My sweet A+ tutor and I were enjoying our centers/guided groups time today, and we were discussing what would be fun for the students that would incorporate fine motor and some original takes on a Santa handprint ornament.  I have really wanted to break out the safety sewing needles for a long time, so I decided to try this easy burlap square ornament (like a sachet pillow without the sachet–can’t do that with possible allergic reactions).  The one I made at home tonight turned out super cute, and I know my kiddos will love learning to stitch around their own burlap “pillow”.  I have acrylic paints at school, so I will have red, white, and a mix of red/white/yellow for skin tone in paper plates.  I paint student hands to make sure we have good coverage for the first white print.  Then I will paint the outside of their fist with the skin tone and let them paint the face.  Last, they will paint red at the top and on the thumb for Santa’s hat.  Then we will cotton swab paint the eyes and nose and mouth.  I didn’t have everything at home, so I hope you can piece together what actually occurs during the paint process (there are tons of handprint ideas on Pinterest).  The handprint goes on diagonally so the ornament can hang from the corner.  To keep the little pillow from raveling any more, use fabric glue around all the edges along the stitches (not the raveled edges).  Here is the picture with directions! Pin if you like this as much as I do!

Oh! You will need red yarn too! 🙂

Before you seal the last side, stuff a plastic shopping bag inside, then have the student to sew the “pillow” shut.  

Here is another fun tradition that I have done in past years.  Another wonderful teacher mentioned this in a post, and I will credit her for it when I am more awake tomorrow!!! It is such a simple idea…

Each day, choose one student to unwrap a gift wrapped book for you to read to the class.  It will create a sense of anticipation and hopefully show students what a true gift the message/story in a book can be.  Try it! No kidding, it didn’t take me fifteen minutes to wrap my books!