These are some ice cream cone ornaments we made the other day. I copied this idea from my favorite kindergarten teacher who does this with her class every year. We just glued silver balls in ice ream cones and glued sprinkles on top. The kids especially loved eating the sprinkles that didn't stick!
Woo Hoo! I finally had the kids make a Christmas present for their parents! I ended up buying the same frame I used for a Father's Day gift with a different family. I got a pack of wooden stars, the wooden family cutout, and of course paint. I let my three and almost two year old paint the whole frame burgundy, and of course I smoothed out the edges, painted the spots they missed, and basically did the whole thing over again when they weren't looking. :) Then I let my three year old have a go at the stars and the family cutout which again I fixed up later. When all the pieces were dry, we simply glued it all together and added pictures. I think it's really cute. Sorry about the crappy cell phone pic.
I had the kids make some bells out of craft foam, star confetti and puff balls. It was one of those random crafts my three year old helped me come up with by digging through the craft box and pulling out whatever looked like fun! My almost two year old was very good at sticking on the stars, even if half of them ended up on the floor!
This is a Christmas Tree that my three year old friend made out of popsicle sticks. We glued it onto paper so she would be able to hang it on her bulletin board.
These are some little ice skates that my three year old helped me make out of felt and paper clips!
Here is a pic of some of my fancy gift wrapping. I'm trying to make every package beautiful!
This is an angel ornament that my three year old made. We glued two Popsicle sticks together for the body, and used construction paper folded like a fan for the wings. The hair is string and the halo is a pipe cleaner. I got the idea from a similar ornament I made when I was a girl scout.
This is a snowman that my three year old made. She wanted to do a craft and helped me gather all the materials to make a snowman. She used a baby food container lid to stamp the white circles. We didn't have any black construction paper, so she asked me to cut out a pink one. Then she decided to paint it black, since Frosty is a boy.
The other day my three year old "really really really really really really really" wanted some m&ms. I thought I'd at least make an activity out of it, so you know, when her parents ask what we did today, I wouldn't have to say "sat around and ate m&ms." She glued the m&ms to my crooked Christmas tree cut out with one hand, while jamming hand fulls of chocolaty goodness into her mouth with the other. My almost two year old guy was firmly against doing the craft, but was not against eating glue covered candy right off of his sister's tree!
My favorite three year old made this hand print Christmas tree. It was super easy, and would make a nice Christmas present for grandparents. The hardest part was cutting out all the hands. She was able to glue it together and dab on the ornaments all by herself. Her picture is in the center of the star, which is why you are seeing a big white box. I wish we had bigger construction paper.....or she had smaller hands.
I love Christmas! It's my favorite holiday and my favorite time of the year. Unfortunately the Christmas season is so short, when it's over I wish I had had time to do more with the kids. I have a whole bunch of crafts I want to get to, and this was our first one. We made wreaths by cutting out the center of paper plates and painting the plates green. Then the kids made berries with their finger prints, and finally glued on a pretty bow.
We've been working on this alphabet book to reinforce the letter sounds with my favorite three year old. It's coming along nicely, except for the X and Z pages which are still blank. The pictures so far have been cut out of old magazines, but I think I may just have to print out a zebra and a xylophone.
This is a piggy that my three year old made out of two formula lids. We have an overabundance of formula containers from her little brother, but I won't give them away to the recycling truck because they are so handy for crafts. We rummaged through the craft supplies and found a pink button for the nose, pipe cleaners for the legs, tail, and ears, and some funky red googly eyes.
This is a turkey tin that I made with one of my favorite little nippers. First we covered an empty baby formula can in brown paper (from a grocery bag) and cut out a head. Then we had these cool craft foam popsicle sticks that she glued to the back and the head for feathers. We also cut some sticks in half for the wings. She glued on google eyes, and glued on the body parts that I cut out of foam.
This is the flower bracelet that is ever popular with the little girls. I get so sick of making these things!
Today we made some paper roll binoculars. Not the most creative thing in the world, but my favorite three year old had fun playing I spy with them. My favorite almost two year old enjoyed blowing into his like a horn. He wasn't even upset that they didn't make noise!
One of my hobbies is making balloon animals. I mostly just volunteer at school and churchy type events, but every once in a while I get a request for a birthday party, and rake in some extra cash. This is my monkey, always a favorite with the kiddies.
Here is a turtle that has made his way to the top of the bulletin board. His shell is a paper plate sponge painted with yellow and blue paint. We were mixing yellow and blue to make green after my three year old friend learned to mix red and yellow to make orange at school. We also sprinkled on glitter for some extra pizazz. His head, legs, and tail are made from construction paper, and of course the best part is the cool blue google eyes.
This past weekend we decorated pumpkins at my mom's house. These are mine. The first one is the classic barfing pumpkin. Poor little guy drank that whole bottle of brandy and is now paying the price.
My second creation is the heart pumpkin. I cut out little hearts from paper and taped them all over the pumpkin, and then I spray painted it. I think it's kind of cool.
This is a fun lunch to make for a patriotic holiday or if you just feel like showing some American pride. The stars are little grilled cheese sandwiches. I cut the bread with cookie cutters before cooking the sandwiches. I also prefer shredded cheese just because it saves me from having to rip the cheese into neat little pieces to fit in the points of the stars. The stripes are obviously strawberries and bananas. I would have liked to use strawberries and blueberries but somebody has decided he doesn't like blueberries.
This is a bee hive made by stamping bubble wrap in yellow paint. I already had the wooden bee cut out. This would be cute for Valentines day. You could write "bee mine."
Today we made handy candy. The candy corns were on a sheet of scrapbook paper I had. I just cut them out and glued them around the hand prints. I think these are really cute.
