The 10 Days of Christmas Vacation (Part 1)

Here are five fun and educational activities to try with your child during the holiday break. Stay tuned for five more, which are soon to follow. Happy holidays everyone!

1. A Persuasive Letter- Have your child write a letter to Santa persuading him to bring her the present she wants the most. Encourage your child to give specific examples of how she has been good this year to help convince Santa that she deserves the gift.

2. Christmas Comparisons- Read a fictional story about Christmas with your child. Draw a Venn Diagram (2 overlapping circles) on a piece of paper. In the center of the diagram where the circles overlap, have your child give examples of how he is similar to a character in the story. In the outer circles have him give examples of how he is different from that character.

3. Christmas Cookie Chart- Have your child come up with a list of about four popular types of holiday cookies such as sugar, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, or gingerbread. During a holiday get-together with family or friends, have your guests vote for their favorite holiday cookie and have your child tally up the votes. Ask your child to create a bar graph to show how the guests voted. Using the graph, ask your child to identify which cookies were the most popular and the least popular.

4. Winter Words- Ask your child to create as many words as he can from the words Winter Wonderland.  Help your child spell the words correctly. Add a challenge by asking him to put the words he creates in alphabetical order.

5. Fruity Fractions- Provide your child with a handful of gumdrops and instruct her to count and record the total number. Have your child sort them by color, count the number of each color, and record the totals. Ask your child to identify what fraction of the gumdrops are red, orange, yellow, etc. For more fun you can give your child instructions to eat a certain fraction of each color gumdrop until they are all gone.