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Deedee Wills - Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

The BEST Kindergarten Keepsake Classroom Christmas Gift FREE POEM

Keepsake Classroom Christmas Gift from Kindergarten Students! Great for preschool children too! Free parent poem is included!

CLASSROOM CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Back in 2012, I first shared this Kindergarten keepsake gift and it has been a favorite of teachers each school year. These holiday gifts can be great at Christmas time, but they made great gift regardless of how people celebrate the holiday season.

Teacher friends from all over the world all agree this project is a great way to freeze moments for a while. Parents love it.

Christmas parent gift: Fence post snowman kindergarten keepsake

hese Kindergarten Christmas Gifts (MELT) … such a fun and treasured parent gift for kindergarten.

Here is the history behind them: I was looking for parent gift ideas and a sweet Facebook friend sent me a photo of a project her son had done when he was in kindergarten. I loved seeing him towering over this snowman. She then said that she made them with her class each year.

The BEST Kindergarten Keepsake Classroom Christmas Gift FREE POEM 1

First, we went to Lowes and bought wooden fence posts. Then we (when I say “we” I really mean The Perfect Son and Mr. W.) cut them to the exact height of each of my students.

If you plan ahead, you can also ask a local lumber yard if they could set aside fence posts that they can’t sell. These are often damaged or cracked, but you usually cut them anyhow. I have gotten the boards for free before, but like I said, you have to plan ahead a bit.

I would love to say you could ask for parent volunteers, but that would ruin the surprise. YES! This project requires a little hard work. With the exception of cutting and painting the fence posts, the bulk of the work took place in the classroom setting. TIP: Write the students’ names on the bottom of the fence post in a permanent marker. Don’t paint over it or you will have a hot mess! Sticky notes fall off!

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Then, we (The Perfect Son and Mr. W.,) painted them white. Today, they were dry enough to add the hat (a fuzzy sock, click HERE to see similar *affiliate), face, scarf, and buttons.

If you plan ahead, you can swipe up these socks after Christmas is over and save them for the next group of kiddos.

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The face is made with black paint (use the child’s fingerprints) and orange craft foam. I just cut it in a carrot-like-nose-shape.

 

Snowman Parent Gift Updated

Last year, I worked with 26 first graders to make their snowmen! I worked with the whole class to personalize their snowman.

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Another teacher used 1 x 4’s and found she could get 2 students on one long board. It may save you a little money that way.

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Here are some of the photos that have been sent to me over the years from other teachers. I love all the options for these class gifts.

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And here are a few more.

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Then the best thing is when parents send me pictures of their child standing next to their snowman a few years later.

I’ve had some photos of college students standing with their snowmen underneath the Christmas tree. What a fun way to remanence.

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How much do these Christmas gifts cost?

That really depends. I have shared a few ways you can shed some of the cost. I do know that teaching is such an underpaid profession. So how do you offset the cost? You could ask parents for donations. I have always taught at Title 1 schools, so I know extra money from parents is not often possible. Just remember, a teacher should not have to take a vow of poverty. If this project does not make sense for you this year, but you really want to do it, perhaps take my suggestions from above and plan for next year.

Here is the breakdown fof the craft supplies and expenses for 2021:

  • Fence posts: $1.98 per child
  • 1 gallon of white paint: $33 for 27 students $1.22 per child
  • Socks (procrastinated and got them in a bulk pack from Amazon so they were a bit more) $1.49 per child. I have seen them at Dollar Tree for much cheaper.
  • Scarf (fleece from WalMart): I cut them 6″ x 30″ so you get 6 scarfs per yard. $.70 per child
  • Ribbons also from Walmart: $3.69 per roll and I used 2 for 27 students: $.27
  • Orange craft foam for the nose: I have no idea because we had some on hand and you just need a scrap per snowman.

COST PER CHILD: $5.66

Options to help with the cost:

  • Talk to your high school teacher. I have heard from multiple teachers that the shop teacher was able to donate lumber and labor for painting and cutting the boards.
  • Talk to your local lumber yard. I have heard some have donated lumber and paint.
  • Ask parents for a donation to help cover the cost. Now, this option depends on your student population. You could also ask your PTA.
  • Plan ahead and get holiday socks and ribbons at a discount during after Christmas sales.
  • Have a school fundraiser. I have done popcorn sales and Pickle Friday sales to help with student projects in the past. Students love the idea of earning the money to make a parent gift.

 

You can find a few other Christmas parent gift ideas for your entire class that are somewhat related:

How do you get this craft home?

This is a question I get asked a lot! I always sent this fun gift home at the end of the day after our classroom Christmas party. This last day before winter break usually means more parents are coming to the school, so it makes it easier for them to carry them home with them. Think of it as free shipping…LOL For those students who did not have a parent come to the school, I found it was a great idea to find a student who went on the same bus as my student. I asked one of the older kids to help get the project home for the younger kids.

As a class, each student worked on a winter or Christmas card to attach to the snowman. This handwritten note to their family member is the cherry on top of the Christmas sundae!

This is the time of year when life gets hectic, but I promise you will not regret making these Christmas presents part of your yearly routine.

Snowman Craft Tag FREE file

Simply add your email to the box below and the PowerPoint version of this poem will be sent directly to you. Insert the image into a PowerPoint slide and add the year!

 
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Keepsake Classroom Christmas Gift from Kindergarten Students! Great for preschool children too! Free parent poem is included!

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Deedee Wills

Deedee Wills

My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!

Hi, I'm DeedeE.

My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!
 

