It’s that time of year every parent, I mean Santa dreads. Will they write the thing you have already bought and packed away behind the washing basket in the corner of your bedroom asked the elves to make and packed on the sleigh? Or will they throw a curve ball and suddenly ask for a remote control car when you have bought them a Barbie. Children are fickle things and the thing they love passionately one moment is lying neglected and gathering dust underneath their bed the next.
Anyway the Christmas list is a great opportunity to get children writing with a purpose (if nothing else). they are fairly well motivated to write a list but I find a few accessories can really encourage them. We have lots of fun Christmas themed pencils, stamps and stickers which they can’t wait to use on the writing table. I always have one corner of the house set up for writing and drawing with plenty of access to paper and pencils. It is an Ikea table which I cover with paper and then a top layer of clear plastic to make it a bit more durable. The paper this time is a Christmas table cloth.
To get them started I made some special writing paper decorated with Christmas presents. The twins are three and I thought they need a bit more scaffolding of their writing so put a couple of sentences to get them started and left a big gap for them to draw a picture of what they wanted.
They were very keen to get writing and new exactly what they were going to put.
I think Santa has got off very lightly this year. Charlotte said she wants a teddy. She’s been very good apparently. Hmmmmm…….
Rose wants a yoyo. Well that’s what she says. I wasn’t sure she actually knew what a yoyo was but she has drawn the picture and everything. i was really pleased with how she wrote her name as she did that without any help. She has all the letters, although the s and o are the wrong way round.
For Molly I gave her a blank sheet with just a border. I didn’t get her to plan but we talked about what she might write first. She has written:
Dear Santa. I’ve been good this year. Can I have a ice skate, sewing box and Sugar the Seal. K- I would like you to have a lovely life without your dad, Love Molly.
The final sentence is because I asked her if she wanted to write a wish for someone else and she thought about the boy in her class who sadly lost his dad this year and how she was worried he would have a bad Christmas.
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