Christmas Activities

Here's another one I never posted.

I brought a little tree and decorations for the kids to use. Amelia decorated and undecorated repeatedly.

We ate Whoville cookies, while watching the Grinch.

Then of course we made Grinch dust to sprinkle in the yard to keep the Grinch from ruining Christmas. Mix green food coloring and sugar in a ziplock. The kids put in the dye and shook it up.

Bo and I built Legos. He was impressed by my tree.

We didn't have any real snow, so instead we took this snowball fight indoors. We crumples up white paper and built pillow forts. As you can tell by Amelia's face things were intense.

Bo had a Christmas coloring book.

Amelia played with her Christmas box.

Then we switched gears and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas.

I gave the kids some green play dough, tree cookie cutters, and some beads.

They made oh so beautiful Christmas trees.

Amelia's box was torn wrapping paper, bows, and some festive stuffed animals.

Bo's was oatmeal and a duck nativity.

Bo helped me make a Christmas countdown chain. (He is singing Shrek's 12 Days of Christmas and is at "FIIIIVE onion rings")

We watched Santa Clause is Coming to Town.

My college hosts a Christmas event called Southern Lights. I promised to take both kids, but Amelia was not feeling well. So Bo and I went. We decorated and ate cookies.

We got some Christmas beads.

We took a carriage ride.

There was a photo booth where they made your picture into a snow globe. We had an absolute blast together. Nobody in this world can jam to Shrek Christmas carols like we did in the car.  

 

The kiddos wrote letters to Santa.

We dropped them off at Macy's.

I made a Christmas I-Spy bottle. I late disassembled it because the fake snow didn't work well in it. I used a package of Christmas erasers from the Dollar Tree for the items.

I also made some Christmas play dough. It smelled like gingerbread.

Amelia liked a snowman magnet set that I picked up on sale the year before.

Christmas Crafts

These are from last year, when I watched the kiddos everyday after school. I never got around to posting them so here they are...finally.

I cut out paper trees with my Cricut and hole punched them. I laid them down on contact paper and let the kids put little pieces of tissue paper over the holes. Once they were done, I cover the back with contact paper and trimmed the edges.

I painted the sticks red and glued them into a triangle. I put down glue dots and the kids put cotton balls on them.

I put metal cookie cutters on some parchment paper. I put an unfolded paper clip under the top of the cookie cutter. The kids filled them with pony beads. I baked them on a low temperature and watched them to see when they melted. I pulled them out and let cool.

I cut up used Christmas cards, so that the words were gone. I gave the kids glue,  funny scissors, and lots of paper and markers. 

They made lots of Christmas cards.

This one was a fail :( We melted peppermints in the metal cookie cutters the same way we did the beads. The problem was that I used cooking spray so the edges turned brown.

I had a gingerbread man kit. I let each kid have a foam man and some glitter glue.

We had a multi-stage project. Day one we painted. I glued. Then the next day the kids used glue dots to make them into reindeer. Amelia's had to have a bow like her because it was a girl. 

I painted and glued the trees. Using glue dots and gems they decorated them. (FYI I LOVE glue dots. They make these kinds of crafts so simple and easy to clean up)

Bo requested that we make more cards, so of course we did.

I think he made one for everybody he knew.

Bo made paper snow flakes one afternoon, while Amelia was sleeping.

Of course once you make ornaments they much be hung on the tree...and moved daily.

Christmas Treats

These are in no particular order, but all month we have been making Christmassy treats.

We made Cookie Bars.

They were amazing!

Ingredients: 1 box yellow cake mix, 1 small box of instant vanilla pudding, 1/4 Cup of water,  3/4 Cup of vegetable oil, 2 eggs, 1/2 Cup of M&M's, and 1/2 Cup of chocolate chips

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything in a large bowl. Pour it a 10x 13 greased pan. Bake 20-30 minutes

Whoville Cookies

Ingredients: Rolled cookie mix, sprinkles

Directions: Make the rolled cookie mix according to directions. Split the dough in half. Color one green and the other red. Roll both colors out flat. Place one on top of the other and roll them into a log to make the spiral. Roll your log of dough in sprinkles. Slice and bake according to the package.

Edible Christmas Trees!

Ingredients: Sugar cones, sprinkles, icing

Directions: Frost a sugar cone with some green icing. Sprinkle until your little heart is content. 

Helpful hint: Use a cookie sheet to help control the sprinkles 

Dipped Pretzels

Ingredients: Pretzel logs, chocolate melts, sprinkles

Directions: Melt the chocolate. I used a coffee cup so that it would be deep. Dip the logs in and kinda roll them to get an even coat. Lay on parchment paper and sprinkle. Once again a cookie sheet is a good idea to help control sprinkles.

Sugar Cookies

Make some drop or rolled cookies according the the instructions on the package. Then frost and sprinkle until they look delicious.

Gingerbread men and girls

Ingredients: 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, 1/3 cup molasses, 1 large egg, 3 cups flour, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using a mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on medium low until fully mixed. Stir in the molasses. Scrap the side and add in the egg. When mixed up, add 2 cups of flour and all the other dry ingredients. When the dough is all moist, add the rest of the flour 1/4 a cup at time. Roll it out on some parchment and cut out your shapes. Bake for 10-14 minutes.

Sugar cookie sticks

Ingredients: Sugar cookie dough, chocolate melts, sprinkles

Directions: We used drop dough, but rolled would have worked better. Make the dough. Cut it into strips. Bake according to the package or maybe a little longer to make them crunchy. Once cooled, melt the chocolate. I used a coffee cup here too to help make it deeper. Dip the cookies into melted chocolate and sprinkle.

Edible Snowflakes

Ingredients: Tortillas, cooking spray, cinnamon sugar

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fold the tortilla in half and cut it like you would a paper snowflake. For younger ones they can just tear out pieces. Lay them out flat on a pan and spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown.