Easy Kid's Christmas Craft: Ribbon Trees

In the past, I usually didn't put Christmas decorations in the kids' rooms mainly because they were to young and I worried  a) about their safety and b)that they would destroy them.  I can see my 2 year old pulling Christmas lights out of their socket and so on.

The girls love to get into my ribbon and at the start of Emmy's pre-k this year they were emphasizing small, medium, and large so we did a Christmas tree craft with ribbon and we reinforced this concept and had fun getting sticky fingers with glue.


I don't know where I got the idea.  I think I saw something similar in a magazine or online and just adapted it to my kids' abilities and what I had in the house.  They may have used paper rather than ribbon.  I cut different pieces of ribbon and then let the girls glue them to paper starting with the longest pieces of ribbon to the smallest to form a tree shape.  We glued them on construction paper and then I cut two triangles of ribbon to form a diamond shape at the top of the tree.  We tried to make a star with several triangle shapes but it didn't look right so we went with the diamond shape.  For the trunk, we used a different piece of ribbon. 

Here is what they looked like:

You could cut out the tree then when they dried and punch a hole in the top to make an ornament for the tree. I used yarn to make the loop to use to hang the new ornament.  Don't forget to write the date on the back so you can remember when it was made for future Christmases as you reminisce!

I wanted to put something in the girls' room to add some Christmas cheer so while they were making their's I made one to.

I used an artist canvas that I had picked up brand new at a yard sale for less than a dollar and used ribbon that coordinated with the colors in their bedroom for the tree. I also made it look like a present by adding a bow.

Here is how mine turned out:

I brought some Christmas into the girls' room but I don't have to worry if they destroy it since it cost less than two dollars to make.

What kind of homemade goodness have you made for your tree or to decorate your house?

Explaining Being Thankful to a Preschooler & A Thanksgiving Craft

I wanted a craft to do with the girls but that wasn't to labor intensive since their attention span is pretty limited.  I love countdown projects to help teach numbers so that is what I decided to do.  I cut out 7 leaves using a template (printed on cardstock) that I found online.  If you need help finding one just google leaf template under images and you'll find a bunch of templates from which to choose.

I let the girls choose the colors of scrapbook paper that they wanted and then I traced the leaves and cut them out while they played pre-k and pretended to read Thanksgiving books that we've been reading together.

They put the stickers on the leaves and then we talked about what it meant to be thankful.  That is not an easy concept to explain to a 4 and 2 year old.  It took me days to come up with the right words.  Why is it that the simplest explanation is sometimes the hardest?  Last month Emmy's preschool collected food for the local food bank and I had talked with the girls about why we were collecting food and I had introduced the topic then.  I've tried to keep it simple.  We had talked about basic needs and what we need to live.  I explained to them that we have lots of things that we should be thankful for, things that make us feel good and even safe.  Emmy's pre-k was scheduled to have a trike-a-thon to benefit St. Jude's so we've also talked about how being healthy is something we should feel thankful for also.

When we did this craft, I asked them what things made them happy. I used some prompts to such as things they liked to do or things they liked to play with or people that they liked to be around. 

On the back of the leaves I wrote the girls' responses.  Some of their responses were:

• Mommy and Daddy and Ryan (of course)
• Grammy and all of their friends and Alex and Thomas (their cousins)
• being able to dance (Madison said somersaults, not surprising for the little monkey that she is)
• food especially marshmallows and cocoa (which I am not sure count as a food group)
• their dolls
• Emmy said her teachers (how long will that last, I wonder???)
• playing tag
• their house and their room
• playing in the leaves
• scarves and gloves (which are even more fun to play dress-up with)
• blowing bubbles
• bicycles and cars

And then they lost interest and wanted to hang the leaves.  I just used some ribbon I had laying around, clothespins, and removable hooks which I had in a drawer on which to attach the ribbon.

Here is the finished product:

Each day we're taking down a leaf and reading what they are thankful for.  For Thanksgiving, we'll either hang them all back up or make them into napkin rings by making a ring with a strip of paper to put around a napkin and then gluing a leaf on each ring. 

