Heartfelt Gifts for Families (and a Really Great Freebie)

Christmas is only 12 days away and my students have been working like busy little elves preparing their gifts for Mom and Dad. We always make two gifts to send home - one addressed to Mom, the other to Dad (this helps simplify things for the more complicated family situations). Over the years,  I have made many different parent gifts in the classroom. The primary goal is to create a simple keepsake that the parent will treasure for years. My secondary goal is to share something with the families that conserves my time and finances.

***SPOILER ALERT***
If you are one of my wonderful classroom parents, stop reading now before it's too late!

After some serious brainstorming with my teaching partner, I declare this year's gift-giving to be Mission: Accomplished! My students created these ADORABLE Christmas tree paintings as their first gift.

In anticipation of this project, the children had a few "drawing lessons" in class. I demonstrated step-by-step how to create this Christmas scene and the students created their own drawings on their whiteboards. After a few practice sessions, they were ready for the "real deal."

On the day of our art project, I distributed white cardstock cut to 6.5x8.5" to each student. This size was big enough for my students to have ample painting space. It also allowed for a nice matted effect when mounted on red cardstock in a picture frame. Just like our drawing lessons, I used my Elmo and went step-by-step through the drawing process with my class. 

After the drawing was complete, the children traced over every pencil line with a black crayon (the crayon wax helps prevent the paint colors from bleeding into each other on the paper). Painting was also a step-by-step process. We all began by painting the tree green. This was followed by red ribbons on the tree, red stockings in the background, and a red tree skirt. Specific painting instructions continued until students selected their own colors for ornaments, lights, and carpet. 

The finished paintings are fabulous and I couldn't be more proud! The best part was that my students did most of the work on this projects. I firmly believe that the children need to be a part of the gift they give to their parents. I cut the paper and framed the paintings - the rest of the work came directly from the students. Parents will love this gift much more than any ornament that I could have slaved over to accomplish on behalf of the students because it was created by their own child. 

Seriously, I am in LOVE with these painting and my little artists. This was a very budget-friendly project. The frames cost $1 each, the cardstock cost about $5, and I spent $7 on gift wrap... that comes to only $2 per child. Perfect, right?!?

I couldn't resist taking a photo of one of the finished paintings with my classroom Christmas tree. Seriously, I am in LOVE.

Keep your gifts "Top Secret"

I always tell my students that we are working on a "Top Secret" project when we make gifts for the people we love. Seriously, I hide the gifts anywhere I can in the classroom so my parent volunteers don't accidentally stumble upon our creations. I have volunteers in the classroom nearly every day so keeping our projects a secret can be a delicate balancing act. I created this festive sign to hang on my classroom door to alert parents before they walk in and spoil any surprises we have up our sleeves. 

You can grab one for FREE! Just click the image to download, then hang on your door to protect all of your classroom gift-giving secrets. 

To be continued...

I know you're a smart cookie and you're probably thinking, "Wait a minute. She said she makes TWO projects in her classroom every year as Christmas gifts. Where is the other one?!?!" Yup, I did say that and yup we made another (equally awesome) project. It's almost finished and a bit more involved to share with you. Be sure to stop by again soon. I PROMISE to share it with you as soon as I have all the pieces in place. 

Merry Christmas!