Kiddo Christmas Gifts for 2012

Spoiler alert...

For the kiddos Christmas gifts this year, I put together a gift bucket.

Sand bucket - on clearance at Michael's for 25 cents each (Bananza!) - now it's a snow bucket!
Coloring book - dollar store
Pack of crayons - 25 cents back in August at the back to school sales
Bottle of bubbles - 3 for $1 at the dollar store
Personalized cape - (Silly me, I should have taken pictures of these) - using donated fabric and felt to create the superhero emblem with their initial.  (You can kinda see the capes folded up in each bucket)

Then I added a personalized gift for each kiddo, based on what I know they love.  Some of those items were:  package of straws, oyster crackers (that is a kiddo's absolute favorite snack), finger nail polish, gum, a ball of yarn...

These buckets were really fun to put together.  Of course I started back in October so all would be ready.  Here's a shot of them under our class tree with all our kid made ornaments.

Cone Trees

For our Christmas party day we decided to make cone trees.  We used sugar cones, green cake frosting and sprinkles.  They were fun (ie messy) to make and tasty to eat!

The set up:  I put down red butcher paper (for quick clean up).  I had several bowls and plastic knives for individual frosting cups (tasting too) and then sprinkles and red hots.

 I think next time it would be fun to invite the kiddos to bring different candies to share for decorating the trees.  That would be fun and add variety!

 The red frosting was left over from some cookies.  So I put it out as an option, I was surprised how many kiddos went for it.

Curly Bearded Santa

Ok, this is my FAVORITE Santa craft...

 

Paper Cup Bells

One of my favorite projects we did this year has to be this one.  I think they turned out super cute!

 

I got the idea from: 

http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Music/Paper_Cup_Bell/Paper_Cup_Bell.html

I had a hard time finding paper cups without something printed on them.  I had the kiddos paint the cups, then we generously sprinkled them with glitter and let them dry.  The glitter helped hide the printed flowers that were on the cups.

Once the cups were dry, I poked a hole in the bottom of each cup then strung a sparkly pipe cleaner through and attached a jingle bell to the bottom.  Then I twisted the two pipe cleaners from the two cups together, made a loop and tied a festive bow.  

Nice and festive, and when the kiddos jingle them, there is a nice shower of glitter too.  Ha.  Perhaps I should have sprayed them with an adhesive or with a clear coat gloss.

Salad Spinner Christmas Trees!

Using our salad spinner again (see post: Salad Spinner Leaf Art ), we created Christmas trees to decorate our classroom for our party!

All you need is a salad spinner ($4 at Ikea), green paint, glitter, and paper.  Oh, and willing spinners.  Ha.

Once their spun art dried, we cut the circles in half, stapled the halves into cones and then stacked them.  Super cute and pretty darn easy!



Below, one of my fours is adding sequins to her wet paint.

FYI:  The sequins did tend to pop off the trees as we curved them into cones.  So perhaps gluing them on would be better once the paint is dry.

Bubble Wrap Prints

Back during our week with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", we created these bubble prints with the idea of making some Eric Carle style caterpillars.  But we ran out of time.  They were so neat, I wanted to share them.

First I had my fours paint the bubble wrap, then we would smooth a piece of paper over top and peel it carefully back.  We set it aside to dry, then kept creating prints by adding more paint. 

You can see that soon we just had all the paint mixed together.  To avoid that next time I may quickly rinse off the bubble wrap occasionally during the printing process, to keep true colors.

 

 I still have the prints, I'm trying to decide what to make with them now.  Perhaps we'll use them during reptile week, because they look like snake skins to me now.  Hmmm...

Hint:  I cut a small strip of bubble wrap for each kiddo to pop to their heart's content.  Then when we began to paint, they had done their popping and they (with a gentle reminder) left the bubble wrap to painting.

Gingerbread Man Finger Puppet

Last week we learned with "The Gingerbread Man".

 I made finger puppets for the kiddos so they could "run, run as fast as you can" all around the classroom. 

Using felt,  I cut a gingerbread man per kiddo.  Make sure when you cut them to make the legs wide enough to fit a finger and your stitching.  I then cut a second set of legs (from the waist down) and whip stitched around them.

A thought:  Next time I may cut two full gingerbread men per kiddo.  Helping the puppets to be less floppy and a bit more sturdy.  Sew all the way around, then cut a slit in the back just above the legs, so the kiddos fingers could slip in.  Hmmmm.




We decorated with white puffy fabric paint.  Let them dry a day, and then the kiddos fingers were off and running!  And they loved running them around.

Below are a few of the finished gingerbread men. 

Carnival Tickets

I purchased a roll of carnival tickets at the party store because I LOVE them and because I thought the kiddos might enjoy them too.  And they did!



My fours LOVE to play airplane.  They carefully line up all the chairs and pilot the plane with headphones (found in the give away pile at the school I used to work at - I just cut off the cord).

So today I introduced the tickets.  They loved them!  We counted chairs and then the tickets ... for each kiddo!  So fun!

Craft Stick Christmas Tree

I saw this idea on pinterest and HAD to do it with my kiddos.  I prepped the ornament (hot glued the bits together) ahead of time...

Then let the kiddos decorate.  Quick, simple and cute!

I think this is my favorite ornament the kiddos have done this year. 

