kindergarten activity - Holiday calendars

When creating a parent gift that is memorable, sometime you have to spend a little extra time on a kindergarten activity. This Holiday calendar kindergarten activity isn't a project that I'd recommend for everyone to try, but it may be right up your alley! I have done this project for 2 years and I enjoy the finished product very much. Sometimes part way through the process I'm wondering what I got myself into, but the finished look is always my favorite.

I created this project since I didn't like any of the gifts I had my students give in previous years. Not. At. All. This is a different take on the hand print calendar that is well known. It just involves their favorite subject {their child} in place of hand prints in themed photo backdrops. Let me roll out for you how I set a up a photo shoot for my students as systematically as possible and how I set up the template on the computer to make it easy for changing, printing and binding.

Kindergarten Holiday Calendar Parent Gift

I decide the poses and backdrop ideas for the 12 months of the year to create our kindergarten Christmas gift parent calendar. Once I have an idea of the way I want a kinder to stand, wear or hold then I pick a color of bulletin board paper to become the backdrop. I try to choose complimentary colors that will work with the items my students will have, but not compete.

*A special note about January, November and May backdrops - These are 4 trees that we created as an interactive writing project. We described the four seasons and used our hand prints or fingerprints to decorate the trees with leaves or snowflakes.

Here are some of the poses, backdrops and props I have collected from my classroom decorations to use.

January

For January, we used our winter tree interactive writing project as our backdrop. Props - they wear their winter gear like a coat, scarf and hat.

February 

For February, the backdrop is a collection of die-cut hearts in purples, reds and pinks. Students form the sign language for "I love You."

March

For the month of March, I have two bug costumes left over from my Halloween stash. The boys wear a beetle one and the girls, a butterfly. Both have antenna headbands to finish off the look. They wear the wings on the front on order to make the look work for the camera. The background is bright blue paper and paper cut clouds.

Creating Photo Sessions - Kindergarten Activity TimeSaver

In order to make it worth the time, I scheduled photo sessions into my planner so that I'd be sure to have all of the photos done early enough for me to compile the calendars on the computer. It became a routine that for 12 days, I'd change out the hanging backdrop in the location in our classroom and they'd each take their turn to get a photo taken and then tap another child to come have theirs taken.

By the second day we also learned that if a few came up at a time, then they could watch the first students pose and props so they'd know how to follow suit. This saved us a bunch of time because they could jump into action. They also loved helping each other get ready when 2-3 came up at a time.

April

For April, I did add some computer effects in order to add a little depth. I placed a transparent raindrop piece of clipart on top of their photos to practice my skills. I learn new things when I try to push the envelope like this.

May

May was a slightly tricky one, but when I thought of "April showers brings May flowers" then I knew what direction to go in. {wink}

June

June was a fun month to make happen. I found a scrap of left over bulletin board paper in our workroom that made a perfect backdrop to featuring their adorable little bare feet. Love the simplicity of this one and how it turned out.

Printing the Calendars

The biggest hiccup I experienced my first year was in laying out the calendars to print once I inserted the pictures. Here are my tips, create a template before you do any really work so you can print it in the most time efficient way. Once you've got a template to work with, then add your months, photos and you're ready to print.

I printed the photos on the top half of the piece of paper and the calendar on the bottom half.

Here's the layout that I ended up using in case it might help you. *Indicates photos page (all were inserted upside down to print double sided)

Page 1 - June, To/From

2 - July, Jan.*

3 - July, Jan.

4 - Aug., Feb*

5 - Aug., Feb

6 - Sept., March*

7 - Sept., March

8 - Oct., Apr.*

9 - Oct., Apr.

10 - Nov., May*

11 - Nov., May

12 - Dec., June*

13 - Dec. (printed on top half)

Page 1 Layout

I left the months off, but color coordinated the calendar headers to match the photo borders so I could ensure their correct order. I had students copy the months of the year which turned out super cute!

July

July has a different type of backdrop. Most laid with hands under our heads and butterfly arms donning a pair of sunglasses. A large beach towel became our backdrop so all we needed was a pair of sunglasses to pull this beach-y look off. Yeah, it didn't turn out so great when they were wearing long sleeves, but eh, that's life!

August

The month of August is the hottest where we live, so we folded a beach towel over our shoulders to make it look more realistic {ahem} and had a fun dallop of sunscreen (actually, just lotion) on our noses. The bright backdrop and paper cut sun is the backdrop.

September

September is usually after we start school, but is synonymous with school time. So I shrink a picture of them on a black paper backdrop waving hello and place it into the window of a bus. It's a teeny picture once printed, but I like it.

Creating a Cover

We create an artwork piece for the calendar cover. I print a sharpie-outlined snowflake onto heavy, white construction paper. Students use just blues and purple watercolors to paint and then can begin working on ripping white paper snow crystals.

Students glue these crystals along the black lines of the snowflake template and we add a touch of glitter before laminating these covers. I only laminate the covers for this project and then cut it in half to become the front and back cover of the 1/2 sheet calendar gift.

October

Making October stand out meant I added a few pieces of clipart to the template for this orange frame. Oddly enough it felt flat with the neutral brown paper background and scarecrow who lives outside my classroom door in the fall months.

November

November turned out really cute with the way each student held the bunch of leaves differently. The leaves are simple leaves from our retelling center and the backdrop is an interactive piece of artwork and writing that we did as a class. (Hand print fall leaves)

December

December is symbolic of the Gingerbread Adventures we do as a class. I had this gingerbread cutout made a few years back by my talented sister and it is just a piece of poster board. It creates both the prop and background for December.

Binding the Gift

Once each calendar was printed double sided, then I cut them down to their 1/2 sheet size. I put the two piles together to create one calendar and used our binding machine at school to add their finished covers onto the front and back. They loved looking at their finished products every day as they had a few minutes to write in the months of the year.

More on Gifts

Easy Gift Wrap - Reindeer Style
Gift Wrapping With Tissue Paper for Kindergarten

As I said, this isn't a project for everyone, but it is definitely a cool one! This year I went more simple, but may feel a different version of this project for next year.

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

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