frosty the snowman

These are the ornaments we made yesterday at my daughter's holiday party at school.  They came out so cute!  They are painted on a mini art canvas that I found at Joann Fabrics.  The kids used their fingerprints to make the bodies for the snowman and then toothpicks to add the details.  We used a glue gun to attach the ribbon hanger. You can find more detailed instructions here.

trick OR treat

Next week it is my turn to go into my son's preschool.  I like to bring some fun activities with me when I go in, just like I did with my daughter.  I am going to have the kids make these lollipop ghosts.  I cut a bandanna into four squares with my pinking sheers, wrapped one of the squares around a tootsie pop, tied some ribbon around the neck and stuck on some googly eyes. You can find bandannas for $1 at Walmart or I Party and and I got the lollipops at the dollar store so this was an inexpensive project.  In addition to being a fun activity for children you could also give these cute little guys out as party favors or to your trick or treaters this year.  I love how the pattern on the fabric made a mouth for the ghost too!  Boo!

Nollaig Shona Duit

My daughters pre school asked if any parents wanted to come in to share a family tradition. Since my husband comes from Ireland I decided to go in to share an Irish Christmas tradition, decorating with holly. Since holly is poisonous I brought some in to show the children but used faux holly for our project. I found these wonderful clear, plastic ornaments at Michael's craft store. I also picked up the silk holly and red glittered berries along with some white glitter. At school I showed the children pictures of houses decorated with holly, taught them how to say Merry Christmas in Gaelic, and then gave them directions for making the ornaments. The children painted the fabric holly leaves with watered down glue and sprinkled them with glitter. When they had dried I pushed them in the ornament with a long wooden skewer and added some red ribbon and "Nollaig Shona Duit." I also brought in some Irish Christmas music to listen to while they nibbled on cupcakes that I decorated with candy holly (spearmint leaves and red m&m's.)

tepee treats

(photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble)

(picture courtesy of Family Fun)

It was my turn to help out in my daughters pre-school last week. The calendar said they were going to read "The legend of the Indian Paintbrush" by Tomie de Paola and do a tepee craft. I always like to bring something fun in to school when it is my turn to help so I decided to make these tepees out of ice cream cones. I used mini cones and followed the directions for the recommended frosting. I had to put on two layers of the frosting and still wasn't totally happy with the results. I think next time I will use melted white chocolate instead. Instead of using cake gel to decorate them I brought in "easy writer" decorating pens. The pens come in the four primary colors and were a great way for the kids to personalize their tepees. I packaged them in small cellophane bags and the kids were able to take them home. This would be a fun activity for kids to make while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner.

for "cray-on" out loud, be my valentine

Looking for a fun craft to do on a long winter's day? How about making some crayons for your favorite creative valentine! Use broken crayons and peel the labels off of them. Put them into a silicone baking pan and put into a 250 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the crayons have melted. Click here for directions. These hearts fit perfectly into Wilton mini heart silicone baking cups which you can then wrap in cellophane to give to friends, or place them in a bowl for your own little ones to use.