Santa's Workshop wrapping station has always been a hit in the preschools! This year I set it up the workshop with our Children's Factory WhatsIt. Since the WhatsIt is so versatile, it made for a great wrapping station!
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To set up Santa's Workshop you will need recycled packaging boxes, wrapping paper, butcher paper, stickers, tape, scissors, ribbon, gift tags, bows, felt letter board, and tempera sticks. Simply invite the child to wrap and decorate the boxes however they want.
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This instantly turns the child into a magical little elf working on wrapping the presents. While the child is engulfed they are accomplishing so many skills while folding, taping, coloring, and cutting. The right side of their brain is being challenged as they are cutting paper or ribbon to fit around each box. As well as when they are creatively decorating and coloring the wrapping paper.
When a child is cutting it allows a child to build up the tiny muscles in the palm of their hand with the continuous open and close of the hand. These muscles are also used for writing, painting, and gripping things. It enhances eye-hand coordination by using vision, processing what is seen, and moving the hand simultaneously to accomplish a task. When they are cutting it encourages the child to use bilateral coordination using both sides of the body at the same time while each hand is performing its own task.
This type of play remains an integral part of the developmental learning process by allowing children to develop skills in such areas as abstract thinking, literacy, fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, bilateral coordination, math, and creativity.
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