Hello Ladies,
I am looking for some help with some good ideas as to how I should do this story/activity for my daughter's 3rd grade holiday party that's coming up.
I am going to read a holiday book to the children and everytime they hear a certain word, they are going to pass a present that each one will have on their laps. When the story is over, the present that is on each lap, is the present that each child will keep. Of course, if they want to trade after opening, they can.
Now.... can any of you think of ideas that will make this storytime entertaining and FUN? I tried searching online for this topic but I came up empty handed. I remember a mom doing something like this in my twins' kindergarten class a few years ago. It turned out fine, but I want to "jazz" it up a bit to make our circle time on the rug a lot of FUN.
Another mom bought gifts at a dollar store which are non-gender specific. I would love to hear creative ideas for passing the present when they hear "the word." What should I call the word..... "the password," "the special word", "the code word", etc...???
Also.... do you have any holiday books that would be fun and one that would take around 15-20 minutes to read? I don't want it to be specifically about a Santa story since some are questioning that anyway and I don't want to get on that topic. I prefer a story that centers on giving, compassion, caring, etc... preferably with the setting during the winter. Most of the children celebrate Christmas and I think it would be okay if Christmas was mentioned in the story but I don't want that to be what the story focuses on a lot. I don't want to read a religious story since there are different faiths and I don't think a really "cutesy" type story would be that good.
Any ideas???? Please help me out. Thanks so much!
J.
We used to play a game like this with a story about the Wright family. When you said Wright (or right), gifts are passed to the right, when you say left, gifts are passed to the left. I'm sure you could do a Google search and find the story about the Wright family who are getting ready for their holiday dinner.
I think the mom who did this same thing last year at my daughter's party read The Gingerbread Man, but I could be wrong. The kids loved the game, and the fact that they all ended up with a gift. You can pause before saying "the GINGERBREAD MAN", each time, and encourage them to call it out with you as they pass their gift. One thing that did go wrong...we came up one present short, even though the mom had definitely started with the RIGHT amount of presents. We weren't sure if one was purposely hidden during the game, (stufffed in a pocket or under a lap??), but sure enough...in all the confusion of opening the gifts and the wrap all over, the party/ school day was ending right then, ect...a child called out, "I didn't get one!!" So my advice would be to have one or two extras JUST IN CASE!! I did a similar version to this one year where I played Frosty The Snowman music while the kids kept continously passing gifts up and down the aisles, and when I shut off the song, they kept the gift they had at that point and opened it.
That's a pretty cute idea! A story that comes to mind is Jan Bret's Gingerbread Baby. Most of her books are seriously great and they are pretty long, but I'm not sure about 20 minutes?? You might have to do 2. I would look around the holiday displays at the local bookstore, but look up her books for sure. You could also ask the school librarian for suggestions too. I'm not really sure how you could jazz it up any more...maybe you could have your regular secret word and then another super secret word that doesn't apper very much and when you say the other one everyone gets up and switches places, like a Chinese fire drill. It would be a bit crazy but fun, and it would certainly take up a few extra minutes every time! YOu could also affix a sticker of some kind to one of the presents and at the end the person holding that present could get an extra prize or they could get to switch with any one in the room or something. When it's time for opening presents you could do it white elephant style where the kids get to "steal" the present from the person before or open their own. That would certainly take up at least 20 minutes or more! Whatever you do I'm sure it will be fun.
That sounds like a really fun game.
My favorite book when I was that age was "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". It is about a school Christmas pageant, but the story is more about love and respect than about Christmas itself. It is a great story and very kid friendly. As for a word, maybe they can pass the presents at the word "holiday".
How about "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"? Everyone loves that story!
No ideas, but that's adorable!! Have fun!!!
