Christmas Countdown (December)

 Every morning, Kelsey trims Santa's beard to help us count down the days until Christmas.  The asterisks at the last couple of numbers let us know when Hanukkah is on it's way.

 Sydney adds a sticker each morning.  When the star sticker is placed on the top of the tree, Santa Claus will come and hopefully leave us some special prizes.  *We also eat a piece of chocolate from Grammy's Advent Calendars (tradition)!!!

 What you need (Santa): red paper, white paper, pink paper, cardstock, one white pom pom, pen, scissors, wiggly eyes, glue, ruler...Cut pieces to make santa, assemble and glue together.  Add a pom pom on the hat.  Use a ruler to measure out lines on Santa's beard.

What you need (tree): cardstock, 24 stickers, brown paper, green paper, glue, scissors, pen...Cut out a tree and trunk.  Write numbers 1-24 on the tree.  Add a sticker each day.  Save a star or angel sticker for the top!

Sunday's Sun Catchers (12/18)

 What you need: Creatology Sun Catcher Kit *kit includes: plastic sun catcher, sun catcher paint, paint wand (We got this as a gift from our friend, Brandi)

Group Gingerbread- play date (12/19)

What you need: Pre-baked Gingerbread House Kit *Everything need is included in the kit: engraved with designs- 4 walls, 2 pieces of roof, 1 snowman (all made of gingerbread), HUGE piping bag of white icing, tiny bags of red & green icing, gumdrops, 2 mini candy canes, starlite mints, candy balls, sweet tarts, plastic tray so the house doesn't topple.  (Our friends bought this on sale at Target, bet they'll be even cheaper AFTER Christmas... can't wait to see what deals we'll find!!!)

 little taste testing

 *don't know why I forgot to to take a FINAL photo???

Plaster of Paris- play date (12/19)

What you need: plaster ornaments (after-Christmas clearance @ Michael's 6pk with paintbrush & 5pk paint included 79 cents), paper to cover workspace, extra paintbrushes for friends, extra paint to share on plates, cups of water to clean brushes in between colors)

 tree

 reindeer that she called "puppy"

 whoops- a little on the floor

 snowman & a holiday bear

santa in his sleigh

Sunday's Stained Glass (12/18)

What you need: foil-lined baking sheet, oven, silicon cookie cutter (I believe our heart is marketed to use as a pancake mold.), stained glass kit (we bought at Christmas Tree Shops for 47cents) *The kit comes with 2 butterfly metal frames, 2 flower metal friends, & assorted tiny chards of stained "glass" (We had another of this kit that we used on 11/4; this time we added the silicon heart from our baking drawer and used the leftover rainbow mix...it was super cool after baked!)

Wave a Wand (12/16 & 12/17)

 What you need: Melissa & Doug Decorate Your Own Wooden Princess Wand (we received them as a gift from our fabulous friend Sarah; they can be found here!) *Everything you need is included: wooden dowel, star, glue, silver & purple glitter paint, gems, purple & gold ribbon, paintbrush, 4 colors of paint

Wooden Ornaments- play date (12/16)

What you need: markers, wooden ornaments (after-Christmas clearance @ Michael's 13cents each)

Christmas Cards (12/15)

 What you need: coffee filters (ours were decorated with markers from a previous activity), assorted self-adhesive foam shapes, pen (to write special messages)

 Syd and her 3-d techniques!

  *We used them as Christmas cards for our playmates at our gift exchange.  The girls told me special messages for each guest as I scribed them with a Sharpie. 

Libby accepting her gift.

Creating Christmas Trees- play date (12/14)

What you need: foam trees (after-Christmas clearance 4pk for 59 cents @ Michael's), assorted self-adhesive foam shapes

Color- Your- Own Stickers (12/13)

 Sydney circled the image, what skill!  Then she put her stickers on paper.

What you need: create-your-own sticker pages (we received ours as a gift), markers.  You can make your own stickers by purchasing sticker paper and drawing images with a pen or marker/printing out clip-art and then coloring them.  Cut out with scissors.