Australian Christmas Stamps

Each year, the Australia Post issues special holiday stamps so Australians can mail greeting cards at a reduced rate. Design an original warm-weather Christmas stamp!

• 1.

  Find out about Australian Christmas traditions, including special postage rates for holiday greetings. Most Australian Christmas postage stamps deal with religious themes or cultural traditions. Some show events that could only happen in a warm climate at Christmas such as seeing Santa on a surfboard. Try your hand at creating a cool, warm-weather Christmas stamp!

• 2.

  Use Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils and your imagination to experiment with ideas that could become a future Australian Christmas postage stamp. What symbols of Australia and warm weather could you include? What colors?

• 3.

  Draw a stamp-make it big! With Crayola Washable Markers color in your design. How much postage is Australia charging this year at Christmas? Add the price in the corner.

• 4.

  Use Crayola Scissors to cut out your stamp. Create a fancy edge.

Benefits

• Students research Christmas traditions and the December climate in Australia.
• Students learn about Australia's custom of lowering postage rates at the holiday season and creating a yearly stamp.
• Students realize that Christmas in Australia is during the summer season and that most holiday activities are held outdoors in parks and at the beach.
• Students create a holiday postage stamp to showcase Christmas festivities in the Southern Hemisphere.

Adaptations

• Find out which countries in the southern hemisphere celebrate warm-weather December holidays. Create sets of stamps to display.
• Students research Carols by Candlelight. This program is held every year in the week before Christmas, when thousands of people gather in parks of larger towns and cities to sing their favorite Christmas carols.
• Find out how Santa delivers presents to homes in warm climates where there are no fireplaces or chimneys. And just who pulls Santa's sleigh in Australia?