I work in a we-are-more-than-okay-with-celebrating-Christmas-even-though-it’s-a-public-school type of school. Heck – we have a full decorated Christmas tree in the main hallway. Right or wrong – I go with it and we have been LOVING doing everything and anything Christmas. One of my kids asked me about a non-holiday related activity and a point blank told him that we just don’t have time for non-holiday activities. Too many cute Christmas things to do!!! Ahhh! … I realized this is self imposed stress. But trying to keep up – just a little – with pinterest’s ever growing collection adorableness can be overwhelming! Anyone feel this too?
I decided to focus on our parent presents as soon as possible and get those puppies out of the way. I accidentally bought way too many pine cones during my own crafting mania (this pinterest stress carries over into my own life too…) so we needed to use these for something crafty!
We started by painting the pinecones green. This was time consuming.
Of course, we added some glitter 🙂
After these dried, we used a hot glue gun (ahem… I used a hot glue gun – I think I scared the crap out of my kids warning them of how burned they could get from it… oops) to add pipe cleaner for garland, a pom pom for the star, and a string to hang it! Turned out pretty cute!
We also did a little target crafting. Gotta love these premade sets, hugh? And no glue required! Sold!
Next up – we needed some gift bags for our cutesy ornament presents, right? I had been loving this idea on pinterest so incorporated this into our gift bags! I cut out different length pieces of construction paper.
My students who are higher functioning ordered the pieces for shortest to longest. This was a great math lesson. We need to really work on this concept.
My students who are lower functioning worked on creating the picture based on a sample which was great match to sample practice!
The we added a stump! And some of my students typed their own message for the top – to practice typing and computer skills. I even let them pick their favorite font (thought I’d spread my font obsession!). Turned out super cute! So we will put all our ornaments in here for my kids to give their parents for Christmas.
Now on to the good stuff! (non-autism related!) So – we got the freaken biggest Christmas tree EVER! We received countless comments from people at home depot… it’s between 10 and 11 feet and touches the ceiling!
Then we went a little garland crazy.
… and I did a little holiday crafting for myself. Sprouced up this candle holder with some glitter spray paint:
… and made a wreath!
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