How have you explained thankfulness to your child?  What do you have to be thankful for this holiday season?

Going Green for the Day

 
It's Earth Day.

It's a day to be outside if the weather cooperates and the toxic cloud around our house dissipates (more about that tomorrow).

Here are some ideas for things to do with your family today or this weekend to celebrate Earth Day:

Go for a bike ride
Plant flowers or vegetables in pots or in a family garden
Visit a farm, greenhouse, or the beach
Visit a farmer's market this weekend and buy local
Visit a recycling center
Have a nature scavenger hunt
Host a swap meet (meet with friends or other people in the community to swap home decor, books, or anything else of interest)
Pick up garbage along a road or in your town
Go to the park to play on the playground
Observe little critters in their habitat
Go for a walk in your neighborhood or in a state park
Have a yard sale (afterall, one man's junk is another man's treasure) and donate the proceeds
Plant a tree (purchase a $10 membership to the Arbor Day Foundation  and get 10 free trees to plant or send as a gift to someone else to plant)


Make art out of household items such as using newspapers, magazines, scraps of paper, etc. to create collages
Play online games (check out the Earth Day themed games at Kaboose)
Read books about saving our earth (from The Lorax by Dr. Seuss to The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth)

Here are some cool Earth Day craft sites (I listed some of the crafts so you could pick a craft based on what kind of materials you have laying around the house) for young ones:

At Kaboose kids can learn how to make seeded book marks, egg cup insects, a terrarium with soda bottles, coffee ground fossils, tin can herb pots, toothbrush bracelets, and recycled newspaper pictures.  This site is aimed at preschool and up.

DLTK has lots of activities such as songs, information on Earth Day, coloring pages, posters, worksheets, and crafts (including a 3D Earth, cloud wind puppet, coffee filter Earth,  coffee filter fairy, an Earth Day handprint wreath, an Earth Day paper plate wreath, a habitat shoe box craft, pinwheels, recycled vests) and games such as Bingo and Memory. This site is geared mainly towards preschool.

The EPA has a  Happy Earth Day Activities Book (printable).

First School has a list of activities such as games, crafts, and printables for preschoolers and kindergartners.

Enchanted Learning has activities such as pendants, bird feeders, rain sticks, and origami for Earth Day and lots of Earth Day printables such as Match the Syllables, Finish the Drawing, an Earth Day Activity Book, and an Acrostic Poem.

Even toddlers can be taught to help save our environment by helping plant vegetation, turning off the tv, keeping the fridge closed, turning off lights (our two year old turns off her nightlight in the morning), not letting the water run when brushing their teeth or using less water for baths, using dish cloths instead of paper towels to clean up, helping mom and dad recycle, and going for walks to the store with mom and dad instead of driving.

Happy Earth Day!

Peeptastic!

Sugar high, anyone???

Peeps are a traditional part of any Easter basket here where we live (probably because Just Born is a local company).  Their sugary marshmallowy gooeyness enjoyed by all (well not me since I am not a marshamellow fan).

My daughter, it seems, just likes to bite their ears or heads off.  Or pull their ears or heads off.  My grandfather was the first person to give her a Peep last year for Easter.  She chewed on it for awhile.  We have a picture with her little mouth covered in colored sugar. 

This year we used Peeps to do an art project.  I love edible art since my daughter occasionally without thinking, will put her fingers or the object she is holding into her mouth.

WARNING: Do not do this little project before lunch or dinner (or naptime). 

My daughter's little work of edible art.

The Peeps hanging out by the lake.

Ingredients (or Craft Supplies):

• Pound cake
• Icing
• Decorative icing
• Coconut (for grass)
• Food coloring
• Peeps
• Whopper eggs
• Orange jellybeans (for carrots with green decorative icing on top for the leaves)
• Pretzel sticks and mini marshmallows (for mushrooms)
• Swedish fish 
• Goldfish crackers
• Cotton candy (the yellow for the chicks nest and blue for the water)

You can also make little hats with cookies with a Hershey kiss on top or make licorice string bows for their ears.  Afterall, what would Easter be without some Easter bonnets? 

