Welcome to Day 1 of our Book & Activity Advent! It took me all day long to get this little advent rolling, but we made it!! Our first book ended up being Little Man's bedtime story. He loved it so much that he insisted on reading it twice and wanted to take it to bed with him. Success!
Here Comes Santa Claus is a song book--Little Man's favorite! The words are the lyrics to the popular song "Here Comes Santa Claus", and the illustrations are gorgeous! I thought this would be a good way to introduce Santa to Little Man. Even though my singing voice was atrocious, he must have loved it because he demanded an encore!
What better way to begin our book advent than with a little countdown made just for Little Man?! This activity is something I did each year with my first grade students. I taught year-round school, and we were off track during the month of December. This activity was something they completed at home with their families to anticipate Christmas.
Say hello to a less-hairy Santa. But don't worry, he won't be beardless for long because every day during the month of December, we will be adding a cotton ball to his face to form a fluffy, white beard!
For this project:
* I created this little poem in Photoshop using this Echo Park Paper kit.
* I found a cute Santa face here at Vector Jungle. I just cut off the beard when I printed it out.
* I mounted all of it on a couple of pieces of green cardstock joined with coordinating scrapbook paper.
* Santa is looking jolly on our refrigerator.
EDITED TO ADD:
If you are having trouble printing the Santa, here are some tips: Download the entire Christmas clip art pack. In photo editing software, clip just the Santa face. Then insert into a Microsoft Word document. Adjust size as needed and print! I hope this helps!
If you are having trouble printing the Santa, here are some tips: Download the entire Christmas clip art pack. In photo editing software, clip just the Santa face. Then insert into a Microsoft Word document. Adjust size as needed and print! I hope this helps!
Little Man loved putting the first cotton ball on Santa's beard tonight with his Daddy. I have a feeling he will grow to love this even more as the days go on. Little Man loves his routines! We have plenty of advents around this house... lots of way to look forward to Christmas!
Come back later for a book and activity for Day 2!
Thanks for reading!
Edited to add:
Of course I would LOVE to share this Santa and the poem with you. However, the Santa graphic is under copyright at Vector Jungle, and the digital papers that I used for the poem are copyrighted by Echo Park Paper. I have received several comments from readers creating their own downloads for this activity. Please be sure you are following the appropriate terms of usage! We all need to be following copyright laws. This is why I directed you to the link of the Santa clip rather than offering it as a printable. Thanks for understanding!