You can bring the excitement that kids get when leaving out milk and cookies for Santa into the classroom through a fun and simple classroom activity: reindeer food! Kids will love this activity because they can combine the ingredients themselves and take their reindeer food home with them to leave out for Santa’s reindeer.
Tell your students that Santa’s reindeer get hungry too, and that the smell of reindeer food will help lure them to their house. You can tell your students verbally in addition to giving a hand out with instructions, telling them and their parents to sprinkle the reindeer food out in the yard on Christmas Eve. One cute way to do this is through a poem. Depending on the grade level you teach, you may be able to include your students in creating this part of the project. Here are the simple instructions for making reindeer food:
Per student what you’ll need:
½ cup of dry oats
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of red (sparkly) sprinkles
2 teaspoons of green (sparkly) sprinkles
1 sandwich size Ziploc bag.
Explain to your students that the reindeer will smell the oats and sugar from far away, and that the sprinkles will shine bright and guide them to the house. You can also tell them that they can create a path leading up to their house.
To prevent a mess, if you have a large classroom, it may be easier to set up the ingredients in an assembly line like fashion. If you have a small group, having your students sit about a table and passing along the ingredients to each other one to the next maybe a more fun, social experience.
If you have a poem or a set of instructions, have your students place the paper inside the Ziploc with the food so they can refer to it with their parents at home. This is a fun activity because the kids can go outside in their PJs before bedtime on Christmas Eve and spread the reindeer food out on the lawn. They will anxiously await their arrival.
In need of a poem to go with the reindeer food? Here is a great one:
Inside this special package is a treat
but not for you!
It contains magical reindeer food
and here is what you do.
Sprinkle this magical reindeer food
carefully on the ground.
And tonight if you are lucky
Santa’s reindeer will come around.
But here’s a secret I have to tell,
one you must try to keep.
That Santa’s reindeer only come
when you are fast asleep.
So quickly put your jammies on
and get a story read,
Then sprinkle this magic treat outside
and hurry off to bed!
Resources:
http://lessonplansplus.blogspot.com/2009/12/magic-reindeer-food.html
http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=4334
