"Thing Finder" Necklaces

I love the Bug Catcher necklaces made by Whimsy Love, and I decided these necklaces would be great gifts for O and I to make for her cousins and friends for Christmas.

We decided to call our necklaces "Thing Finder" necklaces since we recently read Pippi Longstocking and have enjoyed being "Thing Finders" when we go on walks. To make these necklaces you need stretchy elastic cord, plastic toy capsule, beads, and a thumbtack. I adapted the necklace a little (from Whimsy Love's tutorial) to make it a little safer...I'm paranoid about the possible strangulation hazard of O having things around her neck. I decided to use thin, stretchy elastic cord instead of beading cord. It's not as durable, but I think it will break easily if it gets caught on anything. Therefore, eliminating the risk of strangulation. To make the necklace, I started by puncturing holes in the lid of the plastic capsule with a thumbtack. I made 2 of the holes bigger than the rest and threaded the elastic cord through these holes (this was the most difficult part of the process) making the elastic cord equally long on each side. We then started putting the beads on the elastic cord. Once each side was full, I tied the two sides together, and it was done!

These necklaces were so easy and so much fun to make. O lost interest fairly quickly, but she did help enough to have a little ownership in the process which was my goal. O and my niece both LOVE their necklaces, and I hope the other little girls and boys will love theirs, too.

Paint Your Own Dollhouse

I've put together a "Paint Your Own Dollhouse" kit for a couple of little girls on our list this year. Included in the kit are an unfinished dollhouse (it's marketed as a cd holder and sold in the unfinished wood section at Michael's), a family of unfinished peg dolls, and craft paint. I hope the little girls who receive this gift will have lots of creative fun with it!

Gumdrop Tree

O was very excited about making our gumdrop tree last week! To make a gumdrop tree you need a bag of gumdrops, toothpicks (broken in half), and a styrofoam tree form. We used the styrofoam tree form that we used last year. One of the first things she asked was "can I taste the gumdrops like I did when I was 2?" I'll have to remind her that last year she thought the gumdrops were "ucky." (I'd forgotten that until I just read last year's post...I'm so glad I have our blogs to help us remember these simple moments). O was much more interested in "tasting" the gumdrops than decorating the tree. She's developed quite a sweet tooth. However, we don't allow her to have candy very often.

It was fun to have E sit with us and participate in this activity. In order to involve her, we decided to teach her the colors of the gumdrops (in English and Spanish) as we put the gumdrops on the tree. O thought it was great to show E the gumdrops while telling her the colors, and it was a good review for all of us to practice the colors in Spanish.

This was a fun and easy activity, and I'm looking forward to disassembling the gumdrop tree in a few weeks :)

Peppermint Bark

O and I made peppermint bark for her dance teachers Friday afternoon. We had a lot of fun, and it was very yummy!

We started off with trying to break the peppermints into bits. I planned on hammering them, but I couldn't find a hammer. We put them under a kitchen towel and beat them with a Kleen Kanteen, but that didn't work. Next, we took them out of the wrappers and chopped them in the chopper. It worked perfectly!

We used Wilton's meltable white chocolate, and I melted it in the microwave. I poured the chocolate on a sheet of waxed paper (that was really an unfolded and washed cereal bag). We spread the chocolate out with a spoon and sprinkled the peppermint pieces on top. After we finished, we enjoyed licking the spoon and bowl (that chocolate is expensive, so we couldn't waste a drop!).

After the chocolate hardened, I broke it into pieces and put it in gift bags for O's dance teachers. This was a fun, easy, and delicious homemade gift!

And the Winner Is...

Maddy in Vermont!!!

Hot Chocolate

I think that hot chocolate and movie night has been O's favorite advent activity so far! She thoroughly enjoyed her hot chocolate that she drank while watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and Prep and Landing.

Advent Snowflake Activity

Edit to add: A couple of readers pointed out that borax may be a dangerous substance. I had no idea, and I'm so disappointed because this was such a fun and easy activity. Luckily, O didn't actually touch the borax. Although she did touch the snowflake after it was finished. I guess we won't be making silly putty anymore because I think that it has borax in it, too :( Here is the link to read more about this.

I really like the idea of linking O's daily advent book with her daily advent activity, and Snowflake Bentley was the perfect book with which to start this new tradition. After reading the book, O, Elliott, and I made a crystallized snowflake ornament.

First, I made the snowflake using a white pipe cleaner. Then Elliott took over while I nursed and rocked the baby. He helped O measure and pour 4 and a half tablespoons of borax into a glass bowl. He then boiled a cup and a half of water in the microwave and poured it in the glass bowl and stirred. O put blue food coloring in the mixture. Elliott put a jar lid at the bottom of the bowl and balanced the snowflake on top of the lid. (Use 3 tablespoons of borax for every cup of boiling water. Our container needed 1.5 cups of water to completely cover the snowflake, so we used 4.5 tablespoons of borax.)

We let it sit for 24 hours before removing the snowflake from the water. We were all very impressed with our beautiful snowflake ornament, and I think we'll make more of these to give as gifts.

This was a great activity that combined arts and crafts, science, and fun!

