QUICK RESOURCE >> Download your ready-made Nativity Unit here
We have updated our Autumn number line today with 10 beautiful Christmas trees. T
he number line hangs in the kitchen window and is proving really useful as it’s always on hand when any of the children have a question about numbers.
We refer to it a lot and I have particularly noticed my 3 year old is now very interested in counting and also on the look out for numbers when we’re out and about.
I’m sure having the number line in a prominent position is helping her.
We made our trees using a great idea from Notimeforflashcards which used a fork dipped in paint to create the needles on the tree. (If you don’t already know this blog you should take a look as it’s full of great ideas.)
We then went sticker crazy to add some decorations. I did think about having 1 bauble on tree number one, 2 on tree number two and so on – but the kids were so enthusiastic with the stickers I just let them go for it.
They were singing carols while they merrily decorated their trees!
We sorted them in size order to give a visual link to the fact that the numbers are increasing – and then pegged them up.
Download your ready-made Nativity Unit
Download the Play Academy’s ready-made Nativity Unit and you’ll have everything you need to lead a set of activities to introduce your children to the Nativity story.
This Unit includes artist-drawn puppets/colour-in nativity scene characters and printable Bible verse cards, that your children can use year after year.
In this Nativity teaching unit your children can:
:: learn about the Nativity and create their own Nativity book or small world scene using colour-in puppet / nativity scene characters
:: learn about Mary and Joseph’s journey, and explore junk modelling
:: learn about the shepherds role, and explore loose parts
:: learn about Jesus’ birth
:: learn about the three wise men, and complete their book / re-tell the story in their small world
Bonus Nativity thematic unit printables
The Play Academy’s thematic units come with practical printables that make the lessons more engaging for your children and easier for you to teach.
No need to go searching for printables to accompany your lessons, they’re all included when you download your chosen unit.
In this Nativity Unit you’ll receive these bonus printables:
:: My Nativity Story book to write, colour and complete to tell the Nativity story
:: a set of artist-drawn My Nativity Puppets to colour, cut out and use to re-cap and act out the Nativity story
:: Nativity Vocabulary Cards to recap and consolidate learning
:: Nativity Bible Verse Cards to read, narrate your own acting out of the story, and perhaps to memorise
How to download this Nativity thematic unit
You can download this unit along with over 50 more from NurtureStore’s Play Academy.
If you are already of the Play Academy, you can download this unit straight away from our Library here.
If you are not yet a member, find out more and choose your first unit here. Your teaching is about to get a whole lot easier!
Found your comment over at Kids Get Crafty. Love the idea of the number line. I like the way the trees get bigger.
Thanks kewkew – a very simple idea but great for ‘visual’ kids.
Great idea a seasonal number line, my son’s teachers used the number line during the first year at primary school to help with adding up. A colourful Christmas one is a lot more appealing than the straight line they used:)
Maria, we like to update our number line every so often to match the seasons or whatever we’re interested in at the time. I think it helps to catch the children’s eye so they keep refering to the number line when they’re playing.
Oh I remember you mentioning these the other week! Lovely! We just need to make some trees now (we haven’t got past 2)…
Thank you as always, for supporting me on Kids Get Crafty 😉
Maggy x
Such a clever and beautiful idea! My two little ones are learning to recognize numbers now and this would be a fun way to see them everyday.
I love your trees. JDaniel would go sticker crazy too.
love your seasonal number line
Thanks angie 🙂
This is great idea 🙂
Just today we started a giant linky with Christmas theme. 🙂 We want to collect the biggest number of ideas shared by parents to make Christmas magic time of year for toddlers. There are 5 linkies in one post and it would be great if you would add this idea, along with others you come up to in future, to appropriate linky: https://best-toys-for-toddler.blogspot.com/2010/11/toddlers-magic-christmas-idea-bank.html