Is your class able to take trips in the community? Here’s the perfect holiday CBI activity and why you should do a secret santa gift exchange with your students!
- Promotes kindness
- Age appropriate
- Opportunity for students to experience the gift of giving (and also receiving a gift!)
- Opportunity to express interests and likes/wants
- Opportunity to go out into the community!
- Practice shopping list skills
- Practice budgeting skills
- Practice making transactions in the community
- Gift wrapping
- Filling out a holiday card
- Practice social skills – saying “thank you”, “I love it!”, “It’s just what I wanted.”…etc.
We are all on a budget, so going to a dollar store to pick items helps keep the budget at a reasonable price! Set a $5-$10 limit. Remind students they will also need to budget for purchasing wrapping paper or a gift bag and tax. (Maybe include a card!) There is also a variety of awesome items to choose from at dollar stores. I typically ask parents to send in a $5 donation to help cover the cost of the activity. You can choose to keep the items in the classroom after the exchange or send them home depending on what they are. Often students pick a treat/snack or school supplies, so it works out to keep those items in the classroom.
Here’s a Visual Secret Santa form for special education students! Often times I find that my students have a hard time coming up with things they want (to be honest I have a hard time filling out secret Santa questionnaires because I start to draw blanks!) On the form are common items found at dollar stores; easy to circle and require no writing (except for name).
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