Preschool Santa and His Helpers Theme

On this page you'll find preschool Christmas themed activities related to Santa and all of his helpers including elves, reindeer, and Mrs. Claus
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Planning your Santa & His Helpers Theme 

Club Members can download our Santa and his helpers activities and theme planning guide for free!
Not a member? Learn More Here

Download our Free Santa and His Helpers Preschool Sample Lesson Plan

Santa & His Helpers Art & Creativity Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our Community!

Storytime Craftivity: 2D Reindeer Craft

Download your free copy of this Little Reindeer Book Companion  to pair with your favorite book about reindeer and complete a fun reindeer craft
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Get this freebie!

Footprint Reindeer

These adorable Reindeer footprints belong to the Children at TT's In home childcare, you can find more inspiration from our members on our Christmas Activities for Your Preschooler blog post. 

Santa Paper Plate  Face Frame

Invite kids to create their very own Santa Face Frame using a paper plate. Cut out the center of a paper plate, then add a triangle hat using red construction paper and a beard using cotton balls. Kids can put their face in the middle to pretend to be Santa.

Santa Searching Binoculars 

Using toilet paper rolls have preschoolers decorate with beads, gems, paper, markers etc and then glue together. Add string so preschoolers can wear them around their neck. ​

Paper Plate Reindeers

Cut paper plate into four quarters, then decorate using tissue paper, googly eyes, and a red circle for the nose. Trace preschoolers hand to make the antlers.

More ideas from around the web:

Add a variety of Santa and His Helpers cookie cutters to your open ended art space this week. For some added Holiday fun-check out this Reindeer play dough invitation from Kids Craft Room.
I love using items from nature to create craft projects.
Check out these adorable Reindeer Pinecones from Getting Messy with Ms. Jessi.
This hand and foot reindeer by Busy Bee Kids Crafts makes a great gift!
Kids (and parents) love personalized crafts. They make great gifts during the Holiday's. I thought these personalized elves from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman were so fun (and hilarious!).

 Santa & His Helpers Dramatic Play Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our Community!

Santa's Workshop Dramatic Play

Your Dramatic Play Space can be transformed into "Santa's Workshop" This week.  Your Kids will have fun building toys. You can add wooden blocks, play tools, and Paint Brushes. For Dress Up fun: Add Santa Hats, Elf Hats, and Reindeer antlers to your space this week (or the kids can make their own). Scout thrift stores for Santa, Elf and Reindeer Costumes. Don't forget a place for Santa. A comfy chair, and a place for him to write his list. If you feeling up to a DIY Challenge, create a Sleigh from a cardboard box (or decorate a Children's sled). Children can take turns loading it up with presents, and pulling it.
This adorable Santa's Workshop belongs to Community Member Debbie Mays of Siloam Preschool.
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Debbie Mays of Siloam Preschool
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Debbie Mays of Siloam Preschool
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Debbie Mays of Siloam Preschool
Community Member Sherry W. of First Friends Family Child Care
created  ​"Santa's Mail Room" in her Dramatic Play Space.

Santa Dress-Up

Set out some materials for children to dress-up like Santa, Mrs. Claus, Elves, and reindeer. Purchased costumes are one option or you can use simple headbands, silk scarves, and red & green fabric. 

Santa & His Helpers Building & Small World Play Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our community

Recreate the North Pole in your small world area this week. Add white felt, and cotton balls to represent snow. Add reindeer, elves, and Santa, and Mrs. Claus figures. Include pine trees, presents, a sleigh for added fun!
​Member Sheena W. created a Santa's Village using little houses found at thrift stores and the dollar tree along with some accessories from Playmobil. 

Chimney Construction Building Activity

We created the perfect Building invitation for this theme! Pair this freebie with building materials of your choice. See all the details and get your freebie here

Decorate a Sleigh

Provide your students with a large cardboard "sleigh" to decorate. ​

Bring Santa and His Helpers into Block Play

Print out pictures of Santa, Elves, Reindeer, Snowmen,
Mrs. Claus and tape onto wooden blocks or toilet paper rolls to bring "people" into block play.

 Santa & His Helpers Language & Literacy Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our Community!

Santa's Bag of Gifts Letter Matching*

Match up Santa's list to the bag of gifts with the same lowercase letter for some letter identification fun!
Included in the Santa & His Helpers Activity Pack from PKPF.

