Christmas
Cinnamon-Applesauce Ornaments
Let the kids decorate the tree this year with these simple ornaments that smell as good as they look. To make the ornaments: 1) Combine 1 cup applesauce and 1 cup cinnamon in a small bowl until it forms a dough. (If dough is too wet, add a little more cinnamon.) 2) Roll out dough on wax paper to about 3/8 inch thickness. 4) Cut into ...(read more)
Dough Ornaments
These ornaments are great holiday gifts that children can give. Make the dough ahead of time by combining baking soda and cornstarch in a saucepan. Pour cold water in and cook over medium heat stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and cover with a wet paper towel until cool. Once cool, get your child involved in the next steps. ...(read more)
Quick and Easy Gingerbread Houses
Using graham cracker squares for the walls and roof of a house makes this a yummy easy alternative to the standard gingerbread house. Use frosting to hold the graham crackers in place and gumdrops and M&M's to decorate.(read more)
Beaded Christmas Ornaments
This is a fun holiday activity and also promotes hand-eye coordination. Take colored beads (red, green, and white are nice for Christmas), and string onto a pipe cleaner. Bend into desired shape. For specific ideas, try alternating red and white beads and shaping into a candy cane or use green beads, adding a red bead after every 4 or so and bend into a wreath.(read more)
Holiday Candle
The perfect gift for the person who's hard to buy for! Help your child cut red and green construction paper into small squares, and then glue the squares to the outside of a clean baby food jar. Tie a ribbon around the neck of the jar and put a small votive inside.(read more)
Reindeer Food
In a Ziploc baggie, combine 1/2 c of oats and 2 tablespoons each of green and red colored sugar. You can also add Rice Krispies if you'd like. On Christmas Eve, sprinkle the "reindeer food" on your front lawn. If your family doesn't celebrate Christmas, you could also create "Winter Rabbit" or "Snow Fox" food. Several websites also have cute poems that you can type up and place ...(read more)
A Sweet Ornament
Form a heart by facing two candy canes in towards each other. Glue the candy canes to sturdy card stock at the top and bottom. Let dry, then make a small hole at the top of the heart and run ribbon through the hole. (It's a good idea to glue the ribbon to the top of the candy canes to hold it straight.) Cut out a small ...(read more)
Kind Thoughts Christmas List
This is a simple activity to get your kids' minds off the commercialism of Christmas. Ask each member of your family to think of something that they wish for someone else for Christmas. Place the list on the refrigerator and add to it each night. You'll be surprised at what you can all come up with, and none of them require a trip to the store!(read more)
Christmas Tree Cones
A fun Christmas-time snack! Begin by taking a container of white icing and adding enough green food coloring to turn the icing the color of green you wish to use for the Christmas trees. Then, turn some sugar ice cream cones upside down, so that the point is up. Cover the entire cone with green icing. Here's the fun part: Let your kids decorate the ...(read more)
Christmas Wreath Bird Feeder
Don't just throw out your Christmas wreath; recycle it and decorate with treats it for your feathered friends! First make sure that there are no ornaments, lights, tinsel or glitter on the wreath. Decorate it with pieces of bread, pine cones (natural, no glitter or glue) rolled in peanut butter and bird or unsalted seeds, strings of berries and popcorn, bagels cut and covered with honey and ...(read more)
Cornflake Wreaths
To make the wreaths, melt butter and marshmallows in a saucepan until smooth. Mix in a few drops of green food coloring -- enough to get the color wreath you want. Then add the cornflakes and stir until the cornflakes are fully coated in the marshmallow mixture. Spread out the cornflake mixture on a cookie sheet. Once it has cooled, mold cornflakes in a small wreath-shape ...(read more)
Handprint Gift Bags
Here's an easy way to make a homemade gift bag with a personal touch. Take a plain gift bag and have your child make handprints on the bag with paint. If you have more than one child, you can have them all put their handprints on the bags and write their names underneath. They will love to give these bags away filled with gifts.(read more)
Star Ornament
Glue together 5 wooden craft sticks in the shape of a star. The jumbo-size sticks work best. Before gluing together the top of the star, insert the ribbon to make the loop for hanging from the tree branch. Paint the stars and for extra sparkle use glitter paint.(read more)
Reindeer Pokey
You put your antlers in, you put your antlers out, you put your antlers in and you shake them all about...are you dancing yet? You do the reindeer pokey and your turn yourself around, that's what the reindeer do, WOO-HOO!! Put those antlers up as you turn about and watch your little ones dissolve into giggles. Jump up and shout, WOO-HOO before the next verse, which can ...(read more)
Christmas Ornament Hand Print
