Keep reading for some of our favorite ideas!

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this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

There are so many fun ways you could use this hat! Here are some ideas:

• Have your students make the love bug hats as part of your Valentine’s Day party! You could have them make them at the beginning of the party to wear, or use it as one of your party/center rotations. Here are some more ideas for your Valentine’s Day party too.

• Have your class make the love bug hats. Then, read your class LuLu the Love Bug. It’s a great story about a love bug that is having a hard time making friends. Each new friend she reaches out to only points out how different they are and how they could not be friends. In the end, she realizes how you can be friends with anyone, even if you are very different.

• The students can make their love bug hats and then read one of our suggested read-alouds and make the literacy snack to go along with the book. You can check out The Day It Rained Hearts here., A Crankenstein Valentine here, and Love Monster and the Last Chocolate here.

Free Printable Love Bug Hat

To make the love bug hat, simply print the 2 pages of the hat out for each student. You can use card stock to make it more sturdy or just plain paper will work just fine too. Have the students color the hat and cut out the 2 pieces.

Have an adult help them staple it together to form the hat. You could also have them attach it to a sentence strip or as another option if you need to make the hat larger for some kiddos, print out a few extra of the back strap pages and use them to extend the hats.

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Love Bug Hat.

Here are some of our other favorite Valentine’s Day activities!

This heart sort is a great way to practice phonological awareness! The students will sort the hearts into the correct bucket depending on whether it’s a real word or a nonsense word. You can grab the set here.

This quick-prep Valentine’s Day A to Z write the room center is a perfect way to incorporate movement in your reading / ELA center rotation. This is a great way to allow your students to get up and move about the classroom while being on task. They are a great way to introduce students to new vocabulary too!

Do you have any fun Valentine’s Day activities you like to do with your students? I hope they enjoy these fun hats to make the day special!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Love Bug Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

This Snowman Paper Bag Craft is a fun and easy craft idea! Keep reading to download the template so your class can make some of their own!

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Supplies Needed For The Craft

• A white paper bag for each student – I found mine at Walmart
• Glue sticks
• Scissors
• Black Sharpie, marker, or crayon
• Crayons
• Printed Template – you can find it at the bottom of the post.

To make the Snowman Paper Bag Craft

First, have the students start by coloring all of the pieces on the printed template. Next, they will cut out all of the pieces. They can then glue them all onto the white paper bag creating their snowman! Super easy, and cute to make!

These snowman paper bags would make a fun addition to your winter class party! The students can make it as a craft during the party and then can use it to bring home all of their goodies from the party. Another fun idea would to have the students make the snowman paper bag and use it as a gift bag to wrap up a gift they’ve made for their family. Our snowman ornaments would be a perfect fit if you need a quick and easy idea!

You can download the template by clicking the green box below.

Let us know if you have your class make these adorable snowman paper bags!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Snowman Paper Bag Craft appeared first on Primary Playground.

I LOVE making hats for little learners to wear! They are always such a fun, engaging activity for the kids, and they just adore wearing them around school. They are always a great conversation starter to share with their families what they’ve done at school. Today I have a fun Free Printable Snowman Hat that can be used in many different ways!

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There are so many fun ways you could use this hat! Here are some ideas:

• Have you class make the snowman hats. Then, read your class a snowman book. There are so many fantastic ones to choose from! To make it even more special, sip on some hot cocoa too!

• Make the snowman hat as part of your winter party! You can start your party with the activity or use it as one of the stations the students will visit during the party!
• Have your students make their snowman hats, and watch The Snowman on Amazon Prime.

• Have your students make the snowman hats and spend an hour playing Winter Minute To Win It games!

• The students can make their snowman hats and then read one of our suggested read-alouds and make the literacy snack to go along with the book. You can check out All You Need for a Snowman here.

• Lastly, add it to your student’s experience of the activity of How To Build A Snowman. This is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn. The hat goes along perfectly, as there are different items for the snowman that the students can color on the back strap of the hat.

Free Printable Snowman Hat

To make the snowman hat, simply print the 2 pages of the hat out for each student. You can use card stock to make it more sturdy or just plain paper will work just fine too. Have the students color the hat and cut out the 2 pieces.

Have an adult help them staple it together to form the hat. You could also have them attach it to a sentence strip or as another option if you need to make the hat larger for some kiddos, print out a few extra of the back strap pages and use them to extend the hats.

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Snowman Hat.

Here are some of our other favorite snowman activities!

Bingo is always a hit any time with the kids! This snowman bingo is great since you can use it all season long!

These are such a fun addition to your winter centers! These activities are engaging, educational, and fun! They cover beginning sounds, CVC words, ten frames, number sense and addition to 10. Find out more about the Snowman Literacy and Math Centers Bundle here.

And if you’re looking for some great activities for the last few days before Winter Break with a snowman theme we’ve got you covered! Lots of great NO PREP math and literacy activities in this Snowman Activities Pack!

Do you have any other fun snowman activities you like to do with your students? I hope they enjoy these fun hats to make the day special!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Snowman Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

Are you looking for an easy and inexpensive ornament to have your students make as gifts this year? You’ll love this Snowman Paint Stick Ornament! Such a cute gift idea! As a parent, I am so thankful for my own kids teachers for helping them make these special ornaments or gift each year for our family. They will be cherrished and are excited to see them come back out and onto the tree each year.

Keep reading to get all of the details.

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this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Supplies Needed

You’ll need a few supplies to make the Snowman Paint Stick Ornament.

• Paint sticks – one per student
• Popsicle craft sticks – one per student
• Googly eyes – 2 per student
• Buttons, mini pom pom balls, or jewels – 3 per student
• Ribbon
• Glue or hot glue
• White and black acrylic paint
• Paint brushes
• Black Sharpie
• Orange Sharpie
• Twine or baker twine
• Picture of the student for the back of the ornament if possible

Make the Snowman Ornament

To make the ornament, have each student start by using a black sharpie to make a line across the stick where the paint stick curves in. See picture below.

Next, have the students paint the smaller top portion above the line black. They will also paint the popsicle stick black at this time as well. Set aside and let dry. Once the paint is dry, have them paint the bottom portion of the stick white and set aside to let it dry.

Once the paint is dry the students are ready to create their snowman. Have them choose their ribbon and decorations.

To attach everything to the snowman, you can either use glue or hot glue. If you want to have the students do everything on their own, use the glue, it will just need extra time to dry. Or you can use a glue gun and help them attach the items they’ve chose to their paint stick. Glue the painted popsicle stick where the black and white paint meet to make the hat. Add the eyes, and the decorative items they’ve chosen. They can then use the markers to add black dots for the mouth and the nose. Tie the ribbon on as the snowmans scarf.

Once the snowman is complete, make sure to turn over the popsicle stick and attach a small picture of the student if you have one, and have them write their name and the year.

And there you have a super cute and easy ornamnet idea! You may want to check out our other paint stick ornament idea too, you can get the instructions for that one here.

Let us know in the comments below if you make these with your class!

See you next time!

Jenette

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Teacher appreciation day is quickly approaching and I was looking for a new idea to give my own kids’ teachers this year. Today, I’m sharing these Teacher Appreciation Day Cookie Tags as a fun, easy, and inexpensive gift idea.

Our family has enjoyed a new cookie shop that has opened near our home a few times over the last month called Crumbl. I thought these cookies would make a perfect little gift to bring to their teachers, because who doesn’t like a great cookie?!

Teacher Appreciation Day Cookie Tags

I made two different types of tags. For the first one, the supplies you’ll need are as follows

• Download and print the printable tag
• glue stick
• scissors
• cookie box to attach the tag to

You’ll just simply download and print the cookie tag. Cut them out and use a glue stick to glue them onto the cookie box. If you don’t have a cookie shop like this with boxes, you could always buy a container of cookies from the grocery store bakery and glue the tag onto that. Any cookies are always welcome!

Option number two.

The second option is for a gift card. You’ll simply download the printable tag and use some tape to keep the gift card attached. You could always cut a couple of little slits in the paper if you’re printing on cardstock to set the gift card in as well. The gift card could be for a cookie place but definitely does not have to be. How about their favorite coffee shop? Target, amazon?

Click the green box below to download the free printable cookie gift tags.

Let me know if you decide to use these fun tags as your gift this year for your kids. I’d love to have you tag me on Instagram or share on my Facebook page here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Teacher Appreciation Day Cookie Tags appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

It’s that time of year again to start thinking about class holiday parties. I’ve gathered up some of my favorite Reindeer Theme Class Party Ideas. There’s something about those cute reindeer that I just can’t get enough of! I’m sharing some snack ideas, crafts, and a game so keep reading to find out more.

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For my class parties, I always like to have some fun activities but like to keep things simple. Usually, we only have about an hour and a half for the party and hopefully, a parent volunteer or two to help out. I get everything possible done before the day of the party so things run quickly and smoothly.

If you have volunteers, setting up stations for them to come to is extremely helpful and while they are waiting for their turn sitting at their desk, they can be making their reindeer hats and eating their snacks.

To get the party started, everyone made reindeer hats to wear during the party. You can download the reindeer hat template for FREE here.

Snack Ideas

Reindeer Water Bottles

Water bottles are my go-to during class parties. So much easier to avoid any spills etc with juice and other drinks. But just because we’re having water doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.

I dressed up the bottles to make them into reindeer by taking off the label and hot gluing googly eyes and red pom pom balls onto the water bottles. Then I wrapped a pipe cleaner around just below the lid and added two extra small pieces to each end to make antlers. You can actually grab a whole craft set from Amazon here that includes the pipe cleaners, eyes, and pom poms.

Reindeer Pudding Cup Snack

For our snack, I made reindeer pudding cups, and then the students got to add extra ingredients during the party. I added the same googly eyes and red pom poms to the chocolate pudding cups.

During the party, each student got 2 small candy canes to add as the antlers and 1 Christmas Oreo to crumble up on top. They were a huge hit with the kids!

Craft Ideas

So our first craft was the reindeer hats but now how about making something fun as a parent gift from the students since you probably have some extra volunteer hands.

Handprint Reindeer Ornament

We’ve made 2 different reindeer ornaments in the past. The first is an adorable handprint render ornament. You can never go wrong with a handprint ornament! For this one, you’ll need brown cardstock, brown paint, larger googly eye,s and a larger red pom pom for the nose.

To make the ornament, start by cutting each of the brown pieces of cardstock in half. Have each student make a brown handprint on the paper. While they are drying, on the leftover part of the brown cardstock, have them write their name and year and cut that part out.

After they dry, have your student cut out around the handprint too. Next, glue the brown paper that they wrote their name and year onto the back of the handprint. This is a great place to add a school photo of them as well on the back. Lasly, laminate the handprint. and then help them hot glue on the eyes and the nose. Use a small hole punch to add a hotel and tie a ribbon or string so it can hang.

Reindeer Ornament

The second option is also a reindeer ornament using a clear plastic ornament. For this one, you’ll need a clear plastic ornament for each student. I find mine at Michael’s and I use the type that can be filled from the top, not the shell ones that can be opened in half. You’ll also need brown crinkle cut paper filler, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and a red pom pom.

Have the students stuff the brown crinkle paper into the plastic ornament and add the top back on. Then help them hot glue on the eyes and nose, Use a pipe cleaner to add the antlers at the end. You can use a Sharpie paint pen on the back of the ornament if you want to have them write their name and year.

Reindeer Gift Bag

And then once the reindeer ornaments are complete, you need a fun way to gift wrap them right? Check out these fun reindeer gift bags that are super easy for the kids to make too!

Games and Activities

Reindeer Food

Another one of our stations is making reindeer food. Such a quick and fun activity for the kids to be able to take home with them to share with their families. You can get the details of the supplies you’ll need for this activity and print out the FREE bag topper here.

And lastly, our game to play to finish out our holiday party, Reindeer Bingo! Always such a hit with the kids. Christmas M&M’s make a fun way to make their cards. Hand out candy canes to the winner of each game to keep it inexpensive and fun. You can grab the reindeer bingo here.

Whew and now it’s time to go home, but what a fantastic reindeer-filled time we had! Do you have any other fun reindeer ideas that you’ve done in the past? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Reindeer Theme Class Party Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you need a quick, easy and yummy snack idea for your class party? I’ve got you covered with this harvest mix! Make sure to grab the Free Printable Harvest Mix Bag Topper too!

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Supplies Needed

• pretzels sticks
• chocolate chips
• Autumn candy mix
• Rice Chex cereal
• mini marshmallows
• bowls
• spoons
• snack bags
• stapler
• scissors
• free harvest mix bag topper (download at the end of the post)

Before the party, you’ll want to download, print and cut out the harvest mix bag toppers so they are ready to go. To get ready for the party, you’ll want to put each snack item in their own bowls and add a spoon.

During the party, it is easiest to have the students come up 4 students at a time. They will each need a snack bag, and they can fill it with items from the table to make the harvest mix. When they are done, they can take the bag topper, fold it in half and shape it to the top of the snack bag.

They can then take it home if you just want this to be a fun activity or they can enjoy their snack in class. Another option would be for you to pre-make this for each student and let them enjoy it during your fall class party.

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Harvest Mix Bag Topper.

