Polar Express Party

Last night we hosted a Polar Express party for children in Kindergarten and 1st grade.  For this age group, I try to keep programs about 45 minutes long, because at this age (after a long school day) I don’t want to keep them up too late and our evening programs begin at 7:00 pm.

I love The Polar Express partly because of it’s beautiful story and breathtaking illustrations and partly because of the memories it holds for me.  This is one of the stories my mom reads every Christmas Eve to us (yes, she still reads aloud to us now!) and I have wonderful memories of wearing new pajamas on Christmas Eve, listening to her read this story to us.  Even reading it by myself, I can hear my mom’s inflections in my head.

For our program, I read the story aloud, trying very hard to keep the kids entertained (I had 18 boys and 2 girls).  Afterward, we created our own reindeer ornaments using popsicle sticks, googly eyes, pompoms, and pipe cleaners.  I found this craft online from The Polar Express party kit (which was extremely helpful)!  then, while we were finishing up the craft and getting our special snack ready, I gave the kids a Polar Express maze to work on, which I think they really liked!  We had a special snack for our party – sugar cookies cut-out in the shape of trains with chocolate milk.

I liked the ideas I had for the party, but I had some difficulty with the craft.  The parents were trying to help (which was nice), but ended up doing a lot of the work for the kids, which I think took away from the idea.  I wanted the kids to take their time and work on the ornament, but the parents were more focused with the result rather than the experience.  I might figure out a way to say something the next time we have a program for this age group.  I want the parent involvement, but also hope that the kids can be given the chance to explore their own creativity as well.