Christmas Sorting

O had fun sorting these Christmas erasers using chopsticks. After she finished sorting the erasers, I showed her how to make a pattern using them. I started a pattern, and she finished it. She then created her own pattern (or "patterin" as she says). She really enjoyed teaching Baby Sister all about patterns. It's so much fun to include E in on our activities, and she enjoys all of the attention O showers her with :)

The erasers are from the Dollar Tree, the tray is from Walmart, and you can find the chopsticks at Let's Explore.

Christmas Number Sequencing

Can you tell that I really like Holiday themed counting activities? O really enjoys these activities, and they are easy to put together. For this activity I used foam shapes (from a pin making kit) and wrote the numbers on them. O used the number line to help her put them in order. We counted in English and Spanish. Baby sister participated in this activity, and O was thrilled to "teach" baby sister!

Wee Squeak Shoes and a Giveaway!!!

Cara from Wee Squeak Shoes contacted me a couple of months ago about reviewing a pair of Wee Squeak Shoes. Wee Squeak shoes are adorable shoes for kids that squeak when they walk. (Luckily, the squeakers are removable!)

O and I chose the shoes that she liked, and she was SO excited to receive them in the mail. She put them on and took off! She ran in circles through our kitchen and den for a LOOOOOONG time. I told her to slow down, and she said "I can't! The shoes won't let me!" I had no idea that a child could/would be SO excited about shoes. She loves to dance, and she thought it was just wonderful that she squeaked as she danced.

The shoes were also a great diversion for E when she cried. O puts them on and dances in front of E, and E just stares and stares :) O has been wearing the shoes constantly for about 3 weeks, and they still look brand new. They are very well made, and she is able to easily take them on and off independently.

We get lots of smiles and questions when O wears the shoes when we are out and about. They are great if you are trying to encourage your child to walk on their heels. O tends to tiptoe when she walks, so we tell her to make sure she squeaks when she walks so she has to use her heels.

These shoes have been so much fun, and I can't wait until E starts walking...she'll definitely be getting a pair :) Post a comment on this post to be entered into a giveaway for a pair of Wee Squeak shoes of your choice. Make sure to leave your email address, so I can contact you if you win. The winner's name and address along with your shoe choice will be sent to Cara at Wee Squeak shoes, and she will send the shoes directly to you.

I'll let O choose a number on Friday night, so you have until then to comment. Spread the word :) The giveaway is for US residents only...sorry about that :(

Winter Wonderland Sensory Box

I introduced the Christmas/winter sensory box to O today, and she was very excited. The box is filled cotton balls and dollhouse Christmas decorations (bought from Hearthsong this summer...deeply discounted). O had a great time decorating the Christmas trees and playing with this box. I'm sure that her peg doll family and other toys will be migrating into the box soon. The idea for a winter wonderland box came from Pink and Green Mama.

Decisions, Decisions

Should I sleep, knit, or make necklaces? Sometimes I really wish that I didn't insist on making most of our Christmas gifts, especially when I'm SO tired. Next year I really will finish making our gifts before Thanksgiving!

Puzzle Fun

O has really been enjoying these jigsaw tray puzzles lately. She especially likes this map puzzle (I bought this puzzle from the dollar section at Target a few months ago), and she almost always does the puzzle at least 3 times in a row. She likes to do it the right way a couple of times and then "mix it up" and do it the "nonsense way" (her words). She pretends to be the teacher and shows her baby dolls how to do things the wrong way, and they have to figure out what to do by asking questions. She likes for me to "talk" the baby dolls and have them ask questions. After she completes the puzzle, we have fun pointing to each continent while we sing the continents song.

I'm Hooked...

E is looking cozy in the Beco while wearing her new mama knitted hat (knitted on a circle loom). I've made 4 infant hats, 2 child sized hats, 1 adult hat, and 1 scarf. I'm hooked! Next on my list is another scarf (I hope my teenaged nieces appreciate the many, many hours of work that are going in to their Christmas gifts!) and probably a few more hats for my girls. I've gotten quite good at nursing while knitting. It's so nice to knit while watching E's beautiful and peaceful face while she drinks her milkies :)

Advent Activities- Day 2

For today's advent activity O made a snowman puppet using a Martha Stewart craft kit (bought last year after Christmas for about a dollar). These craft kits don't leave a lot of room for creativity, but they are great for learning to follow directions, and O REALLY enjoys making the puppets. This puppet kit was a little nicer than the Halloween puppets...the bag is made of cloth and the paper is thick and fuzzy.

For each day of December O opens a "new" Christmas book (they aren't actually new, but we pack up the books on January 1 each year, so they seem new each Christmas). Since we are on vacation, the opening of the books won't really start until Saturday, but I did bring one book with us, Franklin's Christmas Gift.

This is a wonderful book to introduce the concept of donating gifts to needy children. This was a perfect book for us to read this week since O just chose gifts to donate to Toys for Tots. She really enjoyed choosing the gifts, and she understood completely that the toys weren't for her. However, I'm not sure that she completely understood what was going on since she said that she hoped that the little girl who received the gifts she bought would share with her :)

After reading the book, we talked about how O will choose several of her toys and books to donate to needy children. She's not at all excited about giving her own toys away, and she was very excited when she thought of the idea of giving the children money instead of her toys. She said "I have a lot of money in my piggy bank that I can give them!" We're going to talk about this a bit more because I would like for her to choose several of her own toys and books to donate to The Salvation Army.