Christmas Tree Craft

This craft was so simple and easy, even LL(1) joined in on the fun!

Check it out!

Supplies:

• Scrapbook paper in different shades and patterns of green. (for the tree)
• Scrapbook paper in different patterns of red. (for the ornaments)
• Scrapbook paper in a yellow pattern. (for the star)
• (Or you can use a sheets of green, red, and yellow construction paper too).
• White paper
• Marker
• Scissors
• Glue

Prep Work:

• On the white piece of paper, draw a big triangle. This is the tree shape. :)
• From the green paper, cut out a pile of strips, about 1" wide.

• From the red paper, cut out a pile of circles, about 1" wide.
• (I have a paper punch that I used to get these cut. But you could also just trace a small circle and cut them out, or just cut from scratch!) :)
• From the yellow paper, draw and cut out a star.

Craft Time!

• Give your child the green paper strips and a glue stick. Have them choose a strip one at a time and glue it onto their triangle shape:

• After the triangle is covered, YOU cut out the triangle, including the tree base on the bottom.
• Hand the red circle ornaments and the yellow star to your child and have them glue these on their tree:

All done!

LB(4) and LL(1) had a blast making this craft. And now we've got them hanging up as special Christmas decorations!

(Here are the creations in progress):

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Reindeer Craft

This craft is so easy to get ready, and put together. LB(4) loved creating his own little reindeer to decorate the house for Christmas. Here's how to make it:

Supplies:

• Craft foam in light brown, and dark brown or black.
• 2 googly eyes
• 1 red pom pom
• Glue
• Marker

Prep Work:

• Using the light brown craft foam, cut out a circle
• Using the dark brown or black craft foam, cut out 2 antler shapes

Craft Time!

• Give your child the pieces and the glue.
• Show them how to glue on all the pieces to create their reindeer!
• Then have them draw on a smile with a marker.

There you have it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Handprint Candy Cane Craft

Candy canes are yummy--and always leave sticky little fingers behind as evidence of their goodness. 

So in honor of the sticky fingers, I bring to you a fun and easy candy cane craft made with handprints!

Here's what you do:

• Draw and cut a big candy cane shape out of a sheet of white paper (mine is 11" tall and 3" thick)
• Pour some red paint on a plate (tempera paint, or finger paint)
• Have your little one put their hand in the paint and then stamp it onto the candy cane. Repeat 3-4 times all up the candy cane.

Merry Christmas!

*P.S. The best finger paints around are by Crayola. They are the perfect consistency. Not too runny and not too thick. And best of all they are completely washable--and so easy to wipe off tables, fingers, and wash out of clothes. I HIGHLY recommend them for painting crafts with kids. 
And there is a great deal on Amazon right now to get a nice set of 12 different colors. In big bottles that you can use for a LONG time! Check it out!

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Bean Candy Cane Craft

 Welcome to our Candy Cane themed week! 

Our first activity is this Bean Candy Cane Craft (aka: "one of the easiest crafts known to man"). :)

Hope you enjoy it!

Prep Work:

• Draw and cut a candy cane shape out of cardstock (ours was about 5" tall, 1" thick).
• Get 2 bags of dry beans: 1 red kidney beans, and the other white lima beans. 
• Place a small handful of each kind of beans into a bowl.

Here's what you do:

• On the candy cane paper, show your child how to make a candy cane pattern with the beans: red, white, red, white......
• Then let them practice the pattern on their own. (Pattern-making is a good math skill for preschoolers to practice. Bonus!)
• Next, have them glue the beans onto the paper, following the pattern they just practiced to make their candy cane! 

Once the glue is dry, you could even add a string to the top and turn this into an ornament for your tree!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Countdown: ABC's

I know it's a bit early.......but,

 Merry Christmas!! 

A couple years ago (2010), I was trying to figure out a fun way to countdown to Christmas and discovered that the ABC's were a perfect way to do it! I wanted to post about this a few days early so if anyone wants to do this you'd have plenty of time to get stuff ready.

Here's the basic idea:

1. We decorated a letter each day with a picture of a Christmas word that goes with that letter.

2. We also did a fun activity that had to do with that Christmas word. (*optional)

3. After we completed each letter, I put them in a small photo album to make a Christmas ABC book we can look at each year! 

To Do:

1. Cut out, draw, or buy letters in uppercase or lowercase. (I used red punch-out letters that I got at the dollar store a while ago.)

2. Glue or tape each of the letters on a piece of paper. (I used 4x6 card-stock. As we decorate each letter, I'm going to put them in a 4x6 photo album so we have an ABC Christmas book!)

3. Using colored paper, cut out pictures for each Christmas word that your child can put together. (I used construction paper and paint samples because they are really vibrant colors.) For example, G is for Gingerbread (shown in picture below.) I cut out a gingerbread man and some things to put on him. LM simply put the gingerbread man together and then glued him on the G! It definitely will save time and energy having these all ready to go!

