fun4kids: Christmas Bells

Book Ideas:

Jingle Bells by Iza Trapani
"Presents the words of the familiar Christmas song, plus extra verses and brief descriptions of the Christmas traditions of Mexico, Sweden, the Philippines, Poland, Italy, and Kenya."

The polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
"A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa."

Why the chimes rang by Raymond Macdonald Alden
"Two brothers prove to the world that the greatest offering that someone can make to honor the Christ child is not in gold, silver, or even a king's crown, it is in compassion, sacrifice and reaching out to others."

Songs and Rhymes:

Ring the Bells It's Christmas Time
Tune: London Bridge

Ring the bells it's Christmas time,

Christmas time, Christmas time.

Ring the bells it's Christmas time,

Merry Christmas time!
*Play the drum it's Christmas time

*Stamp your feet it's Christmas time

*Clap your hands it's Christmas time.

Hear his bells

Sung to: "Are You Sleeping?"

Are you sleeping?

No more peeking,

Or I'll tell, or I'll tell.

Santa Claus is coming.
Santa Claus is coming.

Hear his bells.

Ring the Bells

Sung to Row, row, row your boat

Ring, ring, ring the bells,

Ring them loud and clear.

Christmas time is finally here

So spread some Christmas cheer.

Silver Bells

Verse 1:

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks.

Dressed in holiday style

In the air there's a feeling of Christmas

Children laughing, people passing

Meeting smile after smile

And on ev'ry street corner you'll hear....

Chorus:

Silver bells, silver bells

It's Christmas time in the city

Ring-a-ling, hear them ring

Soon it will be Christmas day

Verse 2:

Strings of street lights

Even stop lights

Blink a bright red and green

As the shoppers rush home with their treasures

Hear the snow crunch

See the kids bunch

This is Santa's big scene

And above all this bustle You'll hear....

Repeat Chorus

Jingle Bells

Dashing through the snow

In a one horse open sleigh

O'er the fields we go

Laughing all the way

Bells on bob tails ring

Making spirits bright

What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one horse open sleigh

Jingle bells, jingle bells

jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh!

Activity Ideas:

Idea #1: Dance and freeze game with bells

Read one of the books and then put on some Christmas music and dance around with some jingle bells. You can even play the freeze game (When the music stops you freeze and when the music is playing you dance and shake your bells).

Idea #2: Mini Plastic cup bells

Read one of the book titles and then make your own Christmas bell. You will need some string or yarn, a jingle bell, a mini plastic cup (clear applesauce cup or kid's size yogurt cup etc...), some scissors, and items to decorate your bell (stickers, glitter, paint). If you use a cup that is not clear, you may want some tinfoil to cover the outside of the plastic cup.

Assembling the bell is too hard for most kids to do. You should assemble the bell first and then Let them decorate it however they want. If you want to involve them in the making of it, let them hand you the supplies as you need it, or let them wrap the cup in tinfoil before you start.

First, if your cup needs to be wrapped in tinfoil, do it now. Then, string your bell with a piece of yarn or string. Using a slip knot, knot the string an inch or so away from the bell. This will be the knot on the inside of the cup to help keep the string from sliding through the hole and allow the bell to hang low inside the cup.

Next, being very careful, open your scissors and push a small slit or hole through the center of the cup (an exacto knife would work well too). Then, push the yarn ends through the cup and knot it again, this time on the outside of the cup (you may have to use the tip of your scissors to help push the yarn through the hole). So in the end you should have one knot just above the hole, and one knot just below the hole on the inside of the cup.

Now, let your child be creative and decorate their bell. Provide a variety of materials to make the project more fun. Stickers, glitter glue pens, paint, etc..

(We were in a rush to do this project so they didn't have a lot of time to decorate them.)

Idea #3: Paper bell Wreath

Read one of the stories and then make a bell wreath using a paper plate, green paint, a sponge, some paper, scissors, glitter and glue.

Before you start, print off the bell outline and the bow outline. You may want to copy and paste the image into a word document so that you can change the size and then copy and paste it several times to print several on a page.