{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}
Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic!
This is part of a series, THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. For a thorough explanation of UNIT STUDIES {what they are and what they include} check out THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. You’ll also find a schedule of when each new UNIT PACK will go live!
Day Ten: SLEIGHS
I wanted to create a LITERACY PACK for Jingle Bells and that started me down this path of a UNIT STUDY on SLEIGHS. I’ll admit, it’s kind of an odd topic to study but I was still surprised that I could not find a single NON-FICTION book on SLEIGHS. I think I need to start a list of topics for books that need to be written! But, there are some super cute FICTION books along with an informative video so all was not lost!
READ: Despite the fact that it follows the same pattern as 1000 other Christmas books {the sleigh wants to grow up and work with Santa,} this book is one of my new favorites! Who knew you could fall in love with a little red sleigh? This book is a great place to start your UNIT STUDY on SLEIGHS because it does a good job of crossing over the line between SLED to SLEIGH. If you don’t have Little Red Sleigh by Erin Guendelsberger, I highly recommend adding it to your Christmas collection. And don’t forget to grab the FREE FICTION mini BOOK COMPANION PACK to go along with it.
Another cute SLEIGH book is The 12 Sleighs of Christmas by Sherri Duskey Rinker. It introduces a series of innovative SLEIGHS that Santa’s elves have invented in hopes of solving Santa’s problem. Of course, none of them work right and disaster occurs! It’s a silly book but creates an opportunity to discuss what makes a SLEIGH work and what doesn’t. And, yes, flying REINDEER is what makes Santa’s SLEIGH work! Don’t forget to make use of the comprehension activities found in the FREE mini FICTION BOOK COMPANION PACK.
WRITE: One-Dog Sleigh by Mary Cassanova is one of my favorite types of books! Each page adds on to the last so that when the sleigh ride starts, there is only a little girl and a dog being pulled by a pony but by the time the book ends, there is a girl, dog, deer, bear, mouse and more! It’s really rather cute and lends itself perfectly to this fun writing activity.
Your kids can either draw their own animals or cut out the ARCTIC animals and glue them on. Both are found in the WINTER-THEMED WRITING ACTIVITIES PACK. {Note: If you want the Arctic animals and downloaded the pack prior to 12-11-20, you’ll need to download the pack again.}
Of course, there is also a paragraph option that asks kids to design a new SLEIGH for Santa and describe it.
ENJOY: As you might guess, there are not too many SLEIGH snacks out there but this cute Santa Sleigh that was designed as a gift is actually editable and made with nothing but candy so your kids will be sure to devour it! Problem is….if you buy the supplies for it {candy canes, Hershey Miniatures, Santa Hat Kisses and Royal Icing,} you’ll end up with a boat-load of the little sleighs! A more elaborate {and expensive} version of that snack is this one. It takes a full-size candy bar, several more Hershey Minitarues, a chocolate Santa and some ribbon. It would also make a great gift!
CREATE: Apparently candy canes are a popular item to use in SLEIGH crafts! This one requires only candy canes, popsicle sticks and hot glue. Add some ribbon if you want to turn it into an ornament! There is also this cute Paper Plate Sleigh Full of Snowmen! It requires paper plate, white/grey/black paper, some markers and glue. Paint and glitter, optional. It looks pretty easy and because it uses a cutout of your child’s hand, it’s a great one to do every year. I always loved seeing how those progress!
EXPLORE: If you are feeling especially enthusiastic, you can set up this Sleigh-Building Challenge. It requires more time, materials and patience than I normally have but it would make a great activity for a co-op class….or a mom who typically has it all together.
Or you can take the easy route like me and show your kid this quick 9-minute video, Sleighs and Sleighbells. It gives some easy-to-digest history about SLEIGHS and requires no materials or patience!
LEARN: Check out this JINGLE BELLS SONG LITERACY PACK. It’s a great way for your kids to learn the most famous stanza of a carol we all know and love but also to work on rhyming, comprehension, reading and writing! It’s not free in my store but with code FREEJingleWOLFe, it’s FREE for you! Plus, it’s tons of fun to sing that one stanza over and over and over again!
READ MORE: Below are some more FICTION books about SLEIGHS. But, sadly, there are no NON-FICTION books listed. Seriously, I am going to start keeping a list of all the unsung topics!
Check out the entire series,
12 Days of Winter Unit Studies!
READ~WRITE~CREATE~EXPLORE~ENJOY~LEARN!
I hope this SLEIGHS UNIT STUDY inspires you to add this to your list of fun things to teach this holiday season!
Be sure to check out the other UNIT STUDIES as they go live. You can find the full schedule, along with the rest of the Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series, HERE!
Next up: SNOW
Much appreciation goes out to my good friend, Jamie Spear! She helped me find these fun books, crafts, snacks and more! Without her, these UNIT STUDIES would have nothing but “read this, print that, and write something!” You can find her on FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.