Get creative with your own Peep art!

Do you have any fun Easter traditions that you do with your little ones? If so, please share them!

Uses For Old Christmas Cards

I love Christmas cards. They often serve as a connection to family and friends who you get in contact with once a year. There is something profoundly touching about opening your mailbox and finding cards from friends and family who have remembered you with a simple card signed with their name, a newsletter detailing family news for the year, or a picture card with smiling faces of children.

I know, there are those of you sitting there reading this chanting "tree killer" in your mind. Yes, I hate the thought of how many trees I have harmed with my addiction to sending Christmas cards or the joy I receive from getting them in the mail. I try to be "green" in other ways and I try to recycle my cards so that there is some attempt at balancing the impractical with the practical. This year I got my family's picture cards for free so I promised myself I was only going to send 50. I had to cut a lot of people off of our Christmas card list. Since we've been married, I send cards to everyone in our address book. The guilt weighed heavily on my mind when on Christmas Eve we received several cards from people whom we had omitted this year.

Every year I tell myself I will send e-cards next year, but I never do. I just can't bring myself to not send our family and friends something tangible to hold that is from our family and hopefully will bring a smile to their face as they hold it in their hands.

Don't Pitch Them, Use Them: 
Uses for old Christmas cards

Lacing cards
These are perfect for little ones.  All you need to do is punch holes in the outer part of the card and give your young ones shoelaces or ribbons (with scotched taped ends to help them thread it through the holes).  You will have quiet for at least 20 minutes.

Magnets
I picked up inexpensive clear plastic square photo frame magnets last year for a jewelry party I was hosting.  Cut squares from your Christmas cards and put them in the frames.  They look festive but elegant hanging on the fridge.  They can also double as coasters.

Coasters
See above.


Confetti
If you do Christmas crackers, you can fill them with confetti (punched from old Christmas cards) or use confetti for New Year's.

Fans
My grandmother crochets.  She made fans for our church using old church bulletins, cardboard/card stock, and yarn.  If you use old Christmas cards (since they are heavier than plain paper), you would not need to use card stock.   Punch holes in the outer part of the cards, all the way around just like with the lacing cards.  Crochet around the cards using the holes to anchor the yarn to the cards. 

Scrapbooks
Using decorative punches or just cutting out words or pictures, you can use them to decorate the pages of your scrapbooks.  This will actually cut down on the costs of supplies if you are an avid scrapbooker but also help preserve memories of cards family and friends have sent.

Decoupage
All you need to do is cut out pictures and paste them onto wood, glass, or metal with a decoupage medium, and then cover them with a couple coats of the decoupage medium.  When dry, apply an acrylic sealant and you will have a beautiful craft that will look more labor intensive than it really was.

Gift tags
This is one of my favorite uses for Christmas cards. I have a decorative tag punch that I use for scrapbooking that I use to make these.  You could also print out a tag template that you find online and trace a tag shape and cut it out.  Then, punch a hole in the top and add a ribbon. You could also make bookmarks out of cards also.

Ornaments
Pics from picture cards can be used for a children's tree (just cut out the pics in a circle, star, or some other shape, punch a hole at the top for a ribbon, and you have an instant ornament). Little ones will love seeing the faces of family and friends on their tree.  Small, inexpensive artificial trees (like those you could set on a table) could also be set aside for little ones to decorate.  You can also cut out illustrations on cards or even the words and make them into ornaments.  This is a good idea if you have young children since in their excitement they sometimes are not very gentle with fragile ornaments. You can also have your little ones make cheap foam picture frame ornaments and then put the pics inside those (like pictured here).

Messages
The front back of most cards usually lay empty.  After the holiday, separate the front of the cards, turn them over, and place by your telephone.  Use the blank card to write phone messages. You can also use them to write messages and put them inside gifts.

Word Magnets

Cut up words and adhere magnets to the back for kids to make sentences out of them.  They can have some "fridge fun".

