10 Fabulous Christmas Crafts for ESL Learners
Nothing says “spring” more than pastel colors, flowers, and baby animals, right?
And why? Because spring is the season of rebirth, a time of year marked by new beginnings, when everything is new and fresh, and we are regaled by colors, smells, and sights that had been hidden from us for months. Also, as the school year is coming to a close in a few months, and energy levels may be running a little low, this is the perfect time to infuse your class with fresh energy.
Try any of these spring crafts with your ESL students and give your class some much-needed fresh air.
Spring Crafts for Your ESL Classroom
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1
Little ones will have tremendous fun coloring, assembling and dancing with their very own Dancing Flowers! Ask students to color each one before cutting and assembling, or print them out on colored paper and have them simply cut them out and assemble them with brass fasteners. A great way to decorate the classroom bulletin board!
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2
Students use the patterns on this worksheet to cut out the various figures from colored construction paper. Once they assemble their mobiles, they’ll have a great project to take home! For added fun (and color!) give them additional supplies to decorate them including glitter, confetti, ribbons, etc…
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3
Parts of a Flower Craft
This is an excellent way to review or teach the parts of a flower in English – and you can make it as simple or as complex as you wish, depending of your students’ level. For this craft, you students will need: tissue paper of different colors, green pipe cleaners, brown yarn, green construction paper, and tape.
Use the pipe cleaner as the stem and tie pieces of brown yarn to it (and some pieces of yarn together) to make it all look like the roots of the plant. Fold the tissue paper like an accordion, tie the other end of the pipe cleaner to its center, and fan out to create the flower. Cut out some leaves out of the green construction paper and tape onto the stem. Voila! You’ll have a garden of beautiful flowers, right inside your classroom, and a class full of smiling faces, eager to share them with you!
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4
Colorful Spring Trees
If you’re the type of teacher who saves every piece of used gift or tissue paper for crafts, no matter how tiny it is, you'll love this craft! Ask students to draw a tree trunk with bare branches (or show them how/assist as needed). Next, supply each student with some glue and plenty of tissue paper of all colors and sizes, but try to have plenty of green as well. Show them how to scrunch up the pieces of paper and glue them onto their branches. They may choose to glue plenty of green papers first to fill their trees with leaves, then, add their colorful flowers. Also, a great way to review the parts of the tree.
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5
Crowning Glories
Celebrate Spring with these easy to make colorful crowns. Your students will need: paper plates, colored construction paper, paints, markers, crayons, scissors, glue, and optional items like glitter, buttons, ribbons, etc… Each student will paint their paper plate in the color of their choice. Once they paint has dried, draw a circle within the plate about an inch from the edge of the plate. Show them how to draw two lines across the center of this circle, like a cross. Rotate the plate 45 degrees and draw another cross. It should look like a wheel with eight spokes. Cut along the spokes from the center to the edge of the inner circle and fold the triangles up to form the crown. Let students draw and cut out flowers to decorate their crowns (they should add at least one flower to each triangle tip) and add as much glitter and ribbons as they like.
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Eggshell Plant Pot Buddies
This is a great arts and science craft all rolled into one! Supply your students with eggshells that have been previously cleaned. Glue each eggshell onto a cardboard square to provide a solid base. Students paint eggshells and add a face to one side. When the paint is dry, give students grass seeds to place inside their eggshell buddy, cover with some soil, and sprinkle some water. Leave your students’ plant pots on a window sill or some place sunny. It'll take a few weeks for the grass to sprout, but when it does, it'll have been well worth the wait! The smiling faces on the eggshells will have a fresh, new head of green hair that students may trim for interesting hairstyles!
Chase away any trace of winter blahs, and bring in plenty of spring sunshine with these crafts! And if you’re still on the lookout for other great spring activities, be sure to check out BusyTeacher.org’s very own Seasonal Workheets!
