I love seeing poinsettias all around during the Christmas season. There are so many pretty varieties, and they bring such a pop of color to the home. But do you know the significance behind them? Today we had some fun learning about the legend of the poinsettia, and creating some fun Christmas crafts and snacks to pair with it!

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The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola is a beautiful story telling the legend behind the beautiful red flower we see throughout the holiday season. In the story, Lucida is a young girl who is excited to help her mother weave a new blanket for the Baby Jesus and the Christmas procession in her village. When her mother falls ill, they are unable to make the blanket and Lucida worries that she will not have an appropriate gift to give. After receiving a comforting message from an old woman outside, Lucida carries an armful of weeds into the church. The weeds become beautiful poinsettia flowers and prove the old woman’s point – that any gift can be beautiful because it is given. This is a great message to share with kids during the Christmas season

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Poinsettia Pretzels – I love making pretzel bites at Christmas time! These are a simple snack that everyone enjoys. Kids can help create these tasty snacks too! Cover a baking sheet in a single layer of pretzel snaps. Place a chocolate candy wafer on top of each snap and place them in a preheated oven. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven. While the chocolate is still warm, push a yellow M&M candy into the center of the wafer. Place red M&M candies around the yellow candy to create a flower shape. Let them cool until the chocolate hardens. Keep in an airtight container.

Create your own poinsettia!

Legend of the Poinsettia Ornament

Cardboard Roll Poinsettias – Gather a bunch of empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls and a sharp pair of scissors. Cut one inch circles off the tubes until you have a pile of leaf shapes. Have kids paint their poinsettia “leaves” and add glitter if you are daring! Gather the tips of the poinsettia leaves together and glue them into a flower shape. You will want to use clothespins or something similar to clamp the leaves together until the glue dries. String a piece of yarn or ribbon through the top of the flower and hang your poinsettias around the house.

Give someone special a holiday surprise!

Poinsettia Surprise – Lucida learns in the story that the thought behind the gift makes the gift beautiful. This is a great message for kids to understand, especially during the holidays. Show your kids that small acts of kindness can be beautiful by surprising your neighbors or someone special with a small poinsettia surprise. Leave a poinsettia on your neighbor’s doorstep with a note telling them that someone is thinking of them and appreciates them. Kids will enjoy surprising people while also learning to think of others and discovering how doing good deeds for others can make them feel good as well. If your kids are enjoying surprising neighbors and friends, you can suggest they create their own Christmas cards or make more paper towel roll poinsettias detailed above. (Buying lots of flowers can get expensive fast!)

Poinsettia Hop – The website Activity Tailor came up with a great way to use felt poinsettia placemats from the dollar store to get kids up and moving while practicing counting syllables. She laid out the placemats on the floor and had the kids jump from placemat to placemat as they break down the syllables in names. This activity can be adapted for a wide variety of skills. Kids could jump the correct number of poinsettias when given a number or a math problem, or they could jump one poinsettia at a time as they spell out a spelling word.

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The Legend of the Poinsettia teaches kids an important lesson that the thought behind the gift is what makes it special. This is an especially important message during the holiday season! Do you have any poinsettia crafts or snacks that you use in your family? Share in the comments!

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