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95 Responses

  1. Wow, what a great gift idea!

    I'm almost ready to get started now for next year…….no not just yet! =)

    Merry Christmas and thanks for a great idea!

  2. I wish I taught kindergarten just to make these. Cutest gift ever! I think second graders are just a tad big:(! Love it!

    Ashley

  3. I had a quick question. A friend of mine who's a teacher is recreating your cute snowmen with her kindergarten class. Her school doesn't allow her to use the word Christmas in her projects, so she wants me to recreate the poem for her. I was wonder what font you used, or if you would mind emailing me a file I could edit for her. Thanks so much! And Merry Christmas! 🙂

    1. What are you substituting for Christmas? I was pondering this as well because one of students is Jehovah's Witness and doesn't celebrate holidays.

    2. Yes, it's for my friend and she requested I change Christmas to holidays. I wish we didn't have to, but there are a couple kids in the class who celebrate other holidays, I think at least one is Jewish.

      1. We’re a non-Christmas Christian family…I promise their mothers are truly grateful that they have such wonderfully inclusive room parents! I’m very involved in (like the head of two classes) planning events in our classes and it never fails to amaze me when I’m met with the, “If you don’t want your kid participating then he/she should go to the office during the activity/party” attitude. If you ever want anything customized just give me a hollar…there’s never been anything I wanted to do and couldn’t make work within our boundaries (like this cutie which is on a teacher’s note…not sure about getting them home)!

        1. Yes! That breaks my heart! My students took them home after our winter break party with their parents. A few had to take them home on the bus, so I enlisted some older students to help them. 🙂

    3. Julie… the font is one of Cara Carroll's fonts, but I can't find the original version. I'm sorry 🙁 Technology is my friend, technology is my friend…

  4. These are so cute! I saw the pic you posted on FB, and came over to check out the details!
    Julie Green Apple Lessons

  5. what width of pickets did you use? I had a parent get the 5 1/2 ones donated but i am afraid a sock won’t fit for the hat and that they will be very heavy.

    1. Yes! That is the size that we used. YES! They are very heavy, but they will last forever. I am constantly getting pictures of my students from years gone by, standing next to their snowman. I love it!

  6. I showed this to my handy hubby and he suggested using pvc posts which are already white. I might have to give this a try. Thanks for the idea.

      1. Thx, found them at the dollar store! .50 a hat ? Any tips on type of fence post? I priced them at Menards and need to check out Lowes.

        1. I got my fence posts donated from Home depot. We are a pre-k program of 48 kids and they gladly donated them!

  7. Our HEB grocery store had the sock 3 pair for $3 and i grabbed several packages! I used the fuzzy little slipper socks!

    1. HEB for the WIN! Sometimes you can find them super cheap. I also grabbed extras after the season to use for the next year.

  8. I inserted the poem in power point, but I can’t get the word text to disappear so I can insert 2016.

  9. I cannot get the poem to allow me to change the word text to the year. Any suggestions on what I should do? I inserted the picture into powerpoint but it won’t allow me to type in it.

  10. Pingback: Parent Gifts 2016
  11. I can’t get the year to print on the tag once I edit it. Any ideas? I really appreciate the cute idea but I’m having technical difficulties!

    1. I did not sand most of them. A few were REALLY rough, so I took them down a bit, but after they were painted, it seemed to take care of it.

  12. Hi Deedee
    These are so cute! Question for you did you use a 4 x 4 fence post? If not what are the dimensions of the wood?
    Thank you!!!

  13. I love this idea these are really cute. Can you measure the child and have someone at the store (Lowe’s, Home depot or Menards) cut them the length that you need? Thanks

  14. Lowe’s cut all of the posts for me to size! I was so grateful. However, they told me that I needed to wait 6 months to paint because it is treated wood!! I told them that wasn’t possible. Did anyone else run into this problem?

  15. Oh my gosh !! I love them and I have all 19 painted and ready to go decorate tomorrow! I can’t wait to see how they turn out, I’ll def attach you to my final social media pic 🙂 I tried to download to the link for the snowman tag since that makes it so much more special! I can’t edit the saying, I’d like to change Christmas to Winter for my diverse classroom. Can you help? Thank so much

    1. Hi Jana,

      I just added a generic version. If you go back to the post, you can download it. I moved the link to the bottom of the blog post because some people were having trouble with Google drive.

  16. I am trying to download the freebie tag for the snowmen but it just keeps leading me to an error page. Can you help?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Sonya,

      It is probably because you are using a school account… maybe? I changed the link so it is no longer a Google Drive link (it is now at the bottom of the blog post). If you are still unable to download it, try using a non-school email address. Schools often filter these automatic downloads… OY!

  17. For the snowman decorating contest, y’all used toilet paper and how did y’all get the black buttons to stay on the kids

  18. Love these! For the hat did you have to do anything to the sock (cut, sew) or just put it on?

  19. Hi there!

    I made these with my preschoolers last year and I am hoping to make them again! All the parents loved them and they are fairly simple to make. Thanks for such a great idea!

    Alison

    1. Hi Bonnie, you just need to add your name and email to the bottom of the blog post and it will be sent directly to your email inbox.

    1. Hi there!
      Simply add your name and email address to the box at the bottom of the post and the free Snowman poem will be sent to your inbox.

  20. I am very excited to do this with my preschoolers, but I can’t find the poem. I have subscribed, but I never got it. Help please?

    1. Hi Emily!
      The snowman craft should’ve arrived in your inbox. Maybe it is still on its way but I will send a direct download link to your email so you don’t have to wait any longer! Merry Christmas!

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