This activity is one of my very favorite Christmas activities that we do every year. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to share it here on the site, but for one reason or another, I have missed putting this online until now.
This activity is a guessing game where children feel items they cannot see, and guess what it is. They love it!
To prepare, you will need to collect these items from your classroom or home:
- fork
- plastic bear counter
- jingle bell
- scissors
- block
- paintbrush
- glue bottle
- crayon
Wrap each item in tissue paper (I use about 2 layers of tissue paper), each item in a different color paper. Tissue paper is the best choice because it’s thin enough for children to feel the items through the paper. A thick paper (such as construction paper) will make it difficult for the children to guess what is inside.
I used tissue paper in the 8 basic crayon colors so the children could color each present as they guess. I’m not a fan of coloring sheets or worksheets in Pre-K, this is just a way to mark what they found and narrow down the choices. It doesn’t bother me at all if they scribble on it.
Make copies of the “recording sheet” for each child. Children will need the sheet as a reference so they have an idea of what is inside the “presents”. Without a reference sheet with some choices, they won’t know where to begin to guess. For younger students, you might also want to have an identical collection of these items out on the table for them to see. I haven’t needed to do that with the 4-5 year olds, so far.
At the end of the game (after everyone is done feeling and guessing), I have each child open a “present” so we can all see what really was inside. Were our guesses right? (We do this as a small group activity, so I have no more than 8 children do it at a time.)
Last year when we played this game, I accidentally forgot to bring a fork to school. It actually made an interesting twist to the game because as I kept reminding them that I forgot to bring the fork, they had to use deductive reasoning to realize that a fork would not be in one of the packages. I remember one little fellow who so sweetly insisted one particular present was a fork even though I kept saying, “Remember, I left the fork at home.” 🙂
As you can see in the photos, my students are using a slightly different recording sheet. This is one that I hand-drew years ago, so I tried to make one a little prettier to share here! 🙂 To download the sheet, click the button below. I hope your kids enjoy it as much as mine!
Download: Christmas Guessing Game
Graphics Credits:
Clipart.com
KPM Doodles
ScrappinDoodles
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