Looking for ideas for new and easy Christmas bulletin boards? Try the following math project to make a fresh and fun Christmas display and have your students practice measuring and counting math skills at the same time.
Structuring class time so that some children work on the activity below, while others work at learning centers makes it easy to create fun Christmas activities.
Materials:
- A variety of sizes of green construction paper for trees – from 18″ – 3″
- Various sizes of brown rectangles for trunks
- Sticker shapes for ornaments (pick a few bright colors for a fun look)
- Stars for the top of each tree
- Cotton balls
- One inch blocks for measuring
Tree Instructions:
- Children choose one sheet of green construction paper, some will choose smaller pieces, others larger
- Children fold the paper in half lengthwise and then draw a line from the top of one side to the bottom of the other side
- Children cut down the line then open up the folded side to make a tree
- GREEN TIP ! To save paper usage, tape the two pieces left over from each cut for the next group of children’s trees
- Students glue a star on top and a trunk on the bottom
- Students decorate their trees with stickers and put their name on the back or on the trunk
- When all the trees are dry, have students measure their trees with one inch blocks
- Show students how to measure from the bottom of the trunk to the top of the star
- Student’s record the number of blocks used on the star
Extra math activity – Free recording worksheet
- If you would like the students to record their results on a worksheet, have them make a second tree no larger than 7 inches.
- They once again measure their trees with one inch blocks and then print the number of blocks used in the space provided.
- Students can also count how many triangle stickers and how many circle stickers they used to decorate their trees and record their answers. Download the free recording sheet here.
Instructions for math based Christmas Bulletin Boards:
- For fresh looking displays, cover the boards with white paper first
- Cut 1 inch squares of paper and staple the block shapes on to the left side of the bulletin board
- Number the blocks (see image of Christmas bulletin board above)
- Staple the trees either from largest to smallest or randomly
- Overlap some of the trees to make the composition more interesting
- Have a few students help you staple cotton batting along the bottom for snow
- Add stars, snowflakes, or angel crafts at the top of the bulletin board if you have space
- Make a sign for your display
Use christmas bulletin boards as a teaching tool
- Provide a pointer and let the children count the number of blocks on the side of the bulletin board
- Increase math vocabulary by comparing the tree heights with words such as shorter than, taller than, the same as
- Count how many trees, count the stars
- Compare the number of decorations with vocabulary such as more than, fewer than, least amount of circles, greater amount of triangles…
Providing Children with Opportunities to Observe & Investigate
Using short periods of time examining and investigating objects, such as collections of feathers, shells, rocks, and other groups of objects, captures children’s attention and challenges them to inquire, to develop mind sets of being problem solvers and to think independently. If you’re looking for ways to provide your students with a new science and math investigation every week of the year, you’ll find the work done for you in my ebook here…