4. Put each letter and it's picture pieces in it's own little ziploc baggie. Organization = success! :)

5. Find a special place to put the letter for each day. I'm used the silver Christmas tin shown in the picture above. Each day LM looked in the tin and to find the baggie with the letter for that day. You could also hide the baggie with the letter somewhere in your house and have your child hunt for it!

6. (**OPTIONAL) If you want, you can also do an activity associated with that Christmas word. We had a variety of crafts, learning activities, games, and just fun stuff--all of which were pretty simple. And some of the letters didn't get an activity---due to the hectic nature of the Jolly season. :) 

Click HERE to see all the Christmas letter posts so you can see the activities we did with most of the letters. :) 

Here is our list of Christmas ABC's. Feel free to change any words you'd like to use:

ABC's of Christmas:

A - Angel 

B - Bells

C - Candy Canes

D - Drums

E - Elf

F - Family

G - Gingerbread

H - Holly

I - Ice Skates

J - Jesus

K - Kindness

L - Lights

M - Mittens

N - Nativity

O - Ornament

P - Presents

Q - Quilt

R - Reindeer

S - Snowman

T - Tree

U - Unwrapping

V - Village

W - Winter

X - Xylophone

Y - Yummy

Z - Zzzzzzz.....

And since there are 25 days to Christmas and 26 letters in the Alphabet, you could either do 2 letters on one of the days, or start a day early, or do the day after Christmas too. Either way, it will be a fun way to celebrate and learn the abc's each day until Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

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Santa Hat Craft

Here is a very easy craft we did the other day.

Just cut out a red triangle 

and glue cotton balls on the bottom and 1 on the top 

for a cute & simple Santa Hat!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree Shapes

We made Christmas trees out of different shapes for a craft/learning activity.

First I cut out 3 of each shape in different sizes: Triangles, Circles, Squares, Diamonds, Ovals, Rectangles.
Then I let LM glue them on the paper from biggest to smallest.
We added star stickers on top and a brown tree trunk on the bottom.

T is for TREE

Activity: Foam Shape Trees
I cut out some tree shapes using some glittery cardstock I had from some giant shamrocks I got on clearance last year. Then LM used these sticky-back Foam shapes to decorate the trees! We sent one to my nephew on his Mission, and the other 2 will go to Grandparents.

O is for ORNAMENTS

Activity: Handprint Ornaments
We used some red and green finger-paint to have the boys each make a handprint. I cut them out, wrote their names and ages on them, and mounted them onto some silver card-stock and covered them with contact paper. Then I punched 2 holes in the top to lace a red chenille stem through so we could hang them on the tree.

J is for JESUS

Activity: Christmas Frame

We do a lot of fun activities around Christmas time, but I wanted to be sure my boys knew really why we have Christmas: to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. So, using red and green construction paper squares, LM and I created a frame for a picture of the Savior.

H is for HOLLY

Activity: Holly Ties for Treat Bags

We cut out holly and berries from construction paper, punched holes in them, and threaded some red pipe cleaners through. We are planning to use them for twist ties for some goody-bags we will be making to take to some friends in a few days.

G is for GINGERBREAD

Activity: Decorate Gingerbread Houses
LM had his cousin and some friends over today to make gingerbread houses. We used graham crackers, chocolate frosting, and all kinds of yummy candy. They were fun to make, and really fun to eat!

E is for ELF

Activity: Santa & Elves Finger Puppets

I made these little elves and Santa out of felt and stitched them onto a red glove. So far, LM and I have had fun taking turns talking to Santa and telling him what we want for Christmas. He then tells his elves and they tell him that they can make it. Santa is always sure to remind LM that he has to be a good boy to get his presents. A nice plug from the big jolly fella. Thanks Santa!

D is for DRUMS

Activity: Paper Drum

I had these silver cardboard circles that came with some round tin pans and was going to throw away, but I always knew they'd come in handy someday!

1. We first cut a piece of white card stock in half and I had LM color and put Christmas stickers on it. 
2. Then I punched holes in it on the top and bottom and had LM lace some yarn through them. 
3. Then we taped the card stock together in a circle, and taped the silver circles on top and bottom
4. For the Drumsticks, we just rolled up some paper and taped them.

LM had fun banging on it while we sang Christmas songs! (Which was quite pleasant, actually. Because a paper drum is not loud at all!)

Such a fun little drum! Rum-pa-pum-pum!

Dec. 23 - Ornament Cards / Gift Tags

December 23rd, we used a few holiday foam pieces to make some mini cards. Here are the ones Mommy made:

And here are the lovely creations of LM:

We decided to use these to put on our tree. But you could also easily use these as gift tags or mini Christmas cards!