The Twelve Days of Christmas Break: The 3rd Day - Holiday Card Mapping

On the third day of Christmas Break, try this fun and educational activity with your kiddos.

Supplies you will need

Map of the United States, North America, or the World
Scissors
tape or thumbtacks
envelopes from incoming holiday cards

Whether you or your kids are brushing up on your geography or learning the locations of states, capitals, and countries for the first time, this activity will be educational and fun to do each day through the month of December.

Post the mail where it seen readily. Then as holiday greetings arrive in your mailbox each day, share the messages with your kids and save the envelopes the cards came in. Cut off the postmark from each envelope. Read the location of the postmark (or return address if you have multiple coming through the same sorting facility), locate it on your map, and tack or tape the postmark to the correct spot. If the location happens to be a small town that is not printed on the map, use the closest major city as a reference point.

In addition, older children may enjoy calculating the distance the card traveled to get to you. And, save the postage stamps - your kids can start a new hobby that can last a lifetime.

If you're like a lot of families, you may not have a map of the United States lying around to use for this project. I've made a printable map that you can download and use on a smaller scale. Just click on the image above and you can see it full size and save to your device.

12 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 9

Days of Thanksgiving

I've always loved these ideas that extend through multiple days to celebrate the holiday seasons (did you catch my 13 Days of Halloween posts?). This year I found ideas for the 12 Days of Thanksgiving and I couldn't resist sharing them with you. The ideas in this post came from a very vintage magazine called Copycat Press from 1990 (which just doesn't feel like it should be labeled very vintage, but I suppose that's because I am very vintage myself!) 

The ideas are centered around using the poetry from It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky. I didn't have this book in our Club library, but I did find a few versions of read alouds online. Here's the one that includes the entire book (which is helpful since you'll use different poems each day).

Ninth Day of Thanksgiving
Anyone who is a true blue football fan (or who knows one) will appreciate the poem "Daddy's Football Game." Read it to the group and discuss words or phrases that are associated with the game of football. Then ask members to create an acrostic poem for the word football. Provide a helping hand by choosing one of the words from the sample below to get them started. Children may also use the names of sports teams such as Falcons, Oilers, Bears, or Lions.

After members have completed their football poems, try a game of flag football to give a chance to run and provide some physical activity. If you would like a printable base for their poems, I have created the one below for use in our Club. Enjoy!

Click on the image above to be taken to a larger image of the poem base. I created this printable with graphics purchased from EduClips (<-- and there's the link in case you want to purchase some of her awesome work). You're welcome to use this in your Clubs, classrooms, or any kind of after school program. If you share it with others, please share my blog as well. Thank you!