If you need some more ideas for your fall class party, I share a ton of easy ideas here.

I hope your students have a fun time making their harvest mix snacks!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Harvest Mix Bag Topper appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you need a fun idea for the last week or day of school? Your class will have a fun time playing this Free End Of The Year Classmates Bingo!

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The bingo card is full of fun questions about their classmates. Things such as someone that has two pets, someone that is left-handed to someone that is going to summer camp.

End Of The Year Classmates Bingo

I made two different versions. The first option has lines in each bingo square for the students to walk around and ask their classmates the questions.

They can fill in the classmate’s name on the line when they find someone who meets the prompt in the box. You can have them just fill in a row for bingo or you can take it further and do a fun different bingo shape or even a blackout!

The second option bingo card has only the prompt in each square. For this version, you can play as a whole class. You can ask the prompt to the whole class and have them raise their hand if it’s them.

As a class, you can see if you can fill in the entire bingo card by finding a classmate that meets each prompt. It’s such a fun community-building activity.

I’ve made each of the two versions available to print in both color and black and white.

You can download the Free End Of The Year Classmates Bingo from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you need another fun activity for the last day of school, I have this fun End Of School Year Scavenger Hunt! Just another fun activity to keep the kids busy during the last bit of time you have left with them.

You can click the scavenger hunt image, save it and print it for your students to do, or even put it up on the smartboard and do it as a class. If you would like the printable version of the scavenger hunt, you can find that here.

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What are some of the fun activities you like to do with your class on the last day of school?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free End Of The Year Classmates Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.

I wanted to share a fun little paper bag reindeer craft we put together last year right before winter break. I had some extra red glitter foam ornament circles left over and thought they would make cute Rudolph noses so here we are!

They work great as a craft, or if you’re having a winter party, they make a great way to carry home any fun items they may receive or make. The paper bag reindeer craft could also be used to wrap parent gifts that they make too!

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Supplies you’ll Need

Each student will need

1 paper bag

the eyes, nose and antler template that you can download below

glue stick

Sharpie or crayon

Optional – Instead of using the nose from the template, you can use red glitter foam and cut the circle for the nose to use. Or you could always use the nose from the template and add some red glitter to that too.

To Assemble

To make the paper bag reindeer craft, you’ll start by cutting out the eyes, nose and antlers. If you’re not printing on colored paper you’ll want to have the students color the pieces before cutting them out. After the items are cut out, they can glue them onto the bag. Use a sharpie or crayon to draw on the mouth and any other special details they may want to add.

Perfect for taking goodies home after your winter party or wrapping up their parent’s/caregivers gifts!

Click the green box to download the paper bag reindeer craft template.

If you’re looking for some more fun reindeer activities we have a bunch of fun ideas!

Your students will have so much fun wearing these cute reindeer hats! You can grab it for free here.

Reindeer bingo would be the perfect addition to your winter party along with making these paper bag reindeer. You can check out our reindeer bingo here.

And another fun activity to add to your winter party is making reindeer food! Click here to get all the details.

If you’re class makes the paper bag reminder craft, we’d love to see them! Share with us on Facebook here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Paper Bag Reindeer Craft appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Truth be told, I’m kind of obsessed with reindeer at Christmas time. I mean aren’t they just ADORABLE?! So I love to do many fun activities centered around them. Today I’m sharing a super cute Free Printable Reindeer Hat.

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There are so many fun ways you could use this hat! Here are some ideas:

• After your students have made their hats, read aloud to your class, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer while sipping some yummy hot chocolate.

• Watch the Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer movie and have the kids color and cut out the hats while watching.

• Use the reindeer hats as one of your holiday party activities, We’ve made them from construction paper and google eyes, etc before, but these are soooo much easier and faster for the little ones to make.

• Have your students make the reindeer hats and spend an hour playing reindeer games!

• Have your students make the reindeer hat and then make reindeer food to go along with for them to sprinkle at home on Christmas eve.

Free Printable Reindeer Hat

To make the reindeer hat, simply print the 2 pages of the hat out for each student. You can use card stock to make it more sturdy or just plain paper will work just fine too. Have the students color the hat and cut out the 2 pieces.

Have an adult help them staple it together to form the hat. You could also have them attach it to a sentence strip or as another option if you need to make the hat larger for some kiddos, print out a few extra of the back strap pages and use them to extend the hats.

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Reindeer Hat.

Here are some of our other favorite reindeer activities!

These reindeer counting mats are such a fun addition to your math centers during your reindeer week. Your students will practice counting by adding red pom pom balls, or Rudolph noses onto the paper and can then practice writing the number.