Mini Cards
Cut up pictures from the cards to use to make scrapbook cards for next year by gluing them onto a plain piece of folded card stock.  Decorative punches can help if you are not very good with cutting out pictures.  They can help make your cards look professional.  You can add ribbon, scrapbook paper, and whatever else you have lying around to decorate the cards.

Collages and Placemats
You can also cut out pictures and give them to the kids to make fun Christmas scenes.They can glue the pictures onto a piece of card stock.  If you have them use letter size card stock, you can have them laminted and you'll have fun placemats.

Guide to Holiday Gift Giving: Part II

-->DIY Inspired Gift Giving
Keep in mind that it is about the quality rather than the quantity of gift giving. It's the thought and the love that is put in to a gift and not about the money spent. Some of my most treasured gifts have been those that have been handmade because those gifts are the ones that come with a story attached. It is these gifts that have evoked emotions in me and therefore when I think of them, see them, or use them, they make me feel something. Usually they make me feel cherished because someone cared enough about me to take the time to craft something just for me.

1) If your a savvy sewer, knitter, or crocheter you can create quilts, pillows, dolls, needlepoint,
scarves, and hats.
2) You don't have to be skilled in the kitchen to create cookie mixes, soup mixes, jarred jams,
butters, breads, and oils. Put them in pretty tins or jars that can be picked up cheaply at
dollar stores.
3) Create your own homemade soaps or lotions.
4) Research your family tree or compile an oral history of your grandparents or great-grandparents lives. I compiled my grandparents' stories about their lives and had them bound at Staples. In the back I added PA Dutch recipes since my grandparents are Dutch.

5) Write something for someone (write and illustrate a book or frame a poem for your loved
ones).
6) Write a song and record it or burn it onto a CD or burn a CD with a friend or relative's
favorite music.
7) Offer to be someone's personal servant for a day (especially if your handy around the house
or an organizer junky).
8) IOUs or coupon books can be personalized by you.
9) Use a photo album with magnetic pages to organize clipped recipes or recipe cards and
present it as a gift.
10) Create a scrapbook with premade pages (made by you) to which the recipient only needs to
add pics.

11) Do something fun (a family outing or vacation).

Cookie Monster's B-day

November 2nd was Cookie Monster's birthday. To celebrate this beloved Sesame Street character's birthday, I hosted a Cookie Monster playgroup for the MOMS club to which I belong. We had a good time. Usually these events are very relaxed and we kind of go with the flow (the little ones at this event ranged from 1 1/2-3 years of age).

I provided a craft. We made little Cookie Monsters with printables from the DLTK website and I had the "Cookie Monster and 10 Cupcakes Coloring Page" printable from Sprout. To do the craft from the DLTK website I made my husband go to Staples to print copies of Cookie Monster's body parts since I used the color version. Otherwise, our printer would have been sucked dry of colored ink. Staples is currently offering 50% back in Staples Rewards on all copies until November 7th if you use your Staples Rewards card. I had also been saving toilet paper rolls for several months.

To keep with the theme, I served blue snacks and snacks that started with the letter C such as blueberries (I had cantelope too but I forgot to pull it out of the fridge), goldfish crackers, cheese (string cheese), cucumber slices and carrots with dip, and chocolate chip cookies (Hillary Clinton's recipe which has oatmeal and is very yummy).

I didn't have any special decorations for the day but you could have blue streamers and blue balloons to make it like a real birthday party. After the craft, the children played while the moms chatted.

I sent each child home with a Cookie Monster cupcake. I just used the Magnolia cupcake recipe and decorated them like I saw on the Good Things Catered blog. They turned out really cute.

A "Tea"riffic Party

My two year old daughter loves to play tea party with the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Say Please Tea Set. She also loves to dress up. Recently I hosted a tea party for the mom's club that I belong to. We had so much fun.

I had a box of old clothes (including old dress shirts and ties that were my husbands for the boys) , costume jewelry, hats, tutus, feather boas, children's dress up heels (I purchased them from the dollar store), and old purses. I also had my daughter's tea pot sets set up on the coffee table so the children could play pretend. If you don't have any old clothes to sacrifice, check out the local thrift stores.

