Juice Lids!

In November we had an "idea fair" of homemade Christmas gifts (simple, inexpensive things)--more on that later. But in addition to the ideas on display, we had three "make and takes" available. I'll post on the third one later, but here are the first two:

Jumbo Bank

For this activity, you need juice lids, a peanut butter jar, and colored paper, stickers, or both. If you want to go the extra mile, you also need clear Contact or laminating paper. I suppose you'll also need an exacto knife or something to cut the slit in the jar lid, and scissors or a circle cutter to cut the paper. :)

You can decorate the "coins" however you'd like. When I made mine, I cut colored paper slightly smaller than the middle of the juice lids. Then I put stickers on the paper and attached the paper to the lids with a little bit of glue. I cut circles from clear contact paper, slightly bigger than my colored paper circles, and I "laminated" the paper circles to the juice lids. This protects the designs from exploring little mouths...and protects those cute little mouths, too--from swallowing paper or a sticker or something.

I've gotta say, I've had this toy around for years now and my kids still love it! They never seem to be too old to put the "coins" in the slot!

Star Match Game

For this one, I turned to the good old juice lids again! I used patterned Contact paper for the backs, which was a really easy way to make the backs uniform. Then I just used those great star stickers to make pairs of matching patterns on the other side. I did patterns of two, three, and four stars each, and that provides a simple enough game for really young ones with some help, yet challenging enough for some older ones (it's more challenging than you think, looking at all of those stars!). I've had a lot of fun playing this game with my kids, and it was SO simple, cheap, and quick to make!

"Button Me" Jack-o-lanterns

It feels strange posting about Halloween in February, but here's what we did last October! :) We made "button me" jack-o-lanterns out of felt. They're so simple...and a fun skill-builder for kids. Just cut a pumpkin shape out of orange felt. Cut eyes, nose, and mouth from black or yellow felt, depending on whether or not your jack-o-lantern is "lit" or dark! Cut slits in the face pieces, and sew buttons in corresponding locations on your pumpkin shape. Viola! Halloween buttoning practice!

"Teach the Children" - Symbols of Christmas

Another Christmas project...

Many of you have heard the story where Santa comes to visit shortly before Christmas and admonishes the storyteller to "teach the children" the true meaning of Christmas. He explains the symbols of the season and whence they come. So a year ago, Christmastime, we made these little bags to go along with the story. We sewed simple drawstring bags and filled them with items that illustrate the story.

For your own kit, you would need the following:
-a bag for everything
-a star
-a red ornament
-a mini tree
-a bell
-a candle (bday cake candles work well)
-small gift with a bow
-candy cane
-wreath
-the story! You can download the text HERE.

I loved having a kit like this when I was a kid. There's wonderment in pulling all of the miniature ornaments from Santa's little bag, and learning about what each one means! It's a fun thing to share with family during the Christmas season.

The ABCs of Christmas

We saved our Christmas cards through this last Christmas season in order to use them for these great books entitled, "The ABCs of Christmas." My aunt made one for my family growing up, and my mother saved her Christmas cards and made one for my little family a couple of years ago. We love it! You can see in the picture above the one my mother made and then the one that my daughter is in process of making. We need a few more pictures, and then we'll be able to laminate and bind!

These are a couple of pages from my mom's so you can see examples--so cute!

Here is the full text and some title text, for a cover, if desired:

You can download a file of the text in book layout HERE, if you're ready to put one together! We printed our pages on white cardstock.

Gracious George, the Gingerbread Man

In December this past year, we made a cute little family service helper named Gracious George the Gingerbread Man. He's made from felt, stuffed with split peas, and decorated with dimensional fabric paint (puff paint). His story follows the traditional "gingerbread man" story, but before he runs away from people, he helps them with something first. (He might wash the old man and woman's dishes, weed a farmer's garden, help a boy tie his shoelace, etc.) In the end, he arrives at...your house! Here he stays, to help your family serve one another. One person begins by doing a service for someone else and leaving Gracious George "at the scene" of the service. When the service recipient finds Gracious George, he then does something for someone else, leaving Gracious George for the next recipient to find. And the good deeds continue on!

On George's back is a little pocket, with the following poem tucked inside:

I'm Gracious George, the Gingerbread Man! You and I should make a plan. We'll do something kind, so no one will see, and then see just how happy they will be!

You can include a space to mark Xs each time someone does a service, or you can leave it plain. You can have a separate chart to keep track, or you can just let Gracious George secretly travel from person to person. The details are up to you!