Or this reindeer craft with writing prompts is such a fun craft for the kids to make and looks ADORABLE hanging in the hallway!

Or maybe your class is working on their 2D shapes right now. We have a reindeer as part of our 2D shape crafts set. You can find out more about those here.

Do you have any other fun reindeer activities you like to do with your students? I hope they enjoy these fun hats to make the day special!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Reindeer Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

Does your school have a Halloween carnival? Ours does and guess who got volunteered to be in charge of the Creepy Cake Walk? Me! So today I’m sharing with you the Creepy Cake Walk Numbers that I made for our event.

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Truth be told, the cake walk has always been one of my favorite activities at carnivals. We’ve changed it up a bit over the years at our school and do not give out actual cakes anymore, but cupcakes to each winner. We’ve also done Creepy Book Walks, in which the winner will get to choose a Halloween book! That’s my favorite!

You can use these Creepy Cake Walk Numbers for a large school-wide carnival, or you could use them in the classroom as part of your Halloween party. Your students will LOVE it!

Find a great Halloween music station on Pandora or Spotify to play on your phone or through your smart board and you’re set to go!

Cake Walk Instructions

Just in case you haven’t done a cakewalk before, here’s a quick review of the game. Download, print, and laminate the Creepy Cakewalk Numbers. I made numbers go up to 30 but you can use as many numbers as you’d like to depending on how many people you want to play at once. Use duct tape or painter’s tape to secure the numbers to the floor where you will be playing. Print and cut out the calling numbers and place them in a container that you can draw from when playing the game.

To play, have a person stand on each number. Turn some fun Halloween music on, and have everyone walk in a circle until the music stops. Draw a number out of the container and the person standing on that number is the winner! The game is now over and the next group of people get to come in and play.

You can download the Creepy Cake Walk Numbers below.

And in case your school doesn’t do Halloween, I have a set of Fall Cake Walk Numbers that you can grab here.

What is your favorite game to play at your school carnival?

See you next time!

Jenette

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Have you ever played minute to win it games in your classroom? The games are obviously always fun, but really they can also be categorized as stem activities too! We are also practicing our fine motor skills and sorting but your little learners won’t even realize it I’m sharing 5 of our favorite Fall Minute To Win It Ideas with you.

These games are perfect to play during your fall class party. You can set up 5 different rotations and separate the class into groups. Ask for parent volunteers to come in and help be a guide for each game.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

I’ve made table tents that you can print as well with the game’s name on them along with the game’s instructions. It’s made it so much easier when I use these in the classroom. My parent volunteers can just read the back to get the instructions and it makes things so much easier for us all. You can download them for free at the bottom of the post.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Harvest Sort

You’ll need:

a cup

a tray

different sorting materials – we used candy corn, candy pumpkins, plastic leaf table scatter I found at Hobby Lobby, and acorns.

instructions: In this game, the students will sort as many of the items in the cup as they can in one minute.

Candy Corn Stack It

You’ll need:

bag of candy corn

Instructions: The students will see how many candy corn they can stand up in one minute.

Leaf Blower

You’ll need:

2 leaves, they can be real leaves that are dried out or fake leaves.

straws

Instructions: Two students will use a new straw to blow/race the leaf to the other end of the table.

Pumpkin Toss

You’ll need:

A bag of candy pumpkins

2 cups per team of 2 students

Instructions: There are two students per team. Have them stand 6 feet apart. The students will try to toss as many pumpkins in the cup their teammate is holding as they can in one minute.

Buckets of Acorns

You’ll need:

2 bowls

jumbo kid tweezers

A bunch of acorns – if you don’t have acorns where you live, you could use brown pom poms.

Instructions: The students will have one minute to try and get as many acorns as they can into the empty bowl using only the tweezers.

You can download the Fall Minute To Win It Ideas game table tents below.

Do you have any other fun games you like to play?

See you next time!

Jenette

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Volunteers can be an invaluable resource for teachers! You may have the volunteers but wondering, how do I use them in the classroom? It can be overwhelming when you have people volunteering but don’t know what to have them do for you. I’m going to share how to use those volunteers in the classroom.

