Christmas Math with Santa’s Sack

This is a fun, educational little game to do with your young ones in the run up to Christmas.  Christmas math with Santa’s Sack is one of those strange ideas that came to me as I was sorting through clothes one day.

To make these simple little Santa’s sacks all I did was use a long-sleeved shirt that Kallista had outgrown.  I feel strange cutting up clothes, but I try to remember that no, I can’t pass it on once I cut it up, but it also doesn’t make sense to give away fabric and then go and purchase new fabric. If I purchased new fabric I’d have to buy more than I’d know what to do with, and it would cost more than the clothing that I am up-cycling.

Back to the sack. This particular shirt had cute little serged-edge cuffs so I cut an appropriate length off the bottom of the sleeves.  I turned the ‘sleeve’ inside-out and simply used a needle and thread from my ’emergency sewing kit’ to stitch up the end that I had cut.  Then I turned the bags right-side out and the hard work was done!

To make these little bags easier to open and close and get in some fine-motor skills practice, I used a pipe cleaner cut down to a good size.

We’ve played Christmas Math With Santa’s Sack a few different ways over the past 3 years:

1)  We simply put in a few Lego pieces and Tristan or Kallista pulled them out one by one and told me what colour it was.

2)  Pull out the different Lego pieces and count the ‘circles’ on the tops of them.

3)  Pull out the pieces and count how many are in the bag,

4)  Pick up a handful of bricks and have your child guess/estimate how many bricks are in the bad and then discover if they are right or wrong.

5)  Use this as an addition game.  Count up how many bricks are in the sack that are blue.  Then ask how many are red.  Then add the two sets together for a total.

6)  Practice subtraction.  Count all of the bricks in the bag, then ‘take away’ a certain colour and see how many are remaining.

8)  After Christmas, this little red bag of fun lives on, or at least it has in our home.  My children have used it for storing all manner of little treasures over the years.  It’s always a surprise to me what where I will find them and what I will find in them!

How do you sneak in a little holiday-themed learning fun into your holidays?

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