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Back to Holiday Keepsakes Parents Will Love Lesson Plan

Subjects

• Arts & Humanities
  - Visual Arts
• Social Studies
  - Holidays
  

Grade

• PreK
• K-2
• 3-5
• 6-8
  

Brief Description

Students create and color three-dimensional ornaments reflecting December’s many cultural celebrations.

Objectives

Students will

• decide which symbol(s) they wish to create as an ornament.
• draw or trace the outline of the symbol.
• follow directions as they color or paint, then glue and stuff, the ornaments.

Keywords

ornament , Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Hanukkah, multicultural

Materials Needed

• white or brown craft paper (or, as a substitute, brown paper bags)
• art supplies
• cookie cutters
• coloring pages/outlines (see list of links below)
• lightweight filling material such as cotton, fiber, or shredded newspaper

Lesson Plan

In this simple lesson, students create three-dimensional ornaments.

Start the lesson with a classroom discussion about the symbols that represent different multicultural celebrations of the season. As students share their ideas, write the names of those symbols on a board or chart.

Next, students choose a symbol(s) to create as a three-dimensional ornament, draw the symbol onto the craft paper twice, and cut out both copies.

For younger students, provide a collection of cookie cutters or coloring pages. (See links to coloring pages below.) Students trace around the cookie cutter or trace the coloring page image onto the craft paper two times and cut out the two traced images.

Next, students decorate, color, or paint the two tracings of their symbols. (Caution: They must take care to decorate the correct sides of the tracings.) When ready, they put the two tracings back to back (decorated sides facing out) and apply along the inside edge of each tracing a thin ridge of glue. Important: Do not glue all the way around; leave one small area free of glue. Stuff into that open area a lightweight filling material such as cotton, fiber, or shredded newspaper.

Finally, glue along the inside of the open edge and press together. When dry, punch a hole at the top of each ornament and string ribbon through the hole. Hang your holiday symbol ornament on a Christmas tree or in a window.

Holiday Coloring Pages
Following are some sample holiday coloring pages that younger students might trace as they create their ornaments:

• ColoringBookFun.com's Holiday Pages
• All-Free Christmas Fun
• Kwanzaa Coloring Pages
• Kwanzaa Coloring Pages
• Pages to Color for Hanukkah
• Christmas Coloring Pages

Assessment

Not applicable.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

FINE ARTS: Visual Arts
GRADES K - 4
NA-VA.K-4.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
GRADES 5 - 8
NA-VA.5-8.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes

See more lessons and resources from Education World on our December Holidays Around the World Web page.

Click to return to this week’s Lesson Planning article, Five Holiday Keepsakes Parents Will Love.

Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2007 Education World