Symbols of Christmas {The Candy Cane}

I've decided for this last month of preschool that I would do the 4 remaining lessons on the symbols of Christmas and their meaning.  The four I have chosen are candy canes, Christmas trees, Santa and the Nativity.  There is something much deeper than than yumminess of a candy cane, the prettiness of the Christmas tree and the gifts from Santa.  I really want my kids to understand how those things came about and hopefully teach them more about the 'true' meaning of Christmas and this is my attempt to do just that.

So today we started with CANDY CANES......

Blake received this book last year from his Aunt Jen and it was just perfect for this lesson!  The book tells about a candy maker who moves to town and creates the 'candy cane' to share the gospel with others.  If you haven't heard of the 'legend of the candy cane' here's a quick run through:

-It is shaped like a shephard's staff, the first people told of the birth of Christ

-If you turn it upside down, it is shaped like a "J" for Jesus

-The red stripes symbolize the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross for our sins

-The white represents the purity and removal of our sins because of that blood

-I like to add too, that if you put two candy canes together it makes a heart and the reason Jesus died for us is because he loves us.

After the story, we used beads and pipe

cleaners to string together a candy cane using and 'AB' pattern

The kids took turns sharing the candy cane story when we were finished.  So precious hearing the gospel out of their little mouths!

(Can you tell I finally fixed my camera!  No more orange photos!)

The letter for this week was "J" so we practiced our J's from this worksheet from confessionsofahomeschooler.com

        

And of course we had to enjoy a candy cane while we worked!!

Finally, I used this website to print a 'legend of the candy cane' tag to pass out with candy canes

Next week we'll discover the meaning behind the Christmas tree and why we decorate it with lights and  a star.