The Sweet Smell of Christmas

The Sweet Smell of Christmas was our book of the day for Friday.  I love this book and remember reading it when every Christmas when I was a child.  My mom gave O(5) this copy on her first Christmas, and it's always a favorite. 


After we read the book, the girls and I made candy cane playdough.  Here is the basic recipe:

1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)

Stir ingredients together well. Just measure them into the saucepan you will be using to cook the dough, but mix them well before heating up the pan. Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.

Let the playdough cool and then knead until it's smooth.

The girls loved taking turns pouring in the ingredients, and they especially loved kneading the warm dough.  We ran out of salt, so we only made a half recipe, but we'll make more this week.  Homemade playdough makes great Christmas gifts! 

"I Spy" Nativity Ornament

Last year (after Christmas) I bought several sets of tiny ornaments to use for Christmas "I Spy" bottles this year.  About a month ago, it occurred to me that it would be even more fun to make "I Spy" ornaments rather than bottles (since we already have a Halloween "I Spy" bottle).  I'm VERY excited about how this turned out!

To make the "I Spy" Nativity Ornament, you need a plastic ornament that opens in half, tiny nativity ornaments, filler (I use bulgur), and a ribbon.  I filled the ornament with the tiny nativity ornaments and bulgur.  It was hard to get enough bulgur in the ornament without spilling any.  Also, the grain left a little dust so after a day or so, I emptied the ornament and wiped out the inside. 




I refilled the ornament, and glued it shut using craft glue. 




I added a ribbon to the ornament and handed it to E(2) who was waiting anxiously for it! 




(please excuse her dirty fingers...Elliott had just given her an oreo...a rare treat, and it was EVERYWHERE!)   This was my first "I Spy" ornament, and I'll share the 2nd one tomorrow!

Boxes of Fun!

I've been collecting large boxes and storing them in our garage for months for the girls and I to play in.  I envisioned us dragging them to the front yard and making some kind of giant box castle complete with lots of tape and paint.  I thought we'd leave it up for about a week and then recycle the whole thing.  However, things worked out much simpler than that!


We occasionally pull the boxes out of the garage for a few hours and play and play and play.  Then we drag them back in to save for another day.  We've had a wonderful time, but Elliott is not thrilled about his garage being cluttered with large cardboard boxes!

A Little Christmas Tree

Our book for last Wednesday was The Little Christmas Tree.



The girls made felt Christmas tree ornaments (from a kit) to go along with this book.

Snowmen at Night

Snowmen at Night isn't a Christmas book, but I decided to include in with our 24 books advent books since we love it so much, and I had a fun snow activity planned :) 





We made "snow dough"!  We mixed 12 cups of white flour with 1.5 cups of baby oil to make the snow dough, and it was SO much fun!  We kept adding in a little more baby oil, so we probably ended up with close to 1.75 cups of baby oil.




We put a few plastic animals in the dough, which E(2) really enjoyed.  O(5) loved "cooking" with the dough.


 




I had fun making snowballs :)  This was a pretty messy activity, so it's definitely one for the porch or yard!

Cookie Count

Our 4th day's book was Cookie Count by Robert Sabuda.  We love this book!  Our favorite page is the last page with the pop-up gingerbread cottage.



Our activity was decorating a gingerbread cottage, of course!  I always buy our gingerbread cottages after Christmas at half price.  That way I have a good excuse to not let the kids eat the candy and icing, and I save money! 

Matching Objects/Actions to Sentence Strips

This activity is copied from a work at O(5)'s school. I wrote sentences on sentence strips and paired the strips in a basket with objects that match the sentence. O LOVES this work!


She didn't like the sentence "An apple is in a basket." She told me "Mama, you really should have written "the" instead of "an."


After O finished the work, E(2) said "my turn!" I pointed to each word and read it, and then E repeated it after me and did the actions with the objects. She loves to do EVERYTHING her big sister does!

Our 2nd and 3rd Day Books and Activities

The Polar Express was the girls' second book to open this month.  The best thing about our Polar Express book is that it came with an audio book.  They have loved listening to it everyday on the way to and from school.  Their activity was to wear their warm footed pjs and drink hot chocolate while sitting on their grandparents' front porch to watch the trains go by.  Elliott and I were on a shopping and dinner date, but we heard that great fun was had by all!

The girls 3rd book was Franklin's Christmas Gift, and the activity was to choose and buy toys to donate to Toys for Tots.  I LOVE this book, and luckily, the girls do to.  It really motivates them to think about giving, and I think it's one we need to keep out and read all year long!

A Smart Globe or an Intelliglobe? Opinions PLEASE!

My dad is going to buy the girls a globe for Christmas, and I need to decide whether he should get them a Smart Globe or an Intelliglobe.  I've never seen either of these in real life (there's no where around here that sells them), so I will be buying it from Amazon.  I'd love to hear your opinions on these globes, so I can make this decision soon!  Thanks!

Our First Advent Activity

Our first advent book was Advent Storybook.  After reading the first story in the book, the girls used glitter and glue to decorate small wooden stars.  They LOVED this book and activity!









 
O(5) was excited to add a little glue and glitter to her fingertips!



 
After the stars were dry, I hot glued small clothes pins to the back and wrote the girls' names and the year on the back of each one.  We clipped them to our Christmas tree and to the tiny tree in the girls bedroom.

Weaving Pot Holders

O(5) has REALLY enjoyed weaving pot holders lately! She likes to dress in her "old time" clothes and kerchief while she works.


She's very proud of her finished creations!


E(2) also loves to weave! (of course!) I love her abstract weaving creations!

Our Advent "Calendar"

We have 24 Christmas books (wrapped in fabric bags) under our tree! Each bag has an activity in it (or a note card describing the activity) that relates to the book. This is the first year EVER that I have had all of our advent activities and books ready before December 1!

The girls love opening the bags to find the books, and the activities have been a success! I love Christmas!



Thanks to my mom for helping me get the books wrapped and the numbers on them!!!

Pop Paper Prints

The girls and I made pop paper prints during "P" week a few weeks ago. They weren't interested in this activity at first (it was at the end of a long day), but once they saw me painting and having fun, they joined in.

First, we painted a piece of pop paper. Then we pressed a piece of white cardstock on the painted pop paper.




Here are the finished prints.