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The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year in kindergarten! Students are learning at lightning speed, there are assessments to take care of, not to mention tons of seasonal additions to the calendar. With a long to-do list, it’s easy for parent gifts to fall off the radar. In this post, I wanted to share two of my favorite student-made gifts for parents. They are simple to prep, easy to create, and each would be a treasured keepsake for the families of your kindergarten students.
I have decided to share a gift idea for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas, since I know that some teachers like to do a Thanksgiving keepsake as well as a Christmas gift for parents. Your students will love assembling these crafts and they will be so excited to take them home to their families.
First is this fun Thanksgiving gift idea for parents. This turkey craft doubles as an engaging writing activity for your kindergarten students! It is also easy to prep and requires only a few items in order to assemble. All you need for this craft are the template pieces copied onto construction paper, along with glue and scissors. That’s it!
You can choose to cut out the individual pieces so students just need to assemble them, or you can just rough-cut the pieces so students can practice their fine motor skills by cutting more precisely around the template outlines. Either way, your students will have plenty of practice with writing and following directions as they complete this activity!
After learning more about gratitude, students will write about things they are thankful for. They will write one thing on each turkey feather. The feathers are also large enough that students can draw pictures of what they’re thankful for instead. For some additional creativity, you could print off the feather templates on white paper and have students decorate the feathers themselves. For example, students could dot paint with cotton swabs using a variety of colors.
Once the feathers are complete, students will assemble this fun turkey craft that can sit up on its own. The completed turkeys look great on display in the classroom until it’s time to send them home. Students are always so excited to find their turkey on display and to look for similarities in what they’re thankful for.
These thankful turkeys are an excellent student-made gift for parents. Since the craft can sit up independently, it makes a great holiday decoration or centerpiece. This keepsake will be treasured for years to come since it provides a fun snapshot of what was important to their kindergartener at that time. There are always some fun things listed on the turkey feathers!
If you would like to create this student-made parent gift in your classroom this year, you can find everything you need in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on TPT. This resource includes the printable templates and detailed photo instructions to make it easy for you to do this craft with your kindergarten students.
This adorable reindeer will be a hit with parents when their kindergartener brings home this student-made holiday gift. Just like the turkey, the template can be printed off on colorful construction paper. If you’d prefer to add some extra fine motor practice you could print off some or all of the pieces on white paper and have the students color the pieces before assembling the reindeer.
This craft can stand up on its own, making it a great holiday decoration. The reindeer can hold a sign that says “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas”, which will make it a great centerpiece or festive decoration for families.
If you would like to incorporate some additional skill practice into this activity, you can make it a writing craftivity. For example, the reindeer can hold a sign that says “My Family” and the students can write the names of their family members on the gifts. For students who are not yet writing, they could draw pictures of their family members’ faces on the gifts.
Another alternative that makes this a fun kindergarten keepsake is to have students write items from their Christmas wishlist on each gift in the reindeer’s bag. Like the turkey craft, this creates a sweet snapshot that families can look back on when they pull out this craft from storage in future years.
If this looks like a craft that you’d like to use for your student-made parent gift this year, you can find everything you need in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on TPT. Just click the button below to find the printable template and instructions to create this 3D reindeer craft.
I have many more festive kindergarten crafts that can be gifted to parents during the holiday season! Just as one example, this cute snowglobe craft is a fun winter keepsake that can be gifted to parents.
Many of my seasonal crafts are included in kindergarten thematic units. Students can put together a fun project that incorporates other skills such as writing, literacy, and math. The best part is that these crafts correspond to other concepts that they are practicing in the thematic unit. This makes it easier to fit a little bit of gift creation into your daily routine during the busy holiday months.
Be sure to check out my post with an entire year of thematic unit ideas for kindergarten. You’ll be able to find fun crafts for any month of the school year and I’m sure you’ll find some giftable options for students to take home to their parents.
Be sure to save this post if you’d like to find these gift ideas later! Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these holiday crafts when you’re looking for student made gifts for parents.
These alphabet books will have students dive deep into learning about each letter of the alphabet while eager to see what activity they get to complete next!