Santa Sleigh Writing Tray

 This Santa sleigh writing tray for preschoolers ties in the excitement of the holidays while practicing upper and lowercase letters! This literacy invitation is simple to set up and sure to be engaging. 
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Try this!

Write a Letter to Santa

Set up an invitation to write a letter to Santa. 
For children learning to write consider adding word wall cards or index cards with words they may want to use written on them. Children can also dictate the letter to an adult to transcribe for them and they can add their own drawings and write their name. 

Cookies for Santa  Sight Words*

Practice sight word recognition with this engaging activity from PKPF. Match up the cookies to the plate with the same sight word on them. 

What's in the Stocking?

Have your practice identifying first sounds. Place several Magnetic letters in a stocking. Select a letter (without showing it to them) and say words aloud that start with your letter. Students can take turns guessing the letter. Once the correct letter has been revealed you can pull it out and place it on a magnet board. ​

Dear Santa Pre-K Book Companion

Preschoolers love gifts, giving and receiving, and of course guessing what’s inside all those different packages.

The book Dear Santa by Rod Campbell explores what might be inside packages of different sizes and shapes.
Our Preschool Dear Santa Book Companion Set includes a carefully crafted collection of activities designed to complement the book; fostering early literacy skills, and vocabulary development.
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Get this in our shop!

Rudy's Windy Day Pre-K Book Companion

Coming soon!

Santa and his helpers book Picks

The Little Reindeer  by Nicola Killen
Santa’s Stuck  by Rhonda Gowler Green
Santa’s Aussie Holiday by Maria Farrer
The Littlest Reindeer by Brandi Dougherty
Pete The Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Letwin
Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer by Robert L May
Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer
Santa’s New Jet by David Biedrzycki
Dear Santa by Rod Campbell

Santa and His Helpers Math Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our Community!

Reindeer Number Ordering

Preschoolers can practice number ordering with this fun activity from the Santa & His Helpers Activity Pack. 
Identify the number on each card and then place in order from 1-10​

Reindeer Shape Match*

This activity is a fun way for preschoolers to practice shape recognition and sorting skills. 
Match up each reindeer to the sleigh with the same shape. 
Included in the Santa & His Helpers Activity Pack.

Gift Sorting by Size

Wrap empty boxes in a variety of sizes and invite your preschoolers to sort them or order them by size. 

Roll & Build Santa's Beard

For this game you will need a few simple materials. 
Cut out a round shape for a head, then cut out a red triangle hat and attach to the head. Glue on to a piece of paper. Now it's time to build Santa's beard!
Children will roll a die and then glue the shown number of cotton balls to the bottom of the face to create the beard. 

Santa & His Helpers Science Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our Community!

Santa's Toothpaste

Make Elephant Toothpaste​ using red and green to create Santa's toothpaste instead!
We have all the details over on our blog

Pre-K Printables Club Members: Log in and click here to download a member exclusive Santa's Toothpaste printable recipe

Build Santa a Sleigh STEM

Santa's sleigh broke right before the big night! Read the included story to learn about how it happened, learn about the parts of his sleigh then design and construct a brand new sleigh for Santa!
Build Santa's Sleigh STEM

More Santa & His Helpers  Science ideas from around the web:

Christmas Sink or Float from Edventures
Melting Santa's Frozen Hands from Little Bins for Little Hands
Grow Your Own Christmas Tree from Gift of Curiosity
Rainbow Spice Mix Kid Made Gift from Adventure in a Box
Can You Make Santa's Sleigh Fly? from Edventures

Santa & His Helpers Physical Development Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our Community!

*Santa & His Friends Number Clip Cards

Preschoolers can get in some fine motor development while practicing number identification and counting with one-to-one correspondence with this set of clip cards from the PKPF Santa & His Helpers Activity Pack.

Santa Dress Up

This Magnetic Dress Up Santa comes with 21 pieces of clothing for a variety of occasions. He'd also make a great addition to the Book "Santa Retires" by David Biedrzycki. He's easy to assemble and helps teach independent play, hand eye coordination, and matching skills.One of my favorite fine motor toys to incorporate into the space this week is this this Melissa and Doug Magnetic Dress-Up Santa. 

