Peppermints

I've seen many posts about painting with a salad spinner but this one sold me on it!  We had to make peppermints.  I found it worked best when the paint was a little watered down and we dripped it in a few spots.  It took a few tries to get it right but in the end we had three that looked liked peppermint candies.  Eva honestly could have cared less what the end result looked like as she had so much fun just spinning the spinner!  When they dried I wrapped them in a cut up gallon size plastic baggie and attached them to a ribbon for hanging.

Sugar and Spice

One of the best parts of the holidays is all the yummy food!  This week is all about cookies, candy and other delicious treats.

Crafts
Pipe Cleaner Candy Canes- we'll be twisting together different colored pipe cleaners to create our own candy canes

Puffy Paint Cookies- we'll whip up another batch of homemade puffy paint and pretend it's icing for our foam cut-outs

Salad Spinner Peppermints- we can't wait to give this craft a whirl

Yarn Lollipops- this craft will be great fine motor practice as Eva works yarn into a spiral to make her favorite special treat

Gingerbread Friends- we'll decorate paper cookies using all sorts of fun craft items

Cooking
Sugar Cookies- Christmas isn't complete without at least one batch of cutouts!

Candy Crystals- part cooking, part science, we'll see how rock candy is formed

Gingerbread House Snack- graham crackers will be transformed into a healthier version of a gingerbread house

Activities
Play Dough Dough- we'll whip up a batch of plain play dough and pretend to bake cookies

Where's the Gingerbread Man? game- oh no!  The gingerbread man escaped!  Will we be able to find him?

Cookie Matching Game- we'll play one of Eva's favorite games

Candy Cane Elf- Eva will become a special elf who hands out candy canes to folks we meet while running Christmas errands

Gingerbread Man Felt Board- how many ways will we decorate our sweet little friend?

Books