Parenting Fun
Christmas Crafts To Do With Kids
I can not believe that It’s soon that time of the year again- but my favorite! Christmas!! Every year my kids and I do Christmas crafts and my kids also make a handmade gift for their grandparents and godparents. This post is a cumulation of the grandparent/godparent gifts, fun Christmas activities to do together and other Christmas crafts we’ve done in the past along with a few new ideas I have found and would like to try.
Glitter Glue Pine Cone Ornaments
We made these to give as favors to guests who attended our Christmas Open House Party. They were very easy to make and look really nice on the tree. If you can’t find any pinecones in your yard, you can purchase them at a craft store. We put small dabs of colored glitter glue around the cone and hot glued a bow made out of Christmas ribbon and a piece of twine as the hanger.
Candy Cane Reindeer
This was another favor we made to give out to guests after one of our Christmas Open House Parties. We glued on google eyes and small red pom poms for the nose. Then we used brown pipe cleaners to ties on the top as the antlers. I then grouped them and wrapped with a Christmas ribbon and each one had a tag with the family’s name on it.
Photo Frames
This was a grandparent/godparent gift. I picked up a bunch of wooden frames from the craft store and the kids painted and decorated each one and then we put their school photo inside and they made really nice gifts.
Button Christmas Trees
I saw this idea on Pinterest and liked it, but modified it a little bit (our project is the picture on the right). We actually did this project during one of our homeschool days. As you can see, I cut out a different shaped tree, gave them glue and buttons. Both kids and I came up with completely different designs and it was fun to ask people to guess who made which tree.
Gingerbread Houses
Of course you can always do the classic gingerbread house. I love getting the houses that are pre-iced because it saves a lot of time and in my case, a lot of mess! In the past years I have seen many variations pop up as well including Mickey Mouse house, princess castle, trains, etc. You can find the kits anywhere, I have seen them in Christmas Tree Shop, Joann Fabrics, Michaels, Costco and at most grocery stores.
I discovered a few years back that having one house was not going to cut it in my house. My son likes to follow the picture on the box, while my daughter tends to want to do her own thing. So I started buying the village. It comes with four houses. They each get two and can decorate however they like. You do however have to put these together yourself, which in my experience was a little messy and frustrating. The triangles tend to slide off. Since we don’t eat them, maybe this year I will hot glue it and then cover in frosting.
Pineapple Top Bird Feeder
I was cutting a pineapple and the top was so perfect and looked like a Christmas tree to me. I started thinking about what I could do with it instead of throwing it out. I decided to make a bird feeder out of it. I spread Crisco shortening on the leaves to provide a base for the bird food to stick and then sprinkled in plenty of bird food. I topped it off with a piece of pineapple that I cut into a star (every Christmas tree needs a star)! I placed it out on the back deck and the birds loved it.
Cork Christmas Tree
I found this on Pinterest and thought it was a really cute craft to make (picture linked to source). I save all my corks and this is a great way to reuse them. I haven’t made this yet, but might use the idea for one of our grandparent/godparent gifts in the future.
Twig Stars
This is another idea I found on Pinterest, but have not made yet (picture linked to source). I think these are very cute to use as Christmas decorations and look easy enough to make that the kids can definitely help!
Sock Snowmen
Last, but not least, cute idea, but major fail for us! First picture is what is should look like, second picture is mine. See my post about this project here: http://wp.me/p67FXB-1q
I hope you find a useful and fun idea here! If so, let me know how it works out for you! Happy Christmas crafting!
7 Fun Fall Nature Activities To Do With Your Kids
Fall is such a wonderful season here in the Northeast! It’s the season of pumpkin and apple picking, warm days, cool nights and falling leaves. The trees are topped with vibrant hues of red, orange and yellow and people have pumpkins and beautifully colored mums displayed in front of their houses.
A great way to celebrate the season is to use nature to do fun activities and great projects with the kids!
- The easiest and most fun fall activity- rake leaves into a pile and jump into them!
- Go on a fall themed nature scavenger hunt. Print this one for free from www.moritzfineblogdesigns.com
- Dye the leftover pumpkin seeds and make pumpkin seed art. You can find a tutorial here: http://greeningsamandavery.typepad.com/greening-sam-and-avery/crafts/page/2/
- Use leaves, flower petals, sticks, acorns and other bits of nature to make a sign or a scene.
- Collect and paint acorns. A tutorial can be found here: http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/fall-2/how-to-paint-acorns.html
- Collect remaining flowers from bushes, your garden or wildflowers and press them. After we pressed ours (left them in books for a few weeks), we made a flower collage.
- Make a leaf painting using leaves as a stamp or painting around them for the outline.
10 Fun and Free Activities to Do With Your Child This Summer
- Go to the library and check out books. Then come home and have your child make a bookmark using paper, crayons, ribbon, stickers, paint, markers, etc.
- Check with local libraries to see what free children’s programming they are offering and attend one or more
- Bake cookies or a cake
- Go on a hike. Check your state website for trail listings
- Have a picnic lunch in your backyard or at a local park
- Get active! Have a dance party, jump rope or hula hoop contest, or play tag
- Take your kids outside with paper and paint and have them sit on the grass and paint a nature scene
- Collect acorns, sticks, flower petals, etc. and make a sign, story or press flowers
My daughter collected extra nature, created a scene and then wrote a story about herself and two friends on a camping trip 
After picking a bunch of flowers from the garden, we pressed and framed them 9. Go to the beach, collect shells and make shell art
My son made this shell collage using sand as an extra decoration 
My daughter made an underwater 2-in-1 scene with a mermaid, but it is also a smily face. On the back she wrote a story. 
10. Set up an obstacle course or scavenger hunt
A Great Mix of Tim Hawkins Parenting Songs
If you are a current of past parent of children in the tween/teen stages, you will be able to relate to comedian Tim Hawkins and this awesome mix of his parenting songs.
Enjoy!
Mom Song
With Mother’s Day still fresh in our minds, I thought I would share one of my favorite comedy routines. It was recorded back in 2007. It is of Anita Renfroe singing to the William Tell Overture what a mom’s life is like in a twenty-four hour period. For me what makes it funny is that it is so true!
Here is the YouTube link to the song: https://youtu.be/CxjLVyYiIgM
The Well Organized Mom 