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Montessori-Inspired Christmas Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}

November 17, 2014 By Deb Chitwood 2 Comments

I’ve always loved preparing holiday-themed educational activities. Today, I’m sharing some fun Montessori-inspired Christmas activities I prepared using Spielgaben educational toys and free printables I found online. For one of the activities, I created free printables.

Montessori-Inspired Christmas Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Spielgaben. All opinions are honest and my own. This post also contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).

In case you’re not familiar with Spielgaben toys, they are exceptionally high-quality educational toys designed for ages 3-12. The yarn balls from the 1st set can be used with babies and toddlers, too.

The Spielgaben complete set comes with over 700 pages of full-color printed learning materials. These printed materials help you as a parent or teacher easily use Spielgaben toys educationally with your child and/or students.

Spielgaben Materials Used in This Post

For this post, I used the Spielgaben yarn balls from the 1st set and points (wooden dots) from the 9th set or “gift” used in Froebel education. I also used wooden sticks from the 8th set and wooden parquetry tablets from the 7th set. The activities I’m sharing today will often add a practical life element. I’ll link to free printables which will help make the activities simple to prepare yet attractive. I’ll also tell you where I found the materials for my activities.

Gift Bag with Yarn Ball Activity for Toddlers

Spielgaben Yarn Ball in a Toddler Gift Bag

Spielgaben Yarn Ball in a Toddler Gift Bag

For this activity, I used a free Christmas gift bag printable from Christmas-Printables. My granddaughter, Zoey, loved the Spielgaben yarn balls since she first watched them in a mobile I prepared. She doesn’t use them as often now, so I decided to prepare a special activity to focus on her current interests.

Zoey recently turned one year old, and she loves to take objects out of bags and put them back in the bags. The printable Christmas bags I found were the perfect size to hold one yarn ball. There are a number of cute designs on the page. Since it’s still quite a while before Christmas, I chose a winter design with snowman and Christmas tree.

The activity took me about 5 minutes to prepare. I printed and cut out the gift bag on cardstock and then used two pieces of double-sided tape to stick it together. You could laminate the gift bag after printing if you want it to last longer.

Putting the Yarn Ball Back in the Gift Bag

Putting the Yarn Ball Back in the Gift Bag

This activity fit perfectly with Zoey’s interests. She loved taking the yarn ball out of the bag. I’d say the color of the yarn ball, and then Zoey would put it back in the bag.

Do-a-Dot Decorate a Christmas Tree Fine-Motor Activity

Do-a-Dot Christmas Trees Using Wooden Dots

Do-a-Dot Christmas Trees Using Wooden Dots

For this activity, I used the free Christmas tree do-a-dot printable from Gift of Curiosity with the page sizing for printing set to custom size scale 40%. I also used the Christmas tree do-a-dot printable from Simply Home with the page sizing for printing set to custom size scale 55%.

I used a large plastic tray from Montessori Services, which is a perfect size for many activities. To focus on fine-motor skills, I added Quick Sticks. A strawberry huller or tweezers would work well, too. Younger children could place the dots with their fingertips. I placed a variety of wooden dots in a bowl so that children can decorate their tree however they wish.

Stick and Dot Christmas Trees

Stick and Dot Christmas Tree Activity

Stick and Dot Christmas Tree Activity

I created free stick-and-dot Christmas tree control cards for this activity. You can download the Simple Stick and Dot Christmas Tree Control Card and Stick and Dot Christmas Tree Control Card by right clicking on each link and clicking “Save as.”I printed them on 4×6” photo paper, although you could use cardstock instead. The cards are meant to be used as models, so they aren’t sized for placing the sticks right on the cards. I used a pencil box for all the wooden pieces.

Stick and Dot Christmas Tree Layout

Stick and Dot Christmas Tree Layout

You could place each of the trees on a 9×12″ piece of felt if you’d like to go with a more traditional Montessori approach. I thought the bottom of the  large plastic tray from Montessori Services worked very well for creating the Christmas trees, though, so that’s what I used in the photo above.

Christmas Pattern Block Trays

Christmas Wreath Pattern Block Tray

Christmas Wreath Pattern Block Tray

You’ll find some free Christmas pattern block cards at PreKinders. I shared the above activity last year in my “Montessori-Inspired Geometry Activities Using Wooden Shapes and Free Printables.

Christmas Tree Pattern Block Tray

Christmas Tree Pattern Block Tray

Here’s another Christmas tree pattern block activity that works well with the Spielgaben parquetry tablets. There aren’t enough equilateral triangles in red and green to match the design, so some of the diamond-shaped pieces need to be used. I like this because it’s a bit more challenging and is a nice extension to Montessori constructive triangles.

