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ELEMENTARY
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY STATIONS
- Amy
Glenn, Baldwin Elementary School,
Paragould, Arkansas
- Lance
G. Bryant, Arkansas State University
The Holiday season provides a perfect
opportunity to incorporate some holiday
themed stations. My elementary students
enjoy the unique names of each station,
and have responded well to hearing the
Holiday music while they participate.
Students are divided evenly into the
five stations listed below, and spend
approximately 5 minutes participating
in each station. The focus of this lesson
is the enhancement of motor skills (i.e.
hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness,
and movement skills).
 Station
1 - Reindeer Shoes
Students participate in a basic game
of horseshoes with the holiday variation
containing plastic or rubber horseshoes
that have cardboard hooves applied to
them (packaging tape works fine) so
they resemble reindeer hooves. On the
top of the horseshoe stake, I recommend
placing a bright red nose (simply made
out of cardboard and painted red) to
follow the theme of "Rudolph,"
enhancing the festive atmosphere!
Station
2 - Santa's Cookies
 Introduce
this station by telling the story of
Mom baking a batch of cookies this holiday
season for Santa. The students' goal
is to get as many cookies (beanbags)
onto the plate as possible. Each student
is provided with 5 beanbags and will
take turns throwing underhand the beanbags
at multiple plates that have been taped
to the floor until they fill it up for
Santa (large colorful plastic chargers
from a dollar store work nicely for
the plates).
Station
3 - Down the Chimney
 Similar
to station #2, introduce this station
by describing a chimney atop a house.
Our Chimney is a long PVC-type pipe
in a large bucket filled with concrete
for security (any heavy weight inside
the bucket will work nicely). I attach
a cardboard drawing of a chimney to
the front of the pipe and bucket. Each
student is provided with 4 rings and
will take turns attempting to throw
the rings down the chimney.
Station
4 - Santa's Sack Race
Wrapped packages of various sizes are
scattered around this station's space,
and each student is provided a large
burlap (or similar) sack and must hop,
skip, or jump (or any variation or combination
of motor skills) around the space to
assist Santa in filling his sack with
"toys" that they've discovered
on the floor. Students can only pick
up a set number of packages (that you
determine based on space and number
of packages present) before they must
deliver them to Santa's "toy shop"
and continue gathering packages. Santa's
toyshop can be a large container (i.e.
trash can) with red ribbon tied around
it.
Station
5 - Sneaking around
Elementary students love to "sneak
around" to discover what toys Santa
may have left for them. In this station,
students pretend that they are sneaking
around to see what surprises Santa may
have left for them. Cones with noodles
on top, hula hoops taped to floor, and
other equipment can be placed within
this stations space. Students are instructed
to find their way through the various
obstacles by crawling (or other motor
skill) through the obstacle course to
see what Santa may have left for them.
I have often left inexpensive "surprises"
(i.e. holiday pencils, trinkets, or
even candy) for the students to discover.
During this
lesson, in an effort to create a festive
mood, I pull out my Santa hat to wear
and play holiday music. Each time the
song changes, students know to change
stations. These stations are fun and
exciting for the students, and they
provide an effective means of incorporating
many of our frameworks and lesson goals.
I hope that they will provide a fun
lesson idea for your elementary students
during this time of year. Happy Holidays!
additional
resources (below) added by pelinks4u
webmaster
Title: Santa's
Workshop
 Primary
Subject: Health / Physical Education
Grade Level: 2-3
Objectives:
Make the most toys by having the most
cups remain standing at the end of the
game.
Equipment:
Red and green plastic cups
Description:
Students are divided into two even teams.
Green cups are given to one team and
red to the other. Each team tries to
knock over the opposing team's cups
and keep their own cups standing. A
cup that is left standing at the end
of the game counts as one toy. The team
with the most toys at the end of the
game wins.
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Title:
Winter
Stations
Primary Subject: Health / Physical Education
Grade Level: 3-5
Materials:
Cones, Basketballs, Scooters, Bean Bags,
Yarn Balls (or other type of small soft
balls), Large plastic Candy Cane decorations
(lawn decorations that cost about $1
each), bells (holiday decorations),
hula hoops, empty 2 liter bottles, Christmas
stockings, jump ropes, holiday music.
This
activity consists of 4 stations:
Get
the Candy Cane - Set up empty
2 liter bottles inside of a hula hoop.
Put a cone inside the hoop, behind the
bottles. In the cone, place a large
candy cane lawn decoration. Set up a
cone about 7-10 feet from the hula hoop.
Students take turn with a partner to
use the underhand throw to try and knock
down the empty bottles.
 What
is in Your Stocking - Set up
2 cones about 5-7 feet apart. One student
stands at a cone and holds a Christmas
stocking. The other student is at the
other cone and has a bean bag. Students
use the underhand throw to toss the
bean bag and the partners try to catch
the bean bag in the stocking. After
5 attempts the partners switch places.
Jingle
Bell Basketball - Attach little
bows with bells on them (usually you
can buy them in packages of 6) to the
basketball net. Set up cones so that
students can work with a partner. Students
take turns dribbling the ball and taking
a shot- you may set up cones for them
to dribble around first. The bells jingle
when a student makes a basket!
Candy
Cane Lane - Make lanes with
jump ropes (my jump ropes are red and
white) and place a cone at each end
of the lane. In the cone at the far
end of the lane place a large candy
cane lawn decoration. Students use scooters
to travel down the lane, pick up the
candy cane and bring it to the beginning.
the next person can put the candy cane
back.
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