DIY Wrapping Paper

   One of our Advent Activities this year was to make our own wrapping paper.  It's very simple to do.

You will need:

*Brown postal paper (Dollar Store)

*Paint

*Cookie cutter shapes

What to do:

*Unroll a portion of the brown paper 

*Tape corners down to prevent it rolling it back up

*Dip cookie cutters into paint and then press to paper

*Allow to dry before rolling it back up or using it

My kids did red paint with stars, snowflakes, and gingerbread men.  They also did white dots using the eraser of a pencil.  

Later this week they are going to make some more paper using green paint and Christmas trees.

This is a creative and frugal way to make your own wrapping paper, and it's great even for little hands.

No Sugar Holiday Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sause was always a holiday favorite of mine growing up.  I only liked the "jellied" kind, and thought people who ate the chunky kind were so strange.  Then a couple years ago I tried making my own.  Not only did I discover that I loved hot cranberry sauce, but I discovered that the "chunky" kind was so amazingly delicious.  I have not bought canned cranberry sauce since that discovery.  

Typically, you would add sugar into a cranberry sauce recipe, but since I don't like all that unnecessary sugar, I use honey instead.  Here is the simplest (and most delicious) cranberry sauce you will ever make:

You will Need:

1 (12 oz) bag of cranberries

1 cup orange juice (from a container or juice your own)

1/2-3/4 cup honey (adjust to your tastes)

Dash or two of cinnamon

*Put all ingredients into a medium pot and turn the heat to medium high.

*Cook, stirring occasionally until you begin to notice the cranberries "popping"

*Once most of the cranberries have "popped," turn the heat down to low and cook for another 5 minutes.  

*Remove from heat and allow to stand.  The mixture will continue to thicken as it stands.

You can serve this warm (which is so good), or refrigerate it until it's nice and cold before serving.

Christmas Shape Lace & Trace

These Christmas themed lace & trace cards are super easy to make!  

2 Ways to Make:

*Cut out shapes on construction paper.  Decorate if desired.  Laminate (I have this laminator).  Punch holes.  

OR

*Use old cereal boxes to cut out Christmas themed shapes.  Punch holes.

How to Use:

Lace and trace cards can be used to... 

1) lace with string (any string works)

2) Trace around the outside onto a sheet of paper

If your child traces the shapes, she can then decorate her page with markers, crayons, pompoms, ribbons, etc.

Older children can try to lace different patterns around the card such as up and down lacing or lacing around the outer edges of the cards.

These cards are great for fine motor skills practice!

Salt Snowmen: Craft for the Book "Snowmen at Night"

Have you ever read "Snowmen at Night?"  It is an absolutely adorable, funny, and creative book!  If you've ever wondered why your snowmen look a little smaller or different or meltier the next day, this book has the answers for you!  My oldest loves hunting for the hidden shapes throughout the pages in the book.

I really like to have a craft or activity to go with the books we read at home.  For this book, we made salt snowmen on black paper to represent the snowmen at night that they read about in the book.

You will need:

White crayons

Black paper

School glue (drip)

Salt

Using your white crayons draw a snowman.  Your children can get creative and draw the snowman doing something fun in the night, just like in the book.  This is also a great way to reinforce "circles" and basic counting (3 circles make a snowman) with little guys.

Using drip glue, spread it all throughout the snowman's body.  

Sprinkle salt all over the glue and allow it to dry.  The end results are so cute, don't you think?

My girls also used a small hole punch to punch out 3 dots from their black paper.  Before sprinkling salt, they stuck their dots to the snowman's belly for buttons.

Melissa & Doug Toys 50% Off Today on Amazon

Amazon's Deal of the Day today is 50% off Melissa & Doug products.  Their products are awesome, so if you like their stuff, be sure to check them out!  This 3 pack of puzzles have been my kids favorites for years!  Today they are only $10 for all three!  Such a great deal!

My other favorite today is this 60 piece standard unit blocks set is only $35 today (regularly $70).  I love these blocks and have used them for so many different things in my preschool and kindergarten classrooms.  I've never bought them myself, though, because they are always SO expensive!  I'm seriously considering buying these for a Christmas gift this year.  

I love all the great deals you can find online around Christmas time ;)

(The links in this post are my referral/affiliate links.  Read my disclosure policy HERE.  Thank you for supporting the continuation of this blog by using my links!)

The Mitten: Activities for the book

The Mitten by Jan Brett is an absolute favorite book of mine.  I remember it from my elementary school days, and I've always used it in my classrooms and with my own children.  Today we got snow for the first time, and so it was the perfect day to pull out this book.  I'm going to share a couple activities with you that go great with this book.

1.  Hunting for the White Objects (Sensory)

In the book, Nicki's grandmother does not initially want to make him white mittens because it could so easily get lost in the snow.  Find a handful of white (or mostly white) object from around your house, a gallon sized ziploc baggie, tape, and white flour.  

Fill the bag with a couple cups of flour and all your white objects.  Then, tape it shut so curious hands don't leave flour all over your house.  Children can use this as a sensory activity and feel around to find the hidden objects.  Finding something white in a white bag is hard, just like loosing a white glove in snow!  The consistency of the flour really does make it a difficult task!  For younger children, you may want to use larger white objects to avoid frustration.

2. Mitten Match & Sort (Math)

Gather up all those little mittens for matching and sorting.  You can have your children match each glove to its pair, or sort them into piles of like colors or styles.  You can also create patterns!

3. Mitten Lacing (Fine Motor)

Use your own hand as a template for a mitten.  Cut two out, and punch holes around it.  Tie string or yarn to one of the bottom holes and let your child practice lacing in and out of the holes.  Younger children may need the end of the yarn taped to effectively move the string through the holes.

Bonus: Print out pictures of animals from the book and have your child put them inside their mitten as you tell the story!

Do you have any other fun activities to go with Jan Brett's The Mitten?

Christmas Advent Activities

Edit: I'm having issues with DocStoc and my pdf keeps deleting.  IF you cannot get the printable pdf to come up when you click on the link below, PLEASE leave a comment to let me know so I can fix it.  Thanks!

This year, instead of a candy advent calendar, our family will be doing an activity advent calendar.  I'm super excited about these activities.  I've included more than just 24 activities on this list in case we decide that we don't want to do a particular one.  Want to join us in some December fun?  Here's our list this year.  This is a printable pdf so you can print it out, too!

Click below to get a copy of my Christmas Activity Advent Calendar.

Christmas Advent Activities