1-2-3 Come Countdown To Christmas With Me!

Counting down is a great way to help your students practice counting backwards, as well as visually being able to "see" the passage of time, which is a rather abstract concept for young children.

My Countingdown To Christmas Craftivity packet includes a variety of quick, easy and interesting ways for your kiddos to countdown to Christmas.

I've included a file folder cover, which your students can decorate, to keep all of their countdown work in.

Since there's a nice variety of options, why not have them do a countdown that they can color, another they bingo dot, and finally, one that they earn stickers for.

I’ve also included a Christmas tree and Santa’s beard countdown activity, where students snip off a section each day. (Let's "trim" the tree & Santa's beard.)

After the last one is gone, children have a paper ornament to hang on their tree.

Snipping paper is a super-fun way for kiddos to strengthen finger and hand muscles too.

The "fingerprint" keepsake wreath, is another fun way to keep track of time, and comes with a sweet poem for the center. 

Children keep their work in the folder and take it out each day to countdown.

Only takes a few minutes, and frees you up to do some pull-out activities.

Send the folder home on the last day before vacation, so students can finish their countdown at home.

Finally, I’ve also included a “How many days until vacation?” Countdown paper chain that you can suspend from the ceiling by your calendar.

I review all sorts of math skills in just a few minutes, with this festive decoration.

Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to take a look at the Countingdown To Christmas Craftivities.

If you do Elf on a Shelf you may like the "Elf Help" countdown craftivity.

Have your students color the elf's "stockings" in an ABAB pattern to reinforce patterning. 

I've included a traceable calendar of December, for years 2015-2017, with a blank one if you want students to fill in their own.

Tracing and writing the numbers as they countdown to Christmas, is also a fun way to practice numbers, as well as have a visual of "time passing".   Click on the link to check out the Elf on a Shelf countdown craftivity.

Today's featured FREEBIE is also a countdown activity. I put "Santa" on my whiteboard and we do "You Can Count on Santa" during our calendar time. 

Simply print off the poster on card stock, color, then choose a different child each day to pull apart a cottonball, and glue it to that number on Santa's beard.

Well that's it for today, have to make a mad dash to the store to get a few things before everything closes up for Thanksgiving.

Wishing you a day filled with many joy-filled moments.

 "If men liked shopping, they'd call it research."  ~Cynthia Nelms