With the holidays approaching, I tend to start losing students as their minds wander to gifts, traditions, vacation and sweets! One thing that has kept students engaged year after year, is a fun craft that makes them feel special and creates a sense of community in the room. I love to use this Gingerbread Craft because it’s simple and it’s one of many fun ideas for Christmas bulletin boards during the holidays.
Start Your Christmas Activity With A Read Aloud
There are so many ways you can use the Gingerbread Student Activity and Bulletin Board Display. For example, you can read the book, “How to Catch A Gingerbread Man,” then have students pretend they are gingerbread cookies on Christmas. They can complete the gingerbread cookie craft with their photos and then write about what they would do if they were gingerbread cookies. This is such a fun story to read and invites students to use their creativity and imagination.
You can purchase the book on Amazon HERE.
Have Students Construct Their Gingerbread Activity For Christmas
To create a fun Christmas bulletin board, have students create their own adorable gingerbread people. Simply print the templates onto cardstock and have students color the pieces. I encourage the kids to give the gingerbread cookie a fun design as if they are icing the cookie! Then, cut the body and bow out. You will also need a picture of each students to attach as the gingerbread person’s head. The bow can go on the head or the neck, I like to let the students pick.
If you don’t want to take a picture of each student, there is a template that does not require a photo! Both are available in color versions as well if you don’t want students to color their own craft.
Once the Gingerbread Christmas Activity is Complete, Construct Your Christmas Bulletin Board
The next step in the process if my favorite! I absolutely love setting up a festive bulletin board.
Before putting the pieces of the bulletin board up, you can choose from a few printable letters to create text that says, “Merry Christmas FROM THESE SMART COOKIES” or “Happy Holidays FROM THESE SMART COOKIES”. Then, use the decorative banner pennants to make the display more colorful. In addition, there are beautiful bottom border pieces that you can place anywhere you like on your display.
BONUS: There are three styles of printable bulletin border you can use with this download as well!
Encourages A Strong Classroom Community
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, classroom community is SO important to young learners! We don’t realize the impact that simple activities in the classroom can have on certain children. Activities like this may go unnoticed by most students, but for a select few, they mean the WORLD! Seeing their bright smiling faces on the walls of a space they spend time in everyday fills their heart with joy. Seeing their classmates displayed on the wall together as a family, makes them feel included, wanted and loved! To these students, it might be the biggest and most important family they have. Enjoy seeing their reactions as they feel included, special and part of a larger group!
Get the Matching Christmas Newsletters!
Want to extend your classroom community even further? Use these matching classroom newsletters to keep family at home in the loop with your weekly classroom activities. There are three different themes to choose from. The newsletters allow you to share what the class is learning, words they may be working on, reminders, important dates and your contact information. Parents love hanging these on the refrigerator as reminders.
If you like these Ideas for Christmas bulletin boards, I have a Bulletin Board Bundle at a discounted rate for you to use year round!
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like:
- Encourage A Strong Classroom Community With These Ideas for a Thanksgiving Bulletin Board
- Creative Classroom Ideas You May Have Never Seen Before (But Need To Know About!)
- 5 Easy Teacher Hacks & Ideas for Classroom Decor Every Teacher Needs to Know!