There are all types of parents and grandparents that would love to help but just don’t always know how or aren’t able to come in during the school day but are still willing to help.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Volunteers in the classroom

• Make copies
• Laminate
• Hole-Punching/binding student work to make books
• Assist students with a craft project
• Put together book orders
• Help with math or reading centers
• Help in the school garden
• Assist/monitor students on the computers or iPads
• Put flyers in folders/cubbies/mailboxes
• One on one help with students that need extra help
• Be a room parent and set up class parties
• Organize/level books in the classroom library
• Prep center activities
• Sharpen pencils
• Taking down/hang up bulletin boards
• Taking down/hanging up student work
• One on one reading with students
• Guided reading groups
• Assist with lunch (huge help in the first 2 weeks of school with kinders).

Volunteers from home

• Cut laminated materials
• Donating items to the classroom
• Separate Scholastic magazines (why do they send them that way?)

Your once in a while volunteers that work full-time

• Be a guest/mystery reader
• Chaperone field trips
• Donating items to the classroom
• Help room parent with class parties

Now that you have a ton of ideas of different ways to use your volunteers, make sure to check my post about how to get your classroom ready for volunteers.

And if you’d like even more guidance and printables to help you along with the process, you might like our parent volunteer pack.

Do you have any other ideas of ways to use volunteers in your classroom?

See you next time!

Jenette

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Today I’m sharing another fun little treat idea with a free printable appreciation tag to go along with it. There are so many important people that help us each day at school and this is a great inexpensive way to let them know how much you appreciate them.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

This would work great to give to your teammates, volunteers, para’s, staff, or really anyone on campus!

Free Printable Appreciation Tag

Simply, download the appreciation tag at the bottom of the post, cut them out, and staple them onto a bag of animal crackers or cookies.

A great little pick me up for anyone!

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

If you’re looking for even more appreciation ideas, you may like our Nacho Average Gift Tags too. You can check those out and download them here.

What is your favorite way to show people that you appreciate everything that they do?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Appreciation Tag appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Making reindeer food is one of our favorite activities to do during our holiday party. It’s a quick and easy project for the students that they get to take home with them and share with their family.

THIS RESOURCE WORKS WELL WITH

Items needed

2 large containers of oatmeal

4 bottles of colored sugar sprinkles

a box of snack size baggies

a large bowl

a scoop or spoon for the oats – a 1/2 cup measuring spoon is the perfect amount in a snack bag

free printable reindeer food bag topper (at the bottom of the post)

stapler

To Assemble

I pour the oatmeal into a large bowl. Each student will scoop 1/2 cup of the oats into their snack bag. Next, they get to shake some sprinkles into their baggie. We always use sprinkles and never glitter for this since they will be spreading this on the lawn. You don’t want the birds to end up eating the glitter. After they have a good about of sprinkles in their bag, have them seal it up. They can then shake the bag to help mix in the sprinkles. Help them add the free printable reindeer food bag topper by stapling it on. Now they’re done and have a fun activity to take home and share with their family on Christmas Eve.

Click the green box to download the free printable reindeer food bag toppers.

If you’re looking for some more fun ideas you could use during a holiday party, you might like How To Make Hot Chocolate In the Classroom.

Or learn how to host a holiday sock exchange in your classroom.

Do you have any other fun activities you do with your class this time of year?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Reindeer Food Bag Topper appeared first on Primary Playground.

Our class had such a FUN time with our holiday class holiday sock exchange last year! Kids still come up to me months later and tell me that they wore their holiday socks they got just the other day. It’s one of the most memorable activities that we’ve ever done at one of our class holiday parties.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Supplies you’ll need

You will need one pair of holiday socks for each student.

wrapping paper and wrapping supplies

a book to read – I chose Santa’s Underwear

I chose to purchase all of the socks on my own but I’ve made a free printable note to send home requesting that each student send in a pair of wrapped holiday socks for the exchange. You can download the free printable at the bottom of this post. If you choose to do it this way, just make sure that you have enough backup pairs for any students that didn’t bring in a pair so everyone can participate.

To Play

I like to play this game to get our party starts so that the kids can wear their new holiday socks during the whole party.

You may have played a game similar to this before, but I changed it up a bit so anyone can play it easily. Normally you read a story and pass the wrapped socks back and forth when the words right and left are read. Instead, I chose a book that I wanted to read to the class, Santa’s Underwear. You can’t go wrong with a book like this, underwear is a magical word in any class as you know. So I read the book to the class, and every time that I said the word, underwear, they had to pass the wrapped gift.

Since I was the one who bought the socks and wrapped them all up, the students didn’t know what it was that they were passing around. I heard a few whispers that they were passing around wrapped underwear since they feel similar. Exactly what I was hoping for! When the story is finished, the students can open the gift they have in their hands. Everyone put on their socks and wore them for the rest of our party.

