Materials

• Blank card set (You could make on using folded cardstock too)
• Red paint or red stamp pad
• White rectangular erasers
• Cotton balls
• Craft glue
• Cardboard
• Pencil/pen
• Thin black felt
• Smock
• Craft tray
• Shallow container
• Scissors

Directions

• Put your card in your craft tray and put a piece of cardboard in between the folded portion of the card so if the glue or paint seeps through a bit, the card won’t stick together.  We also put a piece into our envelope.

• Don your smock and put your paint in a shallow container.

• Dip an eraser in your red paint (be sure not to get too much on!) and form bricks (to make a chimney) on one end of your card as shown.  As you can see, we had an adult cut another eraser to a smaller size to make the end bricks (or turn your eraser sideways.)  With each row, we left a bit of space in between to make the negative space form white mortar.  We also staggered each row so that the next set of bricks started in the middle of the ones previous.  We added a brick pattern to the envelope as well.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Take your cotton balls and stretch them a little bit.  Glue them to the top of your chimney to create “snow.”  Allow to dry overnight.

• Add Santa or give it to someone else to create Santa using a pencil/ eraser and tracing it with thin black felt.  (Of course this is just a starting point… what else could you do?)

• Attach your card to a present for a homemade touch!

Purpose

• Thinking of others
• Experimenting with making “stamps” out of various materials

Safety Notes

• Be sure to wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothes and surfaces.
• Have an adult cut the eraser to size.

Materials

• Felt
• Embroidery floss/needle OR fabric glue
• Fabric scissors
• Stick pins OR tape
• Fabric marker (*Optional)
• Paper & pencil
• Ribbon (*Optional)
• Smock
• Craft tray
• Stocking template stocking_template
• Embellishments (beads, sequins etc.) *Optional

Directions

• Draw and cut out a pattern/template for the shape you want to use.  Or print out the provided template of the stocking, pin it to your felt and cut it out twice.  (We folded the felt over and cut it out once. If you are concerned your fingers getting poked, pin the template, have an adult trace around it with a fabric marker, remove the template and then cut out along the traced lines.)

• For the stocking, glue or sew the white “furry” portion onto the stocking on both sides. (Make sure that you put it on the correct sides for when you put it all together!)  Sew the horizontal trim lines if your like in a contrasting colour. (Later do the vertical lines when the two pieces are together.)  If you wanted to add any embellishments, this is a good time to do so (sequins, beads etc.)

• Glue a loop of ribbon in the inside top of the stocking if you would like.  Allow it to dry overnight.

• Sew or glue the two pieces of the stocking together, along the edges, remembering not to sew together the top.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Insert a gift and give it to a friend!

• Repeat the same process with any shape and use glue if you like!

Purpose

• Thinking of others
• Fine motor skills (learning to sew)

Safety Notes

• Be sure to use scissors, pins and needles with adult supervision.
• Use a smock and a craft tray to protect your clothes and surfaces.

If you love vintage clothing, check out Amy’s Esty store:  http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/ButtonsandFrills

Materials

• Canvas
• Paint
• Brush
• Smock
• Tray
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Earrings (straight posts are the easiest for young children)

Directions

• Purchase jewellery at a re-use store, garage or estate sale or go through your own supply of jewellery. (This would be perfect for singles where half of the pair has been lost!)  Select pieces you would like to use.

• Next N. chose the colour he wanted to paint his canvas. 

• After letting it dry overnight, with a little help from his mom, he traced out the shape of a Christmas tree (a triangle), so he would know where all the earrings needed to be.

• Amy said, “Straight back earrings work the best as we could push them through the canvas.  You can use other types of jewelry too but it means that you need a glue gun to attach them.  N. really loved pushing the earrings through the canvas as they make a fun popping sound!”

• They used earring backs to hold the earrings onto the back of the canvas.

• Here is the finished tree!

• Amy suggested, “If someone was really into making a big project out of it, they could do it on wood and drill small holes in the tree to stick mini lights in before attaching all the jewellery!”

• We think it is a great project for little ones and we are so happy our friends Amy & N. were willing to share it!  Do you have an idea you think other families or educators would like?  We’d love to see it!

Purpose

• Re-imagining items
• Developing fine motor skills

Safety Notes

• Be sure to wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect surfaces and clothes when you paint.
• Earrings and their parts (the backings) can be choking hazards so do this activity with direct supervision. It is not suggested for children 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things in their mouths.

Materials

• Child’s artwork (Make sure it is something that they are okay with being cut up or make something for this purpose.)
• Circle punch OR milk jug cap, pencil/eraser and scissors
• Lick & stick stickers
• Glue
• Twine
• Scissors
• Cardstock

Directions

• Punch out circles out of your artwork.  If you don’t have access to a punch, flip the artwork over, trace a circle using a milk jug cap and cut it out.

• Punch additional circles out of  the blank cardstock.

• Put your circle stickers in the centre.

• Take 2 punched circles and glue them together, with your twine in between. (As seen in the photograph.)  This is an opportunity to explore patterns on your garland.

• Allow your garland to dry overnight and then hang it on your wall, tree or wrap a gift with it!  Wouldn’t this be great to decorate a children’s bedroom?

Purpose

• Re-imagining items
• Finding economical ways to celebrate with paper
• Thinking of others

Safety Notes

• Exercise care when using scissors.  Use with adult supervision.
• String, cord etc. can be a strangulation hazard, thus they are not meant for play and should be used with supervision.

Materials

• Popsicle sticks or tongue depressors or both
• White paint
• Paintbrush
• Craft glue
• Gems, sequins etc.
• Beads
• Jingle Bells
• Cord
• Scissors
• Smock
• Craft tray
• Shallow container

Directions

• Don your smock.  Put your popsicle sticks into your craft tray and a bit of paint into a shallow container.  Paint your sticks and allow them to dry overnight.

• Glue your popsicle sticks together with craft glue.  An easy formation is making an “X” and then making another “X” in between, but this is just a starting point.  Use your imagination to make your own snowflake formation.

• Add embellishments such as sequins and gems.

• Lace beads and jingle bells onto cord, twine etc.  (We would suggest doing this in the middle of your length of cord so you could hang up your snowflake.)

• Glue your cord onto the back of your snowflake and allow it to dry overnight.
• Top a present with it or hang it on a tree or door knob!

Purpose

• Creating symbols of various seasons.
• Developing one’s fine motor skills (putting small objects in glue.)

Safety Notes

• Beads, gems and other small objects can be choking hazards.  Keep them our of reach from children ages 0-3 or those that tend to put things in their mouths.
• Be sure to wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect surfaces and clothing.
• String like materials such as cord can be a strangulation hazard and therefore are not for play and should be used with adult supervision.