Google+ Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

24 Days of Holiday Magic: Activity Advent Calendar

Let the COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS begin!




 Creative Christmas Countdown

Excitement is in the air and if your children are anything like the Lil Divas they can not wait for Christmas to arrive.  The anticipation for such a fabulous day can get overwhelming so to keep things fun, active and full of family time 24 bloggers from around the world (including yours truly!) have joined together to bring you an amazing 24 Days of Holiday Magic Virtual Advent Calendar!


Here are the 24 participating bloggers - the numbers correspond to their days (for example I am number 9 on the list & my day is on Dec 9th!) and there will be an array of wonderful activities from the sharing of special traditions, making ornaments and gifts, yummy goodies to eat and lots of ways to spend fun time together.






Here are links to all the blogs taking part:
Be sure to visit each day from 12/1-12/24 and click the Calendar Button above or the corresponding blog links provided here to find out the special activity each blogger has chosen to share with you on that day. We hope you join us in this special celebration of Christmas and family and maybe even start a few new traditions of your own along the way.

Bern

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Wordless Wednesday (linky): Thanksgiving 2011

Our Thanksgiving looked like this - 

Turkey pancakes for breakfast -
I use squeeze bottles to make all my pancake creations and just draw onto my skillet. The beak is a piece of banana, chocolate chips for the eyes and the waddle is red jelly. These just might be a new tradition. 


watching the parade on television,


and lots


and lots


of food!


The kiddie table


was all smiles.

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful too!

Bern

Learning Through Play: Sight Word Twister

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One of the best ways to teach a child something (anything!)
is to make it memorable
I firmly believe that FUN = Memorable for kids. 
That's why I am always coming up with different ways to make learning 
those basics, like ABC's, Colors & Sight Words, that can get boring - FUN!

So, armed with a few index cards, some tape and a sharpie 
I turned Twister into a fun learning game for the Lil Divas. 
There were tons of giggles, a few falls, many body part tangles, 
countless laughs and lots and lots of learning.

Sight Word Twister


What You Need:
Twister Game 
index cards
marker
tape

or you can create your own game -
outside with some chalk 
inside on a large sheet of paper or blanket

What To Do:
1. Fill each circle with a target sight word, letter of the alphabet, number, etc... (so many fun possibilities for this!)

2. Play, Laugh & Learn!




The Road to Reading can be FUN!

Check out our other Sight Word Fun for more ideas.

Bern 

This post is being shared as part of a special
 "Add a Little Learning to Your Playtime" 
blog hop to celebrate A Mom with a Lesson Plan's 1st Blogaversary!

**linking to some of these awesome blogs**

5 Homemade Craft Stick Christmas Ornaments for Kids

This week I am happy to bring to you a week of ideas for
  Homemade Kids Christmas Ornaments

We had so much fun making all of our ornaments -
(even the hubby helped for some of our fun!)
& I truly hope you will be inspired to set aside some
family time to make some homemade ornaments for your tree
and/or to give as gifts to lucky family members/friends this year.

Today,  we proudly bring you
  5 Craft Stick Christmas Ornaments for Kids



The Lil Divas worked so hard on these over the weekend
and we are so pleased with how they turned out!
Can you say C-U-T-E?!


#1 
Craft Stick Reindeer Ornament


What You Need:
3 craft sticks
brown paint
paint brush
pom pom (nose)
wiggly eyes
glue
brown or black pipe cleaner 


What We Did:

1. Paint craft sticks brown & allow to dry



2. Once craft sticks are dry form a triangle with them & glue.

3. Point side down will be nose - glue pom pom there.

4. Add wiggly eyes (one on each side near top)

5. Form antlers from pipe cleaner -
I cut about 1/3 piece from end and then cut that in half to make additional antler  points. To set them in place, I wrapped them around the top craft stick.

We made Rudolph

and Clarice

To turn into an  ornament simply tie some ribbon onto the top 
& hang on your tree!

#2 
Craft Stick Tree Ornament



What You Need:
3 and 1/2 craft sticks
green & brown paint
paintbrush
glue
sequins


What To Do:
1. Paint 3 long craft sticks green & the 1/2 stick brown
and allow drying time



2. Using 3 green craft sticks form a triangle & glue in place.

3. Add brown craft stick to bottom as trunk



4. Decorate with sequins as desired.




To turn into an  ornament simply tie some ribbon onto the top 
& hang on your tree!

#3
Craft Stick Snowflake Ornament



What You Need:
4 craft sticks
white paint
paint brush
glitter


What To Do:
1. Paint craft sticks white & allow to dry


2. Form a t with 2 craft sticks - 
gluing them together in the middle.

3. Glue the other 2 craft sticks forming an x on top of the t.



4. Apply glue onto snowflake with a paintbrush


5. Add glitter as desired.


To turn into an ornament simply glue ribbon onto the back via the middle 
& hang on your tree!

#4
Craft Stick Snowman Ornament


What You Need:
8 craft sticks
black & white paint
paintbrushes
glue
wiggly eyes
small piece of orange foam, felt or paper
red foam, felt or paper
black pom poms or buttons



What To Do:
Note: I used a black sharpie to make a black line about 1/3 from the top
so the girls could easily distinguish between the space for the hat & face

1. Paint larger section of 6 craft sticks white



2. Paint top sections black



3. Paint remaining craft stick all black

Allow to dry



4. Glue the 6 white & black craft sticks together evenly


5. Glue black craft stick along the bottom of the black section
this is the rim of the snowman's top hat.

6. Add eyes, carrot nose and mouth of pom poms or buttons



7. Add piece of red felt, paper or foam above rim of hat.
8. Add a flower sequin if desired.


To turn into an ornament simply glue ribbon onto the back near the top 
& hang on your tree!


#5
Craft Stick Gingerbread House Ornament
Note: This was by far the trickiest ornament we made
but it was a fabulous parent/child collaboration project!

It took some trial & error but we finally came up with a 
design for the gingerbread house that we liked.

Here it is unpainted:


Here's What We Did:
1. Base & roof were made using 4 craft sticks
two were broken into halves as shown below.


2. To form base glue pieces to form a rectangle


3. Add remaining half pieces to top to form a triangle roof
as shown below


4. Using 2 craft sticks cover the long pieces of the rectangle
- this will hide the ends of the roof.


5. Add another craft stick under the top one
(see photo below)

6. Cut 3 craft sticks into halves and glue them from each side
This will give the effect of an open door.
(see 2nd photo below)



7. To close the roof I glued some small pieces of craft stick to the back


Finished house!



8. Allow to set then paint entire house brown


9. Allow to dry then adorn with fun stickers or foam
we used candy canes & peppermint candies



Our finished houses



To turn into an ornament simply tie ribbon through top 
(there was some space left) & hang on your tree!

I hope you enjoy making some of these craft stick ornaments!
I have to give a special thank you to CraftProjectIdeas.com
for suppling us with all these craft sticks as part of the rainy day kit
they sent us a few months ago. All the supplies they sent us
are definitely still going to some fun crafty use!

Bern