Holidays Around The World is one of our favorite units of the year. It allows us to bring the cultures, holidays, and traditions of our students and families into the classroom. And ya’ll, it keeps the kids engaged so I spent less time peeling them off the ceiling! Each day we visit a different country and learn about their holidays and traditions and we create a craft for each holiday or country. This post highlights our art projects for this unit!
These ideas and everything you need for Holidays Around The World are included in our Holidays Around The World Research Project!
Mexico-Poinsettias! I bring in a real poinsettia, and we use triangles to make our own poinsettia. The template for this project is in my Holly Jolly Christmas creation.
France-Yule Log. Students draw some lines on a brown piece of paper. They attach the candles to one side of the paper and then roll the paper into a cylinder. Glue. Add glitter.
Germany-Christmas Trees. Cut strips of paper into various sizes. I made my strips 2″ bigger each time. Start with 1″ and add 2″ for each additional strip. Students must put the strips in order from smallest to biggest to make their tree! Add glitter if you want! We ‘ve also made rainbow trees and marble painting trees!
England-Holly and Ivy-paint feet or hands green. Add red berries. Add glitter as desired.
Hanukkah-paper plate menorahs. Students paint the plates blue. Then, we fold the plates and cut them in half. One-half is the top of the menorah. Cut the 2nd half into quarters and make a base. Add candles. Glitter as desired. We also make menorahs out of paper for a less messy option!
Italy-Old Befana broom. Dowel rod cut to the desired size. Brown paper bags paper cut into strips. Wrapped around the broom and tied with a ribbon. Christmas trees are also important in Italy. We made painted trees by using shaving cream and paint.
Sweden-Starboy and Lucia hats. Starboy-fold 12×18 construction paper into a cone. Cut off any excess. Glue on stars. Lucia-sentence strip and holly leaves printed on paper. Cut out the leaves. Glue onto the sentence strips. Add candles. Glitter if desired.
Australia-paper plate wreaths. Cut out the center of the plate. Students tear paper and cover the plate. Add a red bow and plenty of glitter!
For Diwali, we make diyas. We paint a paper plate gold. Then, we make our diya from foil paper and add a flame. Another option is to use yellow paper or cardstock for the background. The foil paper is from Amazon. CLICK HERE TO GET FOIL PAPER!
Ramadan-we use cookie cutters to paint stars and moons!
Santa windsock! Students choose the skin tone for their Santa. After assembling Santa, we roll him into a cylinder shape, and I staple them together! We display them by hanging them from the ceiling!
We also do a directed drawing of Santa!
We also make Santa. Students choose the skin tone of their Santa. This Santa is basic shapes: a triangle for the body and a hat. Circle head, nose, eyes, ball, and buttons. Rectangle for the hat. The hair and beard are strips of paper that are curled up.
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