Throwback Tuesday: Busy Little Elves

 Many years our homeschooling lessons took a backseat to the holidays and we instead centered our days around Christmas.  We made Christmas crafts, read Christmas stories, made snacks and treats, and had a ball centering our lessons around the seasons.  This post is originally from 2012 when all my boys were in grades k-3. 

We had a fun morning planned around elves.  I found lots of fun elf themed activities and lessons and we ended our day watching one of our favorite movies.



We read the book How Santa Got His Job by Stephen Krensky.  It's a great book and if you've never read it, I highly recommend it.  I love all of his books.



After reading the story I had the boys fill out an elf application.  They had to fill in their name, birthday, age, answer a few questions, and get fingerprinted; it was really cute. 


We made their own elves to go with it.

We used a glyph to help us decide how to decorate each elf. Ian chose to make his mittens two colors since the glyph said to color mittens red if you like warm weather and green if you like cold weather and he likes both.  He did the same with his shoes since he likes sledding and making snowmen.

They really enjoyed this project and I love how they came out.



 I also worked on Santa's Slip Up: The Elf Awards with Ian and Alec.  It's a great logic/ problem solving activity we worked on altogether.  The boys enjoyed it and I hope to find more exercises like this one.  Using the clues provided we have to figure out which elf was supposed to get which award.

We finished our day watched the movie Elf and enjoying some yummy treats.





Linking up with: Spread the Kindness, 







       

Comments

  1. HollyDecember 5, 2023 at 6:25 AM

    The Sweetest!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jennifer GoodwinDecember 5, 2023 at 6:31 AM

    We often did the same type of thing during the holidays. We would finish the hard work in November and do only Christmas related things in the month of December. We had so many great movie days and baking days! I loved this so much and miss this part of creatively homeschooling. Thanks for sharing! This was a great idea. We never did anything regarding elves in our years of school!

    ReplyDelete
  3. PamelaDecember 5, 2023 at 3:32 PM

    What fun activities! We always took December off from regular lessons too and focused on Christmas stories, learning about carols, crafts, and making treats. Lots of opportunities for questions and answers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne December 6, 2023 at 3:01 PM

      Thank you! That's what we did each year too and I have zero regrets.

      Delete
  4. Jodie's Touch of StyleDecember 5, 2023 at 3:36 PM

    I love how they filled out an elf application! How fun
    Xoxo
    Jodie

    ReplyDelete
  5. crackercrumblifeDecember 5, 2023 at 4:11 PM

    Oh my gosh!! I love this so much!! I need to do this with my kiddo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. crackercrumblifeDecember 5, 2023 at 4:11 PM

      And I visited from #TTMT! :)

      Delete
    2. Joanne December 6, 2023 at 3:02 PM

      Thank you! It was a really cute and fun activity that kept them all quite engaged.

      Delete
  6. MarshaDecember 5, 2023 at 4:57 PM

    What a fun way to learn, Joanne! And, Elf would be the perfect end to the day!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Rebecca JoDecember 5, 2023 at 5:35 PM

    I want an Elf Day!!!! So fun when kids are young

    ReplyDelete
  8. JenniferDecember 5, 2023 at 6:42 PM

    What fun!! Any day that ended with watching Elf was a great day!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne December 6, 2023 at 3:03 PM

      It sure would be! I loved ending our school days with holiday movies. It put all in such a great mood.

      Delete
  9. MandyJoyLoves♥December 5, 2023 at 10:12 PM

    We have that Santa book, I read it to my stepson many many times!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne December 6, 2023 at 3:04 PM

      It is such a cute book; Mrs. Krensky (his sister in-law, I think?) worked at our local school when I was working there so she got him to come in with a bunch of his books and read to the kids.

      Delete
  10. Linda StollDecember 5, 2023 at 10:26 PM

    oh so much joyful creativity here, Joanne!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Veronica LeeDecember 6, 2023 at 6:49 AM

    Love the cute idea of an elf application!
    Such a fun way to learn.

    Hugs and blessings, Joanne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne December 6, 2023 at 3:04 PM

      It certainly was! I had so much fun pulling together lessons plans for our holiday units.

      Delete
  12. Dee | GrammysGrid.comDecember 6, 2023 at 12:51 PM

    Such fun activities for kids. Did you all ever get into the Elf on the Shelf craze when your boys were younger? TikTok is full of elf mischievous this time of the year. Thanks so much for linking up at the #UnlimitedLinkParty 141. Pinned.

    ReplyDelete

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