Author: Jane Lansdown
First Authored: April 25, 2012
Last Revised: June 13, 2018
Many Retail businesses offer the special service of giftwrapping. Students will learn and practice the basic procedure of wrapping while using their creative flair to share additional ideas. This is a fun lesson to present a couple of weeks before winter break; students will then have the opportunity to practice their giftwrapping skills at a Retail store or at home to assist with holiday wrapping.
Materials needed: You will need to have plenty of the following supplies on hand: Small to medium sized boxes, tissue paper , wrapping paper, scissors, tape (regular, & double sided), ribbon and bows.
Hooks / Set
**As students begin to enter the classroom, begin the music video "Parents Just Don't Understand". Allow the students to watch until you stop the video at 2:40. It's a clean Rap video with Will Smith and talks a lot about shopping at retail stores. After 2:40 there seems to be some inappropriate content so it's a good time to stop.
(VIDEO ATTACHED BELOW)
Instructor: Today's lesson is learning how to Wrap! (all the students will hear is "RAP") Everyone should know how to wrap well, so let's get started!
*On a table in front of the class are 3 wrapped items. Be sure to clearly label each one with #1, #2, #3.
#1 is a scrunched up brown paper bag, fastened at the top with a rubber band and a ready made bow stuck on the side. (the bag should be stuffed with tissue paper to give the illusion that it contains an item, or actually have something in there).
#2 is a medium sized box that is wrapped with conservatively printed wrapping paper, nice ribbon and bow are tied around and at the top. Some of the paper edges are not folded neatly, there is a lot of tape exposed and the edges are a little crooked.
#3 is beautifully wrapped with shiny or sparkly festive paper, a fancy ribbon and bow and either a piece of candy or a small gift item attached and displayed on top (fastened with the bow). Edges of paper are folded and fastened with tape that is not visible and all edges are straight. Students' eyes will light up and will begin to ask questions about the gifts; Who are they for? What's in them? Do we each get to open one?
Instructor: At this point in our lives we all have had plenty of experience in unwrapping gifts which have been given us. With the holidays approaching, you will all need to become experts at wrapping gifts. Why? Because many of the retail stores that you currently work in or will someday be employed provide giftwrapping as a special service to their customers. Some charge for this service, others giftwrap free of charge. And if you never work in a retail store that wraps, this is a skill that no other class will teach you, and it's a skill we should all learn, as we plan to give many gifts throughout our future!
Take a look at the gifts on this table. All of you will imagine something different as contents of these packages. I'm curious to know what your thoughts are regarding these three packages.
* Distribute Wrap it Up! handout and allow students 10-15 minutes to examine their feelings and answer the questions. Encourage students to share their answers, taking time to focus on the wrapping techniques of each gift.
Instructor: Proper packaging is not always related to a tangible product. As you, in the future are called for interviews for employment, you should be thinking about how to "package" yourself to impress the employer, knowing that the interviewer is going to evaluate the "package" within the first 5 seconds, according to your overall appearance. This evaluation may determine whether or not you will become employed.
Resources and Materials
Demo / Modeling
Instructor:
We all think that wrapping is a matter of cutting, folding and taping, but there are specific "do's and don'ts" when wrapping a gift. Here are a couple of examples of how some people wrap.
Instructor:
We all think that wrapping is a matter of cutting, folding and taping, but there are specific "do's and don'ts" when wrapping a gift. Here are a couple of examples of how some people wrap.
*Show video: How to Wrap Like a Boss. Ask students if this is how they usually wrap gifts and if they would be eager to open this gift.
Now, let's watch someone who devotes the extra time to wrap a gift in a professional manner.
*Show video: How to Wrap a Gift or Present. Have a student volunteer wrap a box as the person is giving the instruction, showing the finished product to the class.
Instructor: We all think that wrapping is a matter of cutting, folding and taping, but there are specific "do's and don'ts" when wrapping a gift. Here are a couple of examples of how some people wrap.
*Show video: How to Wrap Like a Boss. Ask students if this is how they usually wrap gifts and if they would be eager to open this gift.
Now, let's watch someone who devotes the extra time to wrap a gift in a professional manner.
*Show video: How to Wrap a Gift or Present. Have a student volunteer wrap a box as the person is giving the instruction, showing the finished product to the class.