Reindeer Leaps

Support gross motor development and coordination by having preschoolers act out this fun Reindeer Chant
Jump as high as you can, 
Jump as Fast as you can, 
Jump on your left foot, 
Jump on your right foot!
Get creative and add in more lines for even more movement fun. 

Reindeer Color Matching Clip Cards*

Identify the color of each reindeer then clip the matching color at the bottom for some fine motor fun. Included in th Santa & His Helpers Activity Pack

Gross Motor: Gift Stacking by Size

This activity incorporates math and muscle development. 
Wrap up boxes in a variety of sizes, each having different contents inside to make them weigh different amounts.
Next have children sort them in a way of their choosing. They can stack them up by size with the biggest on the bottom, or sort by size or weight.  

Fine Motor Christmas Activities

Set up some fine motor fun for your preschoolers, you can find a variety of ideas on my Fine Motor Christmas Ideas for Preschoolers post. 

Give Santa a Beard

Support fine motor development by offering your preschooler this fun and engaging mat. Preschoolers work to add a beard to Santa!
Included in the Christmas Dough Mats set.

​More Santa & His Helpers Science  ideas from around the web:

Christmas Tree STEM Challenge from Steamsational

​ Santa & His Helpers Social-Emotional, Geography, Character Development, Culture & Community Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our Community!

Santa Visits Australia*

Christmas can look very different depending on which hemisphere you live in! 
Take preschoolers on an adventure with Santa in Australia with this fun pack!

Secret Santa: Doing Good Deeds

Plan to do some good deeds with your preschooler as a fun twist on Secret Santa. 
Some simple ideas: Bake cookies for your fire department, Build a snowman outside the senior center, or do a simple chore for a neighbor. 

Group Play: Turn Taking

Set up this Roll & Build game to encourage your preschoolers to practice turn taking skills while dressing Santa. 

More Santa & His Helpers Social Studies Ideas from Around the Web:

Norad Santa Tracker

​ Santa & His Helpers Group Play, Circle Time, & Classroom Management Ideas from Pre-K Printable Fun and our Community!

Thematic Calendar Cards

Bring your theme into your calendar activities with this set of Winter Calendar Games . Mix and match a variety of themes to spruce up your calendar. For more thematic fun be sure to check out the Year of Calendar Cards Pack. 

Circle Time Rhyme

Add some holiday fun to your circle time activities with rhymes from my Winter Circle Time pack which includes this holiday tree rhyme. 

Classroom Wishlist

Let parents know what your program needs with these Free Classroom Wishlist signs. 

Client Gift Ideas

Looking for a way to say thank you to your clients for a great year? Check out my Gift Ideas for Your Clients blog post for ideas. 

Christmas Ideas for Your Preschooler

We gathered a round-up of Christmas activities shared by our members and subscribers on our blog. Hop over to our Christmas Ideas for Your Preschooler post for a variety of ideas to keep your little one engaged in learning fun during the holiday season. 
This idea was contributed by Heidi Slaters Home Childcare. She provided foil for kids to practice gift wrapping. The foil stays put without using tape, love it!

Countdown To Christmas Activities

Countdown to Christmas by supporting math development and togetherness with this my Christmas Advent and Calendar Activities pack. 

Elf Shenanigan Ideas

Do you have an elf that visits your home each year?
Get some elf inspiration from our members and subscribers on this Elf Shenanigans blog post. 
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Photo Credit Cathleen S.

Santa and His Helpers Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00
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Santa's Workshop Dramatic Play Pack

$5.00
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Advent Calendars and Christmas Countdown Activities

$4.00
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Santa Visits Australia Preschool Activity Pack

$5.00
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Christmas Visual Discrimination Activity

$2.00
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Free The Little Reindeer Book Companion

$0.00
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Winter Circle Time Rhymes

$3.00
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Winter Calendar Display and Calendar Games

$3.50
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A New Sleigh for Santa Book Companion-Build a Sleigh for Santa STEM Activity

$3.00
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Rudy's Windy Christmas Book Companion-Reindeer Balloon Rocket STEM Activity

$3.00
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Winter Train (Members Only)

$0.00
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Free Santa's Stuck Book Companion-Build a Chimney for Santa STEM Activity

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Learning Centers

Preschool Learning Centers are commonly referred to as Preschool Centers, or Learning Spaces. These are activity areas dedicated to a specific type of of play and exploring a variety of topics and activities. Download our Free set of Center Signs!