If you’d like to send home a flyer to have the students send in wrapped socks for the party, you can download the free printable below.

I hope your students love this holiday tradition as much as mine do!

See you next time!

Jenette

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We get out of school in May, but we like to still celebrate these awesome men in our children’s lives before the end of the school year. Figuring out what to have the dad’s come in and do on the other hand is a bit tricky. Mother’s day is much easier with options like a tea party, a spa day, or making a craft. Hence, I came up with 4 fun donut minute to win it games that can easily be played in a classroom with dads or even be used in a whole school setting if your school celebrates that way. Here are my Donuts With Dad- Donut Minute to Win It game ideas!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Donut Memory Game

I created this quick memory game that works perfectly as a donut minute to win it station. The student and their guest will work together to see if they can find all of the correct matches in one minute.

You can download the game below by clicking the green box.

Donut Hole Toss

For this game, you’ll need a donut inner tube (I found mine in the Target Dollar Spot) and some white balls. They are the same ones that I used as snowballs for these winter minute to win it games and as bunny tails in these spring minute to win it games. You could always use rolled-up socks, cotton balls, or marshmallows too. To play the game, have the players see how many mini donuts they can toss into the donut hole in one minute.

Donut Munch

This is one of my favorites to watch! You’ll need a ball of yarn, tape, and mini donuts. Tie a piece of yarn through the donut and tape it from the ceiling. The student and their guest will have one minute to see if they can eat the donut without using their hands, only their mouths. 

And the last game we play is

Donut Stack

My kids just can’t get enough of stacking things so we’re bringing it back again. You’ll need 6 or 7 mini donuts per player for this game. Have the players stack the donuts as high as they can without them toppling over in one minute.

And one last fun option for you would be to do a donut walk, just like a cakewalk. You can find the numbers here to make the setup super quick and easy! You can grab the donut cakewalk numbers here.

I hope this gives you some fun ideas to play for your Donuts With Dad- Donut Minute to Win It when you have dads come into your classroom!

See you next time!

Jenette

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A couple of years ago, my daughter’s teacher was retiring. I knew I wanted to send her off with something fantastic! I thought what could be better than having all her students make something for her. So, here is my teacher retirement gift idea!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

I created a Happy Retirement book for the kids to each write about what they think their teacher should do when they retire. I bound it in our workroom, but it can also be done at Staples if the school doesn’t have one.

The students had some very creative and overall completely sweet ideas of what she should do when she retired.

You can find the retirement book here.

We also collected money from anyone that wanted to donate towards her gift. We chose to get her a bunch of different gift cards now that she has time to enjoy them! I taped the gift cards to wooden skewers and placed them into some flowers I picked up from the grocery store. We ended up getting two since we had so many gift cards. She absolutely loved the book and got such a kick out of some of her student’s answers. Something that will be treasured always!

If you have a male teacher that is retiring, a plant is a great alternative to the flowers. My son had a male teacher last year, and this was the end-of-the-year gift we gave him. He mentioned to my son that the plant had doubled in size over the summer!

This would make a fantastic and memorable retirement gift for not just teachers, but aides, principals, custodians, secretaries, nurses, or librarians. A lot of different options!

I also made one more set if the beach theme isn’t for you.  You can find that one here.

And if you have a student teacher, we have some great gift ideas for them too here!

Happy gift giving!

See you next time!

Jenette

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We all know how hard teachers work, so why not give them an extra special little treat during teacher appreciation week. I’m sharing a teacher appreciation day treat that I “snuck” into our teacher’s lounge last year.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

This is a super quick and easy way to say thank you to all of our teachers and co-workers. I thought ice cream would be a perfect treat since we’re in the 100s here in Arizona by the first week in May.

I went to the grocery store and purchased five boxes of Blue Bunny ice cream cones and sandwiches. (They were on sale 5 boxes for $10, yay!) I put them into our freezers (we’re lucky to have two refrigerators in our lounge) I made up this cute sign to let everyone know where to find their special treats and placed it on the table.

Everyone truly appreciated it and I was still hearing about it over the next couple of weeks. Something small like this can go a long way!

You can download the Teacher Appreciation Day Treat free printable sign below by clicking the green box below. You will need Powerpoint to do so. I made the file editable so you can add in your name or “who” it’s from.

Enjoy your treats and thank you for all your hard work each and every day!

