Christmas Lights Worksheet for Number Tracing

Today, we have a fun Christmas lights worksheet for you. But, this printable handout doubles as a number tracing worksheet. The PDF can be printed off, laminated, and used in so many ways to work on number formation or as a Christmas math worksheet during the holiday season. Grab this printable number tracing PDF below, but be sure to check out the various ways to use this resource in therapy sessions, the classroom, or home. We’re covering them all!

You’ll also want to check out our resource on tracing sheets and when and where to use them to meet handwriting goals.

Free Christmas lights number tracing worksheet to address number formation

Christmas Lights Worksheet

The holidays are upon us!  Like it or not, they are COMING!  What better way to embrace the upcoming season, than incorporating it into lesson plans and therapy sessions?

Check out this informative article from Continental Press on the Benefits of Incorporating Holidays into a classroom or therapy session.  It includes the benefits, how to’s, and some great teaching points.

Some of the key things to remember when planning your holiday themed lesson/therapy plan:

  • Not all learners celebrate the same holidays.  Some do not celebrate at all.  Find out the preference of each learner before presenting holiday specific activities. If you are unsure, go for a “winter theme” instead of holidays, or be well rounded and work on ALL of the holidays if your learner celebrates something.
  • Some schools have strict policies about incorporating holidays such as Christmas into the lesson plan.
  • Adding exciting activities can motivate learners to complete tasks, but it can also raise their arousal level.  Regulate how much excitement you add into the lesson plan each day and watch for signs of sensory dysregulation.
  • If in a public school or secular private school keeping religion out of these lesson plans is not only wise, it is the law.  While many families believe and celebrate Christmas with the story of Christ, school based activities need to be centered around reindeer, holiday lights, snowmen, trees, gifts, and Santa if this is acceptable.

How to use this Christmas Lights Worksheet

This Christmas Lights Number Trace Worksheet can work on multiple skills at once.  This is the key to any activity.  Most students (or the ones we work with) do not like writing activities, therefore making it time efficient, fun, and incorporating multiple goals at once is the key to success.

Other than number tracing, which is obvious, what other skills are built using this Christmas lights worksheet?

  1. Kinesthetic awareness – this is essentially learning by doing. While tracing, the hope is that learners are feeling the movement of the numbers as they are being formed, thus making it easier for them to independently form them.
  2. Fine motor skills – tracing on a line and staying in a designated space helps build the intrinsic hand muscles necessary for good handwriting.  The smaller the picture, the more muscle control is required. 
  3. Coloring – add coloring to this activity to further aid in fine motor development.  This also works on recognizing the borders of the lines, using different colors, making patterns, fine motor control, attention to detail, neatness, prioprioception and countless other skills.
  4. Proprioception – since I mentioned it, let’s talk about it.  Proprioception in this case is going to involve the pressure of holding the writing tool, pressure on the paper, arm and wrist support on the table.  Did you know, increased pressure on paper can cause hand fatigue?
  5. Bilateral coordination – one hand needs to hold the paper while the other traces and colors.  Be sure to remind your learner to use their “helper hand.”
  6. Visual Perception – being able to scan the paper to trace the numbers in order (or any order you provide), perceiving the line to trace and following which direction it is going, and noticing lines and borders for writing/coloring.  
  7. Social skills – talking about the holiday, talking about the picture, sharing crayons to build social interaction, turn taking, following directions, and staying seated with peers all build social skills.

Christmas Math Worksheet

Whew!  That is a lot of skills for one worksheet!  Using this Christmas Math Worksheet you have built on at least seven different skills.  

Just a few more pointers while working on these types of number tracing worksheets:

  • Tracing will build kinesthetic and fine motor skills even if your learner does not know numbers.  This becomes just a tracing task rather than number recognition.
  • To many learners, tracing does not always build their ability to write after tracing letters or numbers.  Some learners see these items as merely symbols, not actual letters or numbers.  No amount of tracing is going to magically make them be able to make these figures if they do not have any meaning.
  • Use multiple methods if working on number recognition or formation such as writing in the air, using different mediums to write, copying from a model, matching numbers, doing number puzzles to name a few examples.
  • Visual perception – always rule out VISION problems before assessing if your learner has difficulty with visual perception.  There are times the learner can not see the work in front of them, or can only see part of it.  

Using a Number Tracing Worksheet in Therapy Sessions

When you use this Christmas lights worksheet to address number formation goals in therapy sessions, you can consider these points on documentation.

How to document about your session:  

“Student participated and was cooperative during 75% of activity.  Learner was able to trace 7/12 numbers within 1/4” of line with R hand using a tripod grasp on large half inch diameter crayon.  Learner demonstrated fair bilateral coordination, needing two reminders to use their helper hand to stabilize paper. Learner was able to color 12/12 shapes with 80% coverage and poor attention to borders, making 3-5 marks outside of each shape.  Learner demonstrated average visual perceptual skills while correctly scanning page left to right and top to bottom 12/12 numbers.  Learner demonstrated fair social skills needing two reminders not to touch peers, and one prompt to ask before taking objects from peers.”

While documenting, it is not necessary to state you are doing a Christmas Number Lights Worksheet.  Documenting progress and skills is most important, or simply stating it is a 123 tracing worksheet will be sufficient.

As you can see, an activity like the christmas lights worksheet is not only fun but FUNctional, which is the OT motto.

For more great Christmas activities check out this blog from Colleen Beck creator of the OT Toolbox:

Free Christmas Lights Number Trace Worksheet

You can grab a copy of this printable number tracing worksheet and start using it right away in therapy sessions. Enter your email address into the form below and the printable will be delivered to your inbox. If you are a member of The OT Toolbox Member’s Club, this resources is available inside your member’s dashboard.

FREE Christmas Lights Number Tracing Worksheet

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    Have a great holiday season!

    Victoria Wood, OTR/L

    Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.

    *The term, “learner” is used throughout this post for readability, however this information is relevant for students, patients, clients, children of all ages, etc. The term “they” is used instead of he/she to be inclusive.

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    Free Christmas lights number tracing worksheet

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