Cinnamon Ornaments

 
What you’ll need:
1 cup of applesauce
1 1/2 cups cinnamon (dollar store)

cookie cutters 
skewer (hole poking)
string for hanging

1. Mix 1 cup of applesauce with 1 cup of cinnamon in a large bowl. Mix, mix, mix. This is the kind of recipe you’ll need to use your hands to really incorporate the cinnamon. Make sure you don’t miss any wet spots. Add the additional 1/2 cup of cinnamon and continue to incorporate. 

If it’s too wet add more cinnamon, too dry add more applesauce. Be patient. It takes time to mix so don’t add until you’re absolutely sure it’s well mixed.

2. Scatter some cinnamon (like if you were rolling out cookies with flour) and roll out applesauce/cinnamon dough to 1/4″ thick. If the dough is too wet it will make a huge mess and stick to your rolling pin.  Cut out your ornaments.

3. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Place ornaments on a cookie sheet. They can be really close together but not touching; they won’t rise in the oven. 

Using a skewer carefully make a hole in each ornament. Stick the ornaments in the oven for an hour or more. The juice from the applesauce needs to evaporate. The range in cooking time depends on your house, humidity and climate.  They should be rock hard. If they’re not, give them some more time in the oven.
 
4.  When hard, loop a string through each of the holes to hang on the tree, string together to make a garland or attach to a package Enjoy!

I found this recipe at:
http://www.katyelliott.com/blog  

Gingerbread Paint

I got this idea for gingerbread paint from:

http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/11/christams-activities-scented.html

You simple mix cinnamon into brown paint...

 I had the kiddos paint several pieces of cardstock and we let them dry.

 I cut most of the gingerbread men out because it was a bit tricky to cut the painted cardstock.  Then the kiddos decorated them.

Glitter Ornaments

I set up a Christmas tree in the preschool room, the kiddos were so excited about it, but sad that it was bare.  I told them that in the next weeks we would be creating ornaments to decorate it.  They just couldn't wait, so I pulled out some construction paper, glue and glitter and let them go at it.

First you make your glue design.  Then sprinkle a bit of glitter ...

 

 Then lots more glitter.  Ha ha.  Make sure you get it everywhere!

 

 Taa daa!  All done.  Let them dry for a day or so.  Then we punched a hole in the top, strung with string and hung them up.  Very simple, but lots of fun!

Gingerbread Man Recipe

I found this YUMMY recipe at:

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/12/13/gingerbread-men-cookies/

 

Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Men Cookies

yield: 30 (3-inch) cookies

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 22 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened slightly

¾ cup molasses
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking soda at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add butter pieces; mix at medium-low speed until mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 1½ minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, gradually add molasses and milk; mix until dough is evenly moistened, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds.

2. Scrape dough onto work surface; divide in half. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll ¼-inch thick between two large sheets of parchment paper. Leaving dough sandwiched between parchment layers, stack on cookie sheet and freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. (Or refrigerate dough 2 hours or overnight.)

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

4. Remove one dough sheet from freezer; place on work surface. Peel off top parchment sheet and lay it back in place. Flip dough over; peel off and discard second parchment layer. Cut dough into gingerbread people or round cookies, transferring shapes to parchment-line cookie sheets with a wide metal spatula, spacing them ¾-inch apart. Repeat with remaining dough until cookie sheets are full. Bake cookies until set in centers and dough barely retains imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 11 minutes, rotating cookie sheet from front to back halfway through baking time. Do not overbake. Cook cookies on sheets 2 minutes, then remove with wide metal spatula to wire rack; cool to room temperature.

5. Gather scraps; repeat rolling, cutting and baking in steps 2 and 4. Repeat with remaining dough until all dough is used.

6. Once cookies are cool, decorate with royal icing, if desired. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1week.

Gingerbread Men

This week we are learning from the book:  The Gingerbread Man.  So of course we had to create our own gingerbread men...

These photos are from my threes today.  I made the dough ahead of time because it needs to chill.  So the kiddos got to help me roll out the dough, cut gingerbread men and then of course decorate them when they were done.

Count Down Santa

For a Christmas count down, I decided to make the Santa's beard version.  I love this one.  I found the poem at: 

http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/12/christmas-book-advent-day-1.htm

Santa’s beard is very bare.

On his chin, there is no hair.

So each day,

Add one puff so white.

And when they’re all on,

He’ll come that night!

 The kiddos enjoyed the project even though there was a lot of cutting. 

I taped the poem on a baggie with the 25 cotton balls needed.

The kiddos created their own Santas with a bit of direction.  

For the beard, I stamped the circles before class.  The kiddos then got to stamp the numbers with a date stamp (which they LOVED).

 Once they finished their Santa, a couple of the kiddos wanted to try out the date stamp, moving the gears and
stamping different numbers.  I'm going to have to create a center with the date stamp I think!

 

Band-aid Butterflies

Continuing our Very Hungry Caterpillar theme this week, we created band-aid butterflies.  I got this idea from:   http://www.notimeforflashcards.com

What you need:

band aids
square gauze

I purchased both from the dollar store.

After attaching the band-aids, the kiddos can spread the wings, color them with markers and add antenna. 

Cute, quick and inexpensive.  Plus the kiddos LOVED being able to use band-aids!

Tp Butterflies

We made these simple butterflies today with tp rolls.

They turned our really cute!  We tied a string from them so the kiddos could hang them up at home and have them fly a bit.

Pictured here are my threes at work.  We were painting for another project, but we figured a bit of paint on the wings would be fancy.  I should have pulled out the glitter!

Egg Carton Caterpillars!

I love these, they're an oldy but a goody!

I did these today with my fours.  So very cute.  I think I'll do them tomorrow with my threes.