Pre-schoolers recycle for Christmas crafts

At St Jude Kinder Playschool, Christmas has been in full swing since November. All the children rolled up their sleeves to get started on festive creations, with Christmas cards and crafts, such as reindeer puppets and Santa's hats, at the top of their list.

"The crafts chosen were specifically for the right age for our pre-schoolers. We believe that it is not only important to choose crafts because of their originality and seasonality but that our children would be able to do most of the work involved in the craft," principal Sandra Darmanin said.

Moreover, creating crafts allowed the children to experiment and explore things, which unfortunately their parents would not let them do at home because of the mess they would have created. However, in the eyes of the school, such activities motivate the children to take pleasure in learning and to want to learn more. They prepare them to be successful in school - and later on in life.

Besides, the materials used for the crafts were be common items that are found around the house such as rough paper, cereal boxes, milk cartons, strings, paint and used paper bags.

It was amazing to see how such simple things found around the house can help the children create beautiful crafts, Mrs Darmanin said.

Also, the children started learning the concept of recycling and reusing things instead of discarding them straight away.

"We think that children are never too young for such awareness and we give all our support to planting seeds of new attitudes. For our crafts we encouraged children to collect items at home and bring them to school thus making them aware of the importance of controlling their tiny ecological footprint."

On their last day prior to the Christmas holidays, the Christmas crafts were exhibited and given as gifts to the children's parents.

For more information on creativity learning contact Sandra Darmanin at St Jude Kinder Playschool, Birzebbuga on 2165 1412 or 7965 1412.