Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 21: Reindeer Feed

This is another annual tradition in our house- making reindeer feed!  Those reindeer get hungry pulling Santa's sleigh so we sprinkle some of this special food on our lawn for them to eat while Santa is busy inside.  There is no specific recipe- just mix together anything you have in your cupboards that is safe for critters to consume.  For ours we used oatmeal, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds and flax seed.  To get the reindeer the extra magic they need to fly, we also add some red and green sprinkles.  Stir it together and keep in a sealed container until you are ready to sprinkle it on the lawn on Christmas Eve.

Craft A Day 'Til Christmas: Day 13: Gingerbread Play Dough

Today's craft involved some cooking in the kitchen.  We made two batches of wonderful smelling gingerbread play dough.  I found the recipe here.  Eva helped stir all the ingredients together and then I heated them on the stove until a dough consistency formed.  

After it cooled, we divided one batch up and made little gifts for our friends at Spanish class by attaching a cookie cutter and little card.  With the rest, Eva went to town "baking."

We also made a real gingerbread house today.  Eva was a pro at sticking all the bright colored candies everywhere!

St. Patrick's Day Cards

To share our love of all that is Irish with our family and friends, we made these St. Patrick's Day cards.  Eva stamped a "shamrock" on the front using a pepper top and some green paint.

When they were dry, I added a message- Shamrocks are green, Dinos are too... Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I love you!  Eva signed her name and we taped in a picture of her posing with her favorite dinos.

We also whipped up a batch of green cupcakes (lemon cake mix with green food coloring added) to snack on when we visit Grammy and Papa for the holiday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the Luck of the Irish be with YOU!

Building and Construction

(Image Source)

One of the first things that often pops into mind when thinking about China is the Great Wall.  We will be honoring it by learning more about tools, buildings and construction.

Crafts
Nuts and Bolts Painting- we'll shake these fasteners around in some paint to make some cool abstract art

Scrap Box Buildings- our building supplies will come from our box of recyclables and scraps that we keep in the art center- can't wait to see what we create!

Activities
Blocks- you can't talk about building things without playing with blocks!

Marshmallow Structures- we'll use mini marshmallows and toothpicks to build all sorts of things

Exploring Tools- we'll try out hammers, screwdrivers, levels and many other tools to see how they work and what they are used for

Home Depot Field Trip- we'll visit one of Eva's favorite stores

Cooking
Triple Decker Sandwich- we'll take building to the kitchen and erect a tall tasty lunch

Books
            

Happy Valentine's Day!

We hope you have all had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with love, laughter and fun!  Yesterday we sorted candy hearts using a graph.  I found the printout for the graph here.

After sorting them all out according to color, we talked about which color had the most and which had the least.

For dinner tonight we tried our hand at making homemade pizza dough and made a heart shaped pizza.  Pizza is always a hit and such a great meal to cook with a little one!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Chinese New Year

This Thursday is the celebration of the Chinese New Year.  We will be welcoming in the Year of the Rabbit all week!

Crafts
Chopstick Picture Frame- we'll use wooden chopsticks to make a special picture frame

Paper Fan-  a cardboard rectangle and a tongue depressor will be transformed into a beautiful fan

Paper Lanterns- similar to the Halloween lanterns we made last year, these lanterns will be used to decorate our dining room for the new year feast

Egg Carton Dragon- no Chinese New Year celebration is complete without a dragon puppet

Red Envelope- we'll make a red paper envelope and maybe Eva will find some lucky money in it on Thursday

Activities
Chinese Yo Yo- using a spool, some string and two popsicle sticks, we'll make this Asian take on the yo yo

Chinese Character Memory Game- Eva's been getting really good at playing Memory so this version will help her look carefully at the details

Chopstick Transferring- we'll use chopsticks to move felt fortune cookies from one bowl to another

Rice Sensory Tub- the snow is emptied out and in it's place is a lot of rice- one of Eva's favorites

Cooking
Lucky Noodles- we'll make a yummy noodle lunch

Chocolate Covered Chinese Noodles- a sweet treat to celebrate the new year with

Books