Happy Holidays! Cindy Kurasch is our Interdisciplinary section editor for December. For December Cindy focuses on holiday festivities. She has included a number of holiday activities that will tickle students’ funny bones and lead to laughter.

Cindy also focuses on the season’s most important meaning to convey to students - giving. With the hustle and bustle that Christmas brings, it is so easy for us to forget to share the importance of giving.

In this month’s Jean Blaydes section, we are featuring a nutrition game called the "Eat Right Rap." Please see her section below.

This season is typically one in which we see our students struggle with the concept of giving and receiving. They are bombarded with messages daily about the toys and gifts that they should expect with little or no encouragement to be a good giver.

The classroom in which we teach (the gym!) offers us many opportunities to address this issue, and to teach the benefits of giving over receiving; caring for others rather than just ourselves; and experiencing the warmth of a true classroom community.

Take on the challenge this season of helping your students to grow not only as movers, but also as people by having them participate in the activities on this page, as well as any or all of the following:

Caroling as a class through the halls on the way back from PE.

Inviting parents (or other classrooms) into the gym for a game such as "Santa's Sleigh."

Creating a moving Holiday card by having your students work together as a class to create a large holiday shape or word. Invite others to view and guess, or take pictures and place them in the hallway along with an opportunity to guess what they are!

Holiday Scramble

Equipment: lots of tennis or pinky balls, a few with holiday pictures drawn on them.

Divide the class into 2-4 equal teams, and have each team begin with their backs against one wall of the gym, with a series of hula hoops against the wall as well.

Throw balls all around the playing area. On the teacher's signal, players from both teams run to try to find the Holiday tree balls. As soon as someone finds a ball, they sneakily try to place it into one of the hoops of one of the other teams. The team with the fewest balls in their hoops at the end of the game wins!

Teams can not take a ball out of their hoop once it has been placed inside, and players can not stand near, or guard their hoops during play. During the game, balls may be picked up, but not thrown.

Giving March

Discuss the importance of giving. Talk about the ways that givers and receivers feel. Demonstrate what good giving looks like.

Give half of the students a rhythm instrument, and turn on some music with a good marching beat. While the music is playing students march to the beat. When the music stops, all students without an instrument sit down immediately. The students with instruments rush to give their instruments to someone without one. Repeat.

Speaking more about the meaning of the season, and you look at the faces that sit in some of your classrooms, you will realize that the holidays carry different names, meanings, and traditions.

In the spirit of this season, you may want to conduct a lesson where students are able to learn more about December celebrations such as Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

Check out these lesson ideas - December Celebrations

To incorporate movement into these ideas, you could first describe different components of each tradition (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas) and then write or draw components (candles, different foods, Christmas ornaments, etc) onto large note cards, or use props.

Designate areas of the room as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas. Mix the note cards up (or props) and pass them out to students. According to the cards they receive, students match cards to the coordinating tradition and move to that area of the room. Students will then talk about the tradition within their group, and share or reenact the tradition for their fellow classmates.

You could also use your own creative juices and develop your own activity to integrate these traditions into physical education. In the United States we are so bombarded with commercials and advertising of Christmas, that it is easy to forget there are other kinds of celebrations that deserve to be acknowledged.