Jenette

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With teacher appreciation day quickly approaching, I wanted to share a couple of fun fingerprint teacher appreciation gift ideas with you that I helped make for my own kids’ teachers last year.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

My daughter’s class did a huge unit on butterflies. They got to watch the life cycle and even took a field trip to the Butterfly Wonderland. Since this was such a memorable part of the year for the class, I decided to base the class teacher appreciation gift around butterflies. The project is great since it doesn’t cost very much and is quick to do with the students.

Supplies needed

Ink pads – I had three colors I let the students choose from for the butterflies – I got mine at Hobby Lobby

Free printable – You can download it below

Fine tip Sharpie

Frame

Assemble

This project is a quick one and should take about 30 minutes at the most to get through all of the students in the class. I like to set up a little area just outside the classroom door or if you have a nearby empty room or library close by that would work too.

I bring three students out at a time and let them put their fingerprints down four times as the butterfly wings. I then use a fine tip Sharpie to write their name under their butterfly. I send the student back in to tap another on the shoulder to send them out so we don’t disrupt the classroom.

After all, the students have made their butterflies and they are dry. I went back and filled in the butterfly body and antennae using the fine tip Sharpie. Pop it in a frame and you are ready to gift it!

To keep with our butterfly theme for the teacher, we also decorated her door for teacher appreciation week. While I had the students outside doing their fingerprints, I also printed some butterflies for them to color quickly. I took them home and cut them out and we decorated the door with them. Her teacher absolutely LOVED it!

Bee

My son had a male teacher last year, so I didn’t think butterflies were the best fit for him. Instead, we went with bees. He was always encouraging the students and telling them that he believes in them so this worked out just perfect. You’ll need the same supplies as above, but only a yellow ink pad. Follow the same steps, adding wings, lines, antennae, and an eye to each one after their dry.

You can download the Fingerprint Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea free printable to make these by clicking the green box below.

I hope this class gift makes a teacher smile today!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Fingerprint Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea appeared first on Primary Playground.

I have 5 fun spring minute to win it games for the students to play. Everything you need for the games is easy to find and you probably have most of it on hand already. In these games, the students will be doing stem, and practicing their counting, color matching, and fine motor skills.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WTIH

Spring Minute To Win It In The Classroom

Egg Match

Supplies needed

A bunch of plastic colored eggs – the more colors the better!

A container to put the eggs in

Take apart each of the plastic eggs. The students will quickly choose a half of an egg and try to find it’s color match and then put it into the basket. Try to match and put together the most eggs in one minute.

Egg Drop

Supplies Needed

Plastic spoons

Plastic eggs

This is a fun one to do with teams. The students will place the plastic egg on the spoon and try to carefully walk to their teammate without the egg dropping. If the egg drops they will go back to where they started. The first team to finish is the winner or see how many students can make it within one minute.

Bunny Tail Toss

Supplies Needed

Bunny tails – I found actual “bunny tails” in the Dollar Spot at Target. You can also use snowballs, socks rolled up, cotton balls or even marshmallows.

A basket

The students will try to see how many bunny tails they can toss in the basket within a minute. Make it a bit more challenging by having them toss from further away. You can have another students help retrieve the missed bunny tails and bring them back quickly or you can have that be part of the fun for the tosser.

Jellybean Jumble

Supplies needed

Free printable jellybean mat

A bag of jellybeans

Print out the jellybean mat or you can just have them sort the jellybeans on the table. Give the student a cup full of the jellybeans and see how many they can sort by the correct color within one minute.

Peep Stack

Supplies needed

One package of bunny Peeps.

Make sure the buy the Peeps a few days before hand and take them out of the package and let them get nice and crisp. If they are too fresh, they will be a gooey, marshmallowy, mess when they try to play.

To play the game, have the students see how many of the Peep bunnies they can stack on top of each other in a minute without the stack tumbling.

If you’re looking for even more minute to win it games to play in your classroom, you can find winter minute to win it games ideas here. Donut minute to win it games idea here and fall minute to win it game ideas here.

I hope your students have fun playing these spring games!

Jenette

The post Spring Minute To Win It In The Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

This gift is super inexpensive, quick, and easy to put together.

Materials

Small cellophane bags

Hershey gold nugget candies

Printable (at the bottom of the post)

Scissors

Twine

Hole punch

Assemble

These come together very quickly. Just put the chocolates in the bag and tie it up with some twine. Print, cut and hole punch the four leaf clover and attach it with the twine to the bag.

Super simple, but the recipient will just love it and feel appreciated!

You can download the St. Patrick’s Day Teacher Gift Idea free printable by clicking the green box below.

Enjoy your day!

Jenette

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