4 Preschool Art Activities on the Number 12 in the Twelve Days of Christmas

Looking for some fun and educational art activities? These preschool art ideas can be used in your classroom during the holiday season, and help your students understand counting concepts, from one to 12, in the popular holiday song, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Start with a Number Fun Book

This is a great way to introduce and teach the numbers that will be used in the Christmas-themed activities to follow. You will help children make their own number books, based on the themes of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Take about 3 or 4 large sheets of paper and fold them in half. Staple the center to make a book. On each side, draw a number in big bold letters, then get the children to glue stickers, magazine pictures or printed out cut outs on every page, corresponding to the number.

For example, on the first page, the number 1 will be written in bold, with one partridge next to it, or other items. Similarly, make all the remaining pages of the book. The kids will love sharing this book with their family and friends, and it will help introduce them to the numbers and the concepts of the song. Note that it doesn’t necessarily need to follow the song exactly, but rather, should be a fun way to get the children started on the idea of one, two, three, four…. all the way to twelve.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree Patchwork Poster

Make a large patchwork poster for your classroom wall. This is a great group project.

Cut out 12 large equal squares of paper, and give one each to a child, or a pair of children, depending on the number of children in your classroom. Draw outlines for the children of all the objects that are a part of the Twelve Days of Christmas song.

For example, one square has a picture of a partridge in a pear tree, another has a picture of two turtle doves etc. Allow the children to color and decorate their squares with crayons, markers and glitter glue. Once all the squares are dry, attach all the squares to form a patchwork quilt like design and hang it up on the wall.

Christmas Gift Boxes

For this art activity, collect 12 shoe boxes. In addition, collect models of objects that are described in the Christmas song. For example, geese, a partridge, maids, gold rings etc. Get the children to help you cover and decorate each box. Now help the children put the right object in each box, by first sorting them, then counting them and finding the right number. This can also be used as a circle time activity.

Christmas Stocking Fun

This activity can again be used to teach numbers. Help children to arrange numbers in the right order with this game.

Cut out large stocking shapes with red construction paper. On each stocking write a number from 1 to 12.

Print out some pictures from the Twelve Days of Christmas theme, and glue the objects corresponding to the right number on each stocking. On your bulletin board, help children put the stockings in the right order from 1 to 12.

I hope that these four ideas helped get you started on developing some Christmas-themed fun. Modify the activities here and adapt them according to the needs and abilities of the children in your classroom. Happy Holidays!

References

• Based on author’s personal experience.