For a few years we participated in the Elf on the Shelf craze with our Preschoolers. It was fun, but it was also a lot of work. Since I opened at 5:30 am and closed at 6 PM the responsibility usually fell on me to move the elf (we named him Jingle), and come up with new exciting antics for him.
A couple years ago we were introduced to A Christmas Star From Afar. This was a nativity set with a book and some ideas to go with it. It is probably most suited for a family rather than a classroom. The book tells the Christmas story and how the wisemen/kings follow the star to find Baby Jesus. The idea behind it is that the star from the nativity sets gets hidden/moved every night. The child/children then move the 3 wise men/kings to where they find the star. Each day the star moves closer to the Nativity set.
The first couple years I struggled finding meaningful lessons that my Pre-K kids would understand. It was also hard to make sure all 20 kids got a turn to find the star and move a king. This year (2023) last minute inspiration hit me and I came up with an interactive way to use Star from Afar in my Pre-K classroom. I wanted to share it in hopes that may help someone searching for ideas.
To begin we read the book to the children. Throughout the season we read different versions of the Christmas Story. As we set up the Nativity set we talked about about piece--Mary, Joseph, Jesus, shepherds, animals, angel, star and kings. We decided to display our Nativity set on the piano out in our activity room at the front of our building. Rather than moving the star and kings from the Star From Afar set we laminated a bigger star and each child made their own king. To make the king we used a paper tube and covered it with silver or gold wrapping paper. The children added eyes, faces, and crowns.
Each day I moved the star to different areas of our building outside of our classroom. We took small groups of our Pre-Kers out of the room to look for the star. When they found it, they placed their kings by it. Each day I moved the star closer to the Nativity set.
On our last day of Preschool before Christmas Break we 'repaired' all our kings (gluing eyes and crowns back on). One of our games we played at our party was "Follow the Star." We put rows of stars on the tables. Each child rolled a die and moved their king along the stars to make it to the end. After completing the game we moved the kings to the star which was over the Nativity set.
Next year maybe I can incorporate some kind of a treat or activity for them each time they find the Star.
Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!
