Merry Christmas

And then there was....

SNOW!I'm a little bored with blogging about out advent activities, most of which you've seen better represented on other blogs, anyway. And I'm probably going to take a break until after the New Year, when I'll be sure to update you on the results of our compost-able, recyclable Christmas tree.

Have Tissue, Will Blow

Still sick.
No post.
Left half of face now on fire.

Montessori Baby

Montessori fans will be very familiar with transfer activities. Preschoolers use tongs, tweezers or chopsticks to painstakingly move objects one at a time from bowl to bowl. Sounds pretty boring, I know, but they have a curious fascination with this activity.As you can see, New Kid is already practicing. While I race against time to prepare meals I let him check out the kitchen drawers. I noticed that he was transferring the kid flatware back and forth from container to bowl.

I guess I should get out the tongs soon.

Ice Wreaths

We've been sick around here but I am managing to get this post up anyway, see how dedicated I am?
Last week we had a cold snap, the perfect time for another idea from Crafting Fun: ice wreaths.

I gathered some rosehips, acorns, orange peel for color, etc. and Kiddo placed them in a cake pan with a cup in the middle to make the wreath shape. Pour some water into the pan.We learned the hard way that you should not use a light weight plastic cup. Instead use a heavy weight glass jar and for goodness sake don't lift it up after you've poured the water it. I'm just saying.

We put it outside in anticipation of the freezing night ahead.After it freezes you need to float the pan momentarily in a pan of hot water to release the ice. In the morning we hung it on our garden gate which leads out into an idyllic snow covered woodland fire escape. You can see we froze a string into the ice, but in the end I decided to put ribbon through the hole instead.

I see myself getting addicted to this. Next time I want to use the bundt pan!

Dreidel, Dreidel... I didn't make it out of clay.

My husband tells me that the Dreidel Song is the most annoying song in the world and it is always the non-Jews (like me) who sing it as soon as Hanukkah is mentioned. Well, what can you expect? It's catchy."Make Dreidels" was our advent activity in preparation for the holiday.

All you need is a 3 inch square of thin cardboard (reusing a food box is perfect). Divide into triangles, print the Hebrew letters and poke a short pencil through the middle.They worked great!Second, we made a pre-fab version. In general I am not a fan of pre-fab projects, but Kiddo received this one as a gift and it has been lurking in the holiday box for 3 years. I guess its time had come. The prefab didn't work as well and I had to do most of the work, so the cardboard version was the winner. Now we just need some chocolate coins and we're ready to play!

"...and when it's dry and ready, then Dreidel I will play...." I just can't help it!

Required Reading: Runaway Dreidel!

Sweet and Spicy

Another advent activity! I saw a photo of pomanders in a magazine and was inspired.
Since poking the cloves into the orange took some strength, Kiddo made dots where he wanted holes and I poked holes with a nail for him. He became really involved with this and worked for a while independently (always my secret goal) and I must admit, I found it quite relaxing, too. Plus, now my fingers smell great!

Here are some good instructions. We didn't do the orris root part. I'll just be composting them in a few weeks. I put blue tape on the one orange you see in the photo as a guide, I removed it and put on a ribbon.

One request... please let your child chose where to put his cloves! Don't draw a pretty design for him to follow. Independent creativity is best.

Spiraling Downward

Inspired by an idea in my new favorite book, one of our advent activities was making these spiral ornaments out of the holiday cards we keep getting from charity organizations and some shiny foil paper I've had for ages.

Kiddo traced and cut out the circles and I cut them into spirals since that part was a bit tricky for him. I'm not going to thread loops for hanging, since I'm lazy. We'll just hook the ends on tree branches.

This is part of my mission to have a compostable/recyclable tree this year. And it's not for the reason you think... I'll explain later.

Although, I don't think that foil paper is recyclable.

Apple Lights

One of our advent activities was making apple candleholders, inspired by this book.
Make sure you find apples that sit flat.
If you use paraffin candles (the most common kind), you might be interested in reading this. We use these and fortunately shop at an awesome co-op where we get them for less than half that listed price.

Weekend Bonus Post for Historic House Lovers

Long time readers of this blog will have heard me wax poetic over the Lefferts House before. I am just a sucker for a good Historic House. I can't help it. So much old fashioned fun and none of the old fashioned plumbing.

Last weekend Lefferts House had a get-ready-for-winter festival.
Of course, the most important way to get ready for winter is to make and eat donuts ("oly cooks" That's right: donuts are, in fact, oily cakes).Next is to make and taste sauerkraut (to prevent scurvy, of course)Important, too, is candle making (long, dark nights ahead!)and quilt making (long, cold nights ahead!)But most important of all, is to greet Sinterklaas, who, in the Dutch tradition arrives on horseback and distributes clementines and gold coins.What historic house are you visiting?

Paper Blizzard

Here is the aftermath of our paper snowflake making session. It was one of our advent activities. Stay tuned for what we are going to do with all this snow!

Required Reading:
Snip, Snip...Snow!
Ken Libbrecht's Field Guide to Snowflakes(gorgeous real life snowflake photos!)
Snowflakes for all Seasons: 72 Fold & Cut Paper Snowflakes
The Snowflake : A Water Cycle Story

Sift 'n' Spell

A rainy afternoon meant we couldn't go scooting for numbers so I set up this activity for Kiddo at the table. He loves to spell (at Thanksgiving dinner I cracked up when he clarified a misunderstanding, "No Grandma, food, F-O-O-D!") so I hid some letters in a container full of rice and gave him a slotted spoon and some visual cues as to what words he should find.

He sifted the rice with the spoon to find the letters.He spelled all the words without any help from me!
He loved this so much that when he was done he pushed the letters back in the rice and repeated the activity.

You could easily adjust this according to child's skill level: for beginning readers write out the words so they can match letters to the written word, for younger children simply match letters to a written alphabet. And you don't need these ridiculous plastic letters -- just write letters on small squares of card stock.

NEW: See aly in va's comment below for a great toddler variation for this activity!

Counting Down

I hope you are not too tired of seeing blog posts about advent calenders. Every year we hang this wonderful embroidered calender my mom made when I was young. When I was a kid I hung candies on it, but this year I decided to try something new: activities.

Kiddo is very excited about opening his new activity each day. A few are more complicated, such as making cut paper garlands or gingerbread men. But, I have also included some that are easy on Mom, such as reading a new book or making hot chocolate. And some are things we were already planning, but Kiddo will see as a treat: getting a tree, picking up Mormor at the airport. And there may be one or two Hanukkah activities... I also reserve the right to switch the activities around if I suspect we won't be able to accomplish some.

Many of the ideas I took from my new favorite book:Crafting Fun: 101 Things to Make and Do with Kids! I love love love this book because it is for the crafting challenged. It is filled with easy and classic ideas from making a daisy chain to making ice pictures (one of our advent activities... if it gets cold enough). And my favorite part is there are no photos of beautiful finished products that you will never be able to live up to or photos of lovely homes which only serve to remind you how much you hate your couch! Instead there are cool old-fashioned decorative illustrations.