Snowmen

Materials:

This is what we used but you can really use anything you have on hand. 

Styrofoam Balls

Sticks

Mini Hats (99 cents at JoAnn Fabrics)

Googly Eyes

Mardi Beads

Pipe Cleaners

Ribbons

Buttons

Pom Poms

Light Brite pegs

Glue (we used hot glue gun)

The Invitation

Close up of supplies

I hot glued a wooden craft square to the bottom of the ball to allow the snowman to stand up.  

We connected the balls together with a toothpick. 

Be sure to hold the toothpick in place when pressing down so it goes into both ends.  

"This scarf sure is tricky"

Then the frustration and feet stomping kicks in.

"I.... NEED..... SOME..... HELP!!!!!!!!"  

Adding buttons.

Eyes

After talking to my middle girl (2.5 years) about the glue gun being hot, etc.  She chose NOT to use it.  She asked me to squeeze out the glue while she placed her pieces on.  

My oldest (4 years).... the simple things in life.  :-)  

Singing and dancing.  

Finished. 

I also bought a foam seat cushion.  We cut out some shapes to decorate as well.  

Adding pom poms to her candy cane.  

Finished. 

You can thread a piece of string through these to hang on the tree.

RL  

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Baking Soda Clay Ornaments

This is the recipe we used to make as kids.  It includes Baking Soda, Corn Starch, and Water.  You can see the complete recipe here:

http://www.armandhammer.com/solutions/solution-20/Play-Clay.aspx

Recipe:

2 cups or a 16oz box of Baking Soda

1 cup of Corn Starch

1 1/4 cup of water.

Stir over medium heat until it thickens.  

Ingredients

Pouring everything in.  

Stirring.

What it will look like once you take it out of the pan.  They still should be a little moist and with a consistency of mashed potatoes.  After it cools, knead it for a bit.... then it will be more like a dough.  Be sure not to cook them to long as the dough will get dried out.  

My oldest wanted to color ours.  Here she is adding green food coloring.  

The invitation:

Beads

Cookie Cutters

Clay

Rolling Pin

Adding the beads to the shapes.

Poke a hole in the top if you plan on using them as ornaments.

You can either let these air dry or to speed up the process.... heat your oven up to 350, shut it off, and then place them in to dry. 

This is what they look like out of the oven.  

We decided to use beads but you can also paint them after they dry.  

We plan on putting a coat of modge podge on to seal them.  

RL  

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Gum Drop Tree

This activity was so much fun!  I love watching him “work”.  Aside from being fun, it can also present some pretty fantastic “teachable moments” if you track their play (especially for little ones):  “You put the GREEN gum drop on the tree.”, “You put TWO RED gum drops at the top.”, etc.  It’s also great for fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, crossing midline, spatial skills, language development, etc.

Some other dialogue might look like:
“Does it taste sweet or salty?”
“Are the gum drops smooth or rough?”

Of course, finding “teachable moments” is not ALWAYS necessary, and we definitely encourage taking the personality of the child into consideration and just enjoying the time together.

MATERIALS:

Styrofoam cone (from craft store)

Toothpicks

Gum drops (we used 2 bags)

THE INVITATION

The first thing he did was put the "star" on the top of the tree.

Adding "lights"

"Wait, Mommy, my tree needs to be GREEN.  I need to paint it."
So he took off all of the "lights" and painted it with acrylic paint.

Busy at play.  The tree was still wet, so he brought out some wet wipes to clean his hands periodically.  This is soooooo my child!  LOL

Fine motor!

Pausing to wipe his hands.  LOL

Completed Tree

I asked him if he would like to document his work (I had to explain what I meant by this).  He took a picture of his tree with his camera and despite my attempts to have him show me how to draw a tree, I drew the tree for him and then he said “I can take it from here, Mommy”.  LOL  Here is his drawing....

When he was finished, we spent some time flying around the house like bats, leaving the tree and invitation out.  He revisited the tree about an hour later and began building things using the toothpicks and gum drops.  I LOVE that he took his play to a whole new place.  

Building

"I made a helicopter"

"It's a bow and arrow now."

"Mommy, look at my roller coaster."

For me, this activity was about so much more than making a Christmas craft.  The evolution of everything just makes me SMILE.

- AK (MESE, MECD)

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THE TOY LISTS

We created separate posts for each age because, frankly, all of those "Top 100" or "Top 50" lists make us crazy and are totally overwhelming - we wanted to keep them simple and just offer some ideas (that may spark other ideas).  However, we thought this little post - linked up to each age - might make things easier to find.  Simply click on the age and it will take you to the post.  Hope this helps.

TOY LISTS:

0-12 MONTHS

AGE 1

AGE 2

AGE 3

AGE 4

BONUS LIST

BOOKS

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Toys for 0-12 Months

Click on the names for links to the items.
ENJOY!


1.  SENSORY ACTIVITY BALL

2.  PLAY SILKS

3.  LIL SQUIRT BABY POOL

4.  ROLL AROUNDS

5.  SENSORY MAT

6.  MUSICAL BLOCK

7.  SENSORY BALLS

8. CHICCO HOOK ON CHAIR

9. PARACHUTE






10. HOMEMADE SENSORY BOARD

11. RAINBOW CRYSTAL CUBES

12. PUSH-N-GO CATERPILLAR 

13.  HAND PUPPET BOARD BOOK

14.  TWILIGHT TURTLE

15.  ACRYLIC MIRRORS

Please check out our

  1 YEAR OLD TOY LIST 

for more ideas.  

Our children played with every item on that list before age 1.    

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