Rudolph Grid Game Using Wooden Dots

 

Rudolph Math Grid Game

Rudolph Math Grid Game

For this activity, I used the free printable Reindeer Grid Game from Gift of Curiosity. There are 10-grid, 20-grid, and 100-grid versions. The red dots are disproportionately big for Rudolph’s nose, but I think that makes the activity more fun.

All My Spielgaben Posts

Many of these include links to free printables! (Click on an image to go to the related blog post. The gallery is ordered according to publication date with my latest post at the top.)

Nature Card Inspiration and First Grade Position and Direction Work with Spielgaben
Working with or Reviewing Addition Facts with Spielgaben
Number Writing Practice along with Spielgaben Hands-on Activities
Cube Building with Montessori and Spielgaben Materials
Montessori-Inspired Moon Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Spielgaben STEM Challenge - Build and Fly a Magnetic Airplane
Montessori-Inspired Symmetry and Spinner Activities with Spielgaben
Montessori-Inspired Flower Activities with Spielgaben
Montessori-Inspired Weather Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
How to Get Started with Spielgaben Educational Toys
How to Have a Fun Fraction Party for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Montessori-Inspired Phonics Activities Using Wooden Cubes and Free Printables
Ten Apples Up On Top Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
How to Use Spielgaben for Montessori-Inspired Homeschooling or Afterschooling
Fine Motor Fun and Exploring Shapes with Spielgaben Set 8
Quick and Easy Spielgaben Activity Bags
un with Matchstick Puzzles for Multiple Ages {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Telling Time Activities with Wooden Sticks and Dots {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Winter Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
How to Prepare Montessori Sensorial Extensions with Spielgaben
Montessori-Inspired Fall Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Train Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
https://livingmontessorinow.com/montessori-monday-montessori-inspired-addition-activities-using-dots-free-printables/
Toddler Fine-Motor Activities with Spielgaben
Montessori-Inspired Summer Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Color Activities for Toddlers {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Easter Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Rainbow Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Valentine Activities with Spielgaben
Montessori-Inspired Color Games {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Christmas Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Phonics Activities Using Dots {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Sphere, Cube, Cylinder Activities
Montessori-Inspired Activities Using Spheres
Montessori-Inspired Activities for Babies and Toddlers Using Yarn Balls
Montessori-Inspired Math Activities Using Cubes and Free Printables
Montessori-Inspired Age and Birthday Activities
Are Spielgaben Educational Toys Worth the Price?
Using Montessori-Inspired Activities for Elementary-Level Learning
Geometric Solid Dressing, Wrapping, and Gift Giving (and Receiving)
Montessori-Inspired Color Activities Using Yarn Balls and Free Printables
Montessori-Inspired Geometry Activities Using Wooden Shapes and Free Printables
Montessori-Inspired Math Activities Using Wooden Beads and Free Printables
Montessori-Inspired Color Activities Using Wooden Toys and Free Printables
Spielgaben Educational Toy Review

Version 4 of Spielgaben Educational Toys 

I highly recommend Spielgaben as an amazing educational material for home or school. Even though the toys aren’t inexpensive, they’re definitely worth the price because of the high quality of materials and number of years your children or students can use them.

Spielgaben Version 4

Spielgaben Version 4

Special deal for my readers!

Spielgaben offers an extra 10% discount to my blog readers if you mention Living Montessori Now.
 
Not only that, Spielgaben will also offer LayBy Payment Plan if you do not need the product right away. You can make 3 monthly payments, and your order will be shipped as soon as the final payment is made.
 
All you need to do to claim the discount is send an email to [email protected] mentioning Living Montessori Now blog.

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Filed Under: Free Printables, Holidays and Celebrations, Montessori Monday Tagged With: Christmas, free printables, Montessori Monday, Montessori-inspired Christmas activities, Montessori-inspired Spielgaben activities, resource review, Spielgaben, Spielgaben educational toys, Spielgaben toys

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. starr campbell says

    November 17, 2014 at 6:11 am

    where do you get the wooden sticks and dots. i can see lots of applications

    Reply
    • Deb Chitwood says

      December 13, 2015 at 6:18 am

      Hi Starr! The wooden sticks and dots are part of the complete Spielgaben set. You just need to go to http://www.spielgaben.com/ and ask for the latest discount for Living Montessori Now readers. 🙂 Deb

      Reply

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The activities shared on this blog require adult supervision at all times. You know which activities are appropriate for your children and/or the children under your care and are responsible for those children's safety.

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