Festive Winter Window Decor and a Freebie

This week my I entered my post-Christmas classroom and instantly felt the need to freshen it up and bring a little “winter wonderland” into our learning environment. We arrived at school on Monday with a fresh blanket of snow outside and it only seemed appropriate to add some wintry fun to the classroom windows.

Of course, I went straight for my “go-to” project of choice: “Stained Glass” Window Decorations. I just LOVE making these in the classroom. It's a simple project that my students can do with minimal supervision, it's not messy, and it's QUICK!

What's not to love about this great project?

Supplies Needed

• 1 black construction paper frame per student (mine was 11×7.75″ and .5″ thick)
• 2 sheets of clear contact paper per student cut 2″ taller and wider than the black frame
• 1 black construction paper snowflake cutout per student (I used the school die-cut machine to punch mine)
• LOTS of pre-cut tissue paper squares in wintry colors (approximately 1″ in size)

Directions for Assembly

Peel 1 sheet of clear contact paper per student and place the paper STICKY SIDE UP on each student's desk. You can faintly see the border of the contact paper around the black frame lines. I completed this task during play time while students were away from their desks.

(I laid a sheet of white construction paper under my work area for photography purposes. The white paper is merely a backdrop and was not necessary to complete the project).

Once the setup was complete, give each child one paper snowflake and instruct them to place the snowflake near the top of the sticky paper, but in a way so that it does not touch the frame. All of my students followed this direction perfectly.

Then the real fun begins… students use 1 piece of tissue paper at a time to fill the inside of the frame. It's ok to cover up the snowflake and the frame edge. The work side is actually the back of the project.

Keep adding more tissue papers…

…until the frame is finally FULL.

Once the frame is completely filled with tissue papers, peel the second piece of contact paper and place this STICKY SIDE DOWN on top of the tissue paper pieces. This seals all of those little papers firmly in place so they can't escape (I always do this step for my kinders). Then flip the window over to reveal  the newly-created masterpiece.

Trim the excess contact paper from around the frame
(my kinders can do this independently)…

And voila! A beautiful “stained glass” window for the classroom.

Sight Word Emergent Reader

Celebrate winter while you work on the sight word “it” with my latest Interactive Sight Word Reader “Brrr… it is Cold!” To complete the book, students cut out, unscramble, and glue letters to spell “it” on each page of the emergent reader. This Sight Word Reader only costs $1 and is perfect for a winter's day!

Winter Color by Number FREEBIE

Since I'm in such a Wintry mood today, I also created a cute little Color by Number Penguin page. This quick little activity is great when you only have a few minutes. Add a subatizing element by having students roll a dice to determine which space to color. And since I try to conserve paper as often as possible, this freebie has been set up to print 2 per page.  Click the image below to download this great FREEBIE!

Winter's Blessings to You!

Celebrate the Holidays With Kindercraze

If you are looking for more fun holiday themed ideas, be sure to check out the blog posts below. They are filled with fun ideas and projects that will spread the joy of the holiday season.

Check Out These Other Stained Glass Ideas

Want to see more festive window decoration ideas? Click any of the links below for some fun projects that the children in your life will love to create!