Instructor: We all think that wrapping is a matter of cutting, folding and taping, but there are specific "do's and don'ts" when wrapping a gift. Here are a couple of examples of how some people wrap.
*Show video: How to Wrap Like a Boss. Ask students if this is how they usually wrap gifts and if they would be eager to open this gift.
(VIDEO ATTACHED BELOW)
Now, let's watch someone who devotes the extra time to wrap a gift in a professional manner.
*Show video: How to Wrap a Gift or Present. Have a student volunteer wrap a box as the person is giving the instruction, showing the finished product to the class. As instructions are presented in the video, demonstrate the steps (or have a volunteer student demonstrate) to model the procedure.
(VIDEO ATTACHED BELOW)
Resources and Materials
Independent Practice
*This is when the students will practice what they have learned from the video and demonstration.
Materials: You will need to have plenty of the following supplies on hand: small to medium sized boxes, tissue paper, wrapping paper, scissors, tape (regular, & double sided), ribbon and bows.
**Note: you can bring in boxes (gifts) that you will need to have wrapped for the holidays, ask students a week or so in advance if they would like to bring in gifts that they or their parent would like to have wrapped, or use empty boxes that you have accumulated over time for this activity. If using empty boxes, go to the Dollar Store to purchase candy bars, enough for each box. I buy the chocolate bars that are wrapped with paper that looks like $100,000. Wrap each one in tissue and insert in each box and don't tell students what's inside.
Instructor: Now is the time to show your basic wrapping skills. You will each select a box and wrapping paper. There are plenty of scissors and tape. We will be focusing on wrapping techniques and put the finishing touches later. Wrap your "gift" to your best ability, it will later be evaluated by a recipient in the class. 10 minutes will be allowed to complete the wrapping.
*Note: during the time that students are wrapping, play Rap music. I have found several "clean" rap songs (see below) in order of favorites. These can be played randomly throughout this lesson when students are practicing their wrap skills. The songs are very "energizing" and adds a fun element to the lesson.
(VIDEO'S ATTACHED BELOW)
Instructor: Now that your "gifts" are wrapped, you will need to embellish with a ribbon or bow. Choose a ready made bow or select a ribbon that you feel would enhance your package. Take 3 minutes to attach the ribbon or bow to your package. Do your best with the ribbon, we will learn about bow making from some of you later on! Standing next to your newly wrapped "gift", each of you will move around the classroom, and will go to a gift that you didn't wrap. You will each be given a form to evaluate the gift in front of you. In your comments, be specific about how this wrapping could be improved, as well as some positive comments. When you are finished evaluating, turn the paper upside down and leave in front of the gift. *Distribute Giftwrap Evaluation handout. Allow 5 minutes. When evaluations are complete, each student will return to their own wrapped gift an will read their evaluation.
You all did a very nice job wrapping these "gifts" and my "gift" to you is whatever is inside! Go ahead and open your gift! Students will discover their candy bar or whatever you have chosen to insert.
Resources and Materials
Group Work
If needed, be sure to reserve the computer lab. Students will work in teams of 2 or 3 (I usually assign the teams), access the internet to discover new, inexpensive, creative, simple and unique ways to giftwrap. There will be a few students who are finding this difficult (usually the boys) because it's not something they're interested in. For these few students, I assign really simple topics to research: proper ways to fold tissue paper, how to tie a nice ribbon, how to curl ribbon, decorating a paper bag to use as giftwrap, using comic newspaper as giftwrap, etc. One class period should be allowed for this, and the specific ideas will be recorded on their own piece of paper, printed from the site or saved as a PPT slide or video to show in class. The team will prepare to wrap an item using their new idea and will present to the class. It works well to do this on a Friday, then the team has the weekend to gather their supplies.
Assessment Types: Demonstrations, Projects
Students will present their new giftwrapping idea to the class, having brought their supplies into the classroom and demonstrating. You may show a Rap video on the screen with the sound turned down unless it will be too distracting. Each team's idea will be enjoyable to view, students may write down instructions on an idea they particularly like. Each wrapped gift will then be placed on a table to be rated. After all ideas are presented, students will rate their #1,2 and 3 favorite ideas. The winning teams should be awarded with something (again, my students always like candy!)
*Instructor: Now that you are all pros at wrapping, you can decide if you want to allow it to become an obsession like these two did:
(VIDEO ATTACHED BELOW)
Resources and Materials