This is a great memento from the holiday season. Dip your child's hand in white paint and press their palm to the bottom of the ball ornament. Then have them wrap their fingers up the side of the ball. Their fingers make the shape of snowmen, while their palm looks like the snow covered ground. Using thin permanent markers, complete the snowmen with hats, eyes, carrot ...(read more)
Picture Ornament Christmas Tree
This is a fun holiday craft for children to use to decorate their rooms. Cut a Christmas tree shape out of a large piece of green construction paper or poster board. Have your child help you look through photographs (printed or on the computer) and select some to use. If you end up with a lot of photographs, you could create themed trees -- one for relatives, ...(read more)
Candy Cane Hearts
This is a great activity for small motor skills and makes a really cute ornament or decoration. Cut candy cane shapes out of white construction paper. Using a Q-tip and red paint, have your child put diagonal stripes on the candy canes, one facing each way. When you put them together, they'll form a heart shape. You can hang the open hearts on your tree, put ...(read more)
Coffee Filter Holiday Decorations
Using a pencil, draw the outline of a holiday shape, like a star, dreidel, or tree, about 2 or so inches long, onto a white coffee filter. Cut out and fill in the shape with a colored marker. Coffee filters absorb ink very well, so the color will be especially vibrant. Then, once the ink is dry, decorate by gluing on glitter, crystals, small pom-pons, ...(read more)
Handprint Wreath Banner
Begin by making the banner from a half-yard square of white or cream fabric. Fold over the top edge to make a small dowel rod pocket and glue down the long edge. Now you're ready for your helper! Apply green paint to your child's hand and make handprints in a circle, varying the angle of the hand, to make a wreath shape. Then, using red paint, make ...(read more)
Handprint Christmas Tree
Use this activity to create a fun Christmas decoration and also to keep a memento of your child's growth. Begin by getting out a sheet of white construction paper and green paint. Paint the palm of your (hopefully willing) child's hand green and then place on the paper. Continue putting green palm prints on the paper in the shape of a filled-in, upside-down triangle. When ...(read more)
Button Christmas Tree
This project makes a really fun ornament or fridge magnet! Using popsicle sticks (plain or pre-colored), make a tree by gluing two full-length sticks in a cross shape. Then cut another stick into a 1/3 and 2/3 length for the graduated middle and top branch of the "tree". Search through some old buttons or buy some from the craft store. Use a 4,3,2,1 pattern to put ...(read more)
Handprint Reindeer Keepsake
Trace your child's hands on brown construction paper and cut the shapes out. Then cut out a head shape with ears (basically, an oval shape with a floppy ear on each side). Older children might like to do the cutting themselves. Have your child glue the hand cut-outs to the back of the head shape so that the fingers are sticking up from top of the head, ...(read more)
Snowflake Ornament
Glue together 2 notched craft sticks in the center to form a cross. Glue together another 2 notched craft sticks in the same way. Attach the 2 together to form a snowflake shape. Attach a ribbon to the top to use as a tree hanger. Paint the sticks with blue or white glitter paint and hang on your tree.(read more)
Handprint & Footprint Angel
Here is a sweet way to remember the holiday season! Dip the sole of your child's foot into white tempera paint and place it down on a piece of blue paper. The heel should be at the top of the paper and will become the angel's face. Then dip the palms of both your child's hands into the white paint and place them on either side ...(read more)
Making Chocolate Covered Stirring Spoons
These chocolate-coated stirring spoons are a fun gift to make and give to anyone who likes a hit of chocolate in their coffee or is a fan of extra-chocolatey hot chocolate. To start, microwave 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl until melted. You may want to pull the bowl out after a few seconds to give it a stir. (If you don't happen ...(read more)
Handprint Wreath
Trace your child's hand onto green construction paper or card stock. Cut out 10 - 12 individual hand shapes, allowing older children to help if they are able to use scissors. Gently fold a paper plate in half and cut out the center, leaving a circular outer ring. Glue the paper handprints around the paper plate rim. Decorate with glitter glue and a red ribbon. ...(read more)
Christmas Tree Handprint Shirt
This sweet handprint activity can be done with paint or with fabric. Purchase a plain shirt and different colors of green fabric paint. Each family member can paint their hand and start the tree base with the largest handprint first,upside down, fingers fairly close together. Allow the largest handprint to dry, then overlap the next largest, up to the smallest handprint, which will make the top of ...(read more)
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A Great Book Rhymes!
Kids are a funny bunch. They are often loath to change and anything new. But still, our little ones are open to so much -- and so much more than we more ossified parents are! Think of poetry: preschoolers happily read and repeat poems with ease and
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