For the craft I had a teapot printable . I had crayons, markers, and stickers that the children could use to decorate the teapots. Other craft ideas include making fans or decorating little teapots or cups. If you are doing a tea party with older girls you could also do their hair and make-up.

Lunch consisted of sandwiches (I had cookie cutters available so the moms could cut the children's sandwiches into hearts or flowers), carrots, cucumbers, dip, crackers, and fruit. For dessert I made cupcakes and each child got to decorate their cupcake with icing and different types of sprinkles. On this day I relied on a boxed cake mix and a store bought container of icing. GASP! (I know).

Magnolia's vanilla cupcake recipe is the best cupcake recipe I have ever tasted. They are delicious. Usually this is the recipe I always use when making cupcakes. Magnolia Bakery is located in NYC and is very popular. People line up to sample their cupcakes. They were also featured in Sex and the City.

It has been years since I have used a box mix for cupcakes. I felt as though I was cheating my daughter and her friends out of of something special. I know this is ridiculous and that no one even noticed nor would any mom blame me for using a box mix especially since I was entertaining with a two year old and a three month old. It almost felt as though the day wasn't complete for me without these special cupcakes though. Silly, right?

Decorations consisted of a lace tablecloth (it was from Wal-mart) and a vase of flowers on the side table in my kitchen. Since it was fall I stuck with fall colors. I would recommend putting a clear piece of plastic over the tablecloth to make for easier cleanup. If you have a teapot you can also use it as a decoration but also fill it with juice to serve to the children. You can also use paper doillies as decorations for the table.

After lunch we had a sticker hunt. Each child was provided a little plastic bag in which they could put their stickers. I laid the stickers in easily reached spots for the children to find and each child was able to collect 10 stickers. This way all the little ones got the same number of stickers and it was fair for all.

You can also lead the children in singing "I'm a Little Teapot". Unfortunately I didn't do this since I can't carry a tune. Truthfully, no one in my family can sing. I was always conscious of the cacaphony arising from our pew on Sunday mornings growing up. It was a good thing trying out for the choir was not required otherwise I probably would have been the only child rejected from the tryouts.

For favors I made white bags (with a piece of ribbon and a gift tag) look like tea bags. I filled them with all natural fruit loop cereal and licorice laces so the little ones could make edible jewelry at home. Before everyone left, my daughter walked around with a little flower pot and gave each child a flower. The flowers were lollipops. I printed out the flowers from the DLTK website. The one was actually a sun but it reminded me of a flower. I cut the flowers out and attached them to the lollipops with glue dots. I used Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops which are the "yummiest" lollipops. I just placed a piece of floral foam in the clay pots to hold the lollipops and I thought they looked simple but cute. My little 2 year old was adorable as she walked around. I kept urging her to give the children a flower and say "thank you for coming" but it kept coming out in her toddlerese "tank you comin".

There were a lot of good resources that I found when planning the party. Below I listed some of the links I utilized in the planning process.

Hosting a tea Party
Tea Party: Unforgettable Celebrations From Family Fun
English Tea Party Crafts
Party Crafts (also from the Family Fun website)
A Whimsical Children's Tea Party (recipes)
Kids Party Fun (party supplies and party ideas)
Tea Party: Games, Activities, & Crafts

Creative Minds

I just placed a huge order with Oriental Trading. I couldn't resist their spend $49 sale with free shipping. I bought enough crafts for the next year. I like the idea of them having all the pieces in one package. All my daughter needs to do is assemble the craft. Usually the crafts come in a unit of one dozen so they are perfect for playgroups, daycares, etc. No need for me to run around the craft store or search online for hours to find cute craft ideas that are suitable for toddlers.

Occasionally I do look for craft ideas online. I did find an awesome website while looking for ideas to put together a tea party called AllFreeCrafts.com. It has crafts, activity ideas, and even art lessons. I just learned how to draw a monkey in 8 easy steps. How cool is that.