I may earn money from companies mentioned in this post at no cost to you. Thank you!
This post has been co-written with Ben Wolfson, a full-time educator and assistant principal in the USA.
Your students will love this new Christmas I Spy game so be sure to grab it today! There are two ways to use these free printable Christmas games; either print out the full color version and have it as a quick I spy and count game, or use the black and white version for students to color in every time they find an object.
Christmas in the kindergarten classroom truly is the most magical time of the year. There’s not a single student who won’t get caught up in the magic of the season, and you’ll have a whole month after Thanksgiving to decorate your classroom and do all sorts of fun Christmas themed games and activities. You’ll also find it helpful to continue the holiday theme into your academics, and this cute Christmas search and find printable is a great way to keep your students’ math skills going while they’re dreaming of Santa and presents under the tree.
Teaching One To One Correspondence With Christmas I Spy
The ability to count a group of objects accurately is one of the key skills you have to master in kindergarten math. Normally referred to as one to one correspondence, students need to be able to say the counting words as they touch each object in a group as they work towards subitizing (being able to recognize a group as having a certain number of objects without needing to count them individually). This I spy and count game is a great tool for helping students to practice their counting skills as they have to find all the different Christmas objects within a jumbled up picture. You can also run mini lessons on how to make sure that they have found all of the objects which is an essential skill for problem solving skills in later math.
Preparing Your Christmas I Spy and Count Printable
If you don’t have the materials needed, don’t sweat! You can get it delivered to your doorstep really quickly with Amazon Prime. You can get a 30-day free trial here.
Extension Christmas I Spy activities
There are two ways to use these free printable Christmas games; either print out the full color version and have it as a quick I spy and count game, or use the black and white version for students to color in as they find each instance of an object. To get more out of this Christmas search and find printable, try some of these activities:
-
Count real Christmas objects – turn this paper I spy hunt into real life by buying a bulk set of Christmas themed mini erasers. You can then set up a class wide scavenger hunt where students collect all the objects and then sort them, or hide them in your sandbox as an independent find, sort and count center.
-
Create your own – your students will love the Christmas I Spy game and will want to revisit it again. To turn this into a repeatable activity, simply print out a single page of the Christmas search and find printable and cut out one instance of each of the objects. Make copies so you can create a whole new I spy and count page with different totals for each student to work on. If you’re feeling like an extra challenge, give students piles of the different Christmas images to make a challenge page for a partner to complete.
-
Create comparative number sentences – finally, you can use these free printable Christmas games to move students towards comparative numbers sentences. Have them choose two of the Christmas themed objects and state which one has more (e.g. there are more gingerbread men than Christmas trees). Have them count each group to prove their Christmas conjecture.
More Christmas Themed Centers:
Looking for more Christmas-themed literacy and math centers? I have just the thing for you! Check out my Christmas Themed Centers – a variety of 10 themed centers that will develop literacy, early math and fine motor skills.
Games included:
1) Build A Santa Numbers 1-10 – Match the number to the correct number word, tally mark and domino to form a Santa Claus
2) Christmas Bake Sale Counting Clipcards – Counting up to 20 with fine motor practice
3) Colorful Christmas Stocking Sorting – 6 color mats with 10 different toys to sort
4) Reindeer and Sleigh Number Match to 10 – Match the respective reindeer and sleigh numbered 1-10 for number recognition practice or use it for counting up to 10 by lining up the correct amount of reindeers
5) Santa Sums to 10 – Print out 2 copies of the special dice, roll and record each one, then use the mat to add them up
6) Santa Pre-writing Tracing Strips – 9 different strips included
7) Santa Rhyming Bingo – Find rhyming words for -at, -am, -ug, -ig and -ap word families on the bingo card. 4 different cards included.
8) Santa’s List Pick and Tick Letters – Prepare the letter cards and place them in a bag or sensory bin then practice letter recognition as the child ticks them off Santa’s list. Upper and lowercase letters included.
9) Christmas Gift Sight Word Tagging – Match up the sight word-labelled gifts and tags. 40 Pre-primer words included.
10) Elf Alphabet Fine Motor Letter Mats – Form the letter using playdough or other materials you choose then practice writing out the uppercase letters.
It’s available on my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.
Books About Christmas That We Love:
Other Free Christmas Printables You’ll Love:
1) Christmas Printable Worksheet Pack – 50 pages of worksheets for mastering the alphabet, early math skills and more!
2) Christmas I Spy – This Christmas-themed I Spy is perfect for keeping little ones busy during the holidays.
3) Santa Land Spot the Difference – This game of visual discrimination will keep your kids busy for a while! Find the 10 differences between these 2 pictures of Santa Land.
4) Build A Number Santa – Preschool and kindergarten kids will match the number to the correct number word, tally mark and domino to form a Santa Claus in this fun printable Christmas activity.
5) Gingerbread Number Puzzle Strips – Set of 3 differentiated gingerbread-themed number puzzles including one with dice representation.
Spread the Christmas Cheer in Your Classroom:
Browse My Most Popular Math Printables:
1) Parking Cars Tracing Lines – More than 10 different tracing line patterns to choose from, all of which help with pencil control.
2) Scarecrow Arrange By Size – 3 different scarecrow-themed image sets that they will arrange from smallest to biggest.
3) Bumblebee Addition Game – Solve the sum and help the bee land on the correct flower!
4) Farm Shapes Mats – Use playdough, pompoms, stickers etc to learn 2D shapes.
5) Popsicle Stick Number Formation – Kids will love forming the numbers 1 to 10 when ice cream and popsicles are involved!
6) Valentines Printable Worksheets Pack – 50 pages of mixed literacy and math activities.
7) Zoo Animals Number Puzzle Strips – Complete these cute puzzles and learn the numbers 1 to 20.
8) Counting Colorful Bugs – This printable book will help kids count to 10 while also learning about color words.
9) Humpty Dumpty Numbers – In this printable game, your students will practice number recognition using 1 dice or simple addition when using 2 dice.
10) Build A Number Santa – Match the number to the correct number word, tally mark and domino to form a Santa Claus
