Materials

• Cardstock
• Paint (we went with acrylics)
• Pencil/eraser
• Plastic lid
• Envelopes

We always find a smock helpful too!

Directions

• Don your smock.

• Fold your cardstock in half.

• Trace around your plastic lid lightly with your pencil.

• Dip your fingers into your paint (we put ours into the lid).  You could do one colour at a time with the same finger, wiping it in between or use different fingers for each colour, which ever you prefer.  (Or mix them if you like!)  Apply it around your circle, covering up the pencil line, creating your wreath!

Purpose

• Creating materials to encourage writing.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.

Our daughter was home sick with croup and thus, she enjoyed painting embellishment pieces for everyone to use, gluing the pieces on (she is really getting into patterns) and creating designs.  This is a great activity to do over the winter holiday and treasure for years!

Materials

• Wood scraps (we used two-by-fours)

• Wooden Pieces (You can get these at craft or dollar stores)

• Acrylic paints
• Paint brushes
• Cotton batting (You could stretch out cotton balls and use that too.)
• Glue gun/glue
• Sandpaper (*Optional)
• Tray for the paints
• Gesso (*Optional)

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• On your wood pieces (ours were various pieces from projects), draw peaks for your roofs.   Have an adult cut these for you.  Save the excess pieces to make trees!

• Don your smock and your safety glasses.  Sand your wood.

• Coat your pieces with Gesso.  This will make an easier surface area for painting on.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Paint your houses.  We went with one side at a time.  Allow to dry.

• Paint your embellishment pieces and allow them to dry.

• Glue your embellishment pieces onto your houses, making doors or shingles for example.  We used a glue gun, but your could also use wood glue.

• Once your houses are ready, set up a scene.  We added our trees, little planters with a bit of greenery and cotton batting to form snow.  You could even make little people to include.

Purpose

• Designing and executing a plan.
• Painting various objects.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and direct adult supervision and guidance.
• Small, wooden pieces can be a choking hazard therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.
• Follow product directions.

Materials

• Watercolour paper
• Paper cutter OR ruler and scissors
• Glue gun OR white, craft glue
• Paint brushes
• Containers
• Blank card set (or make your own using cardstock)
• Glitter glue
• Containers for your paint

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Don your smock.

• Dilute your liquid watercolours (or you can leave them concentrated).  Paint your paper.  (As you can see we experimented with both cardboard and watercolour paper)  We went with stripes (both light and more intense) and then once they were dry we put in some gold highlights, using glitter glue.  Go with whatever pattern you like.

•  Allow to dry overnight.

• Using your paper cutter or scissors and a ruler, cut out triangular trees and arrange them on your cards.  Once you like your little grove of trees, glue them on.  We also added one or two to our envelope.

Purpose

• Experimenting with different painting techniques and materials.
• Celebrating various holidays and recognizing the symbols of each.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use a paper cutter or scissors and a glue gun with care and direct adult assistance and supervision.

Check out the full tutorial and all sorts of seasonal fun on:

http://www.hellowonderful.co/post/KID-MADE-DIY-WINTER-WOODEN-BEAD-WREATH

Many winter celebrations focus on light- whether it be lighting Advent candles, the menorah or the kinara.  Create these cards to convey the warmth of the light this season.

Materials

• Watercolour paper (you could use cardstock too)
• Craft tray
• Glue gun/glue
• Watercolour paints
• Cord, yarn etc.
• Paint brushes
• Paper cutter
• Scissors
• Circle punch  (You can always use a circular cap, trace around it and cut out the circles too!)
• Glitter glue

• Blank card sets (or fold cardstock in half to make your own cards!)

We always find a smock helpful too!

Directions

• Don your smock. Paint one of your papers with glitter glue and allow to dry overnight.  (Our toddler was all over this, but you certainly don’t need quite this amount of glue!)

• Once dry, paint over your glitter glue to form your sparkly light.  Paint other sheets with the colours that you would like for your candles.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Cut your paper into strips and then cut your strips to form your candles.

• Punch your glittery paper with your circle punch, forming your light.

• Glue a wick one end of your cut-out candles.

• Glue your candles onto your card, lining up the bottom of the candle with the bottom of the card.

• Glue the back of your light and slide it under your wick.

• Repeat as many times as you like.

Purpose

• Learning about various holidays/ celebrations and symbols associated them.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.

Materials

• Cardstock
• Felt (You could use paper too!)
• Beads
• Floor protector pads for furniture
• Fabric scissors
• Fabric glue
• Tweezers (*Optional, but they are awesome for putting the beads into the glue!)

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Don your smock.  If you are working with a group, we suggest cutting each of the protector pad sheets into individual pieces as shown below.  (For easier access!)  You may want to put out the rest of the supplies in several trays between the kids.  We used fabric glue, but white, craft glue would most likely work too!

• Peel your protectors off their paper and make the main body of the snowperson.

• Using your felt, cut out any decorative features for your snowperson and glue on your beads to create eyes, buttons, jewellery etc..

• Allow your snow people to dry overnight and write a note in the inside!  (If you went with the black background as we did, use metallic pens to write your message!)

• We would love for you to share your personalized creations!

Purpose

• Creating engaging opportunities for writing.
• Celebrating various holidays.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and adult supervision.

Materials

• Paint (including metallics and those that contain glitter)
• Plastic lids (ours were the little containers that hold the granola for the yogurt at Starbuck’s)
• Paint brushes
• Thick paper or gift bags
• Craft tray

We always find a smock helpful too!

Directions

• Don your smock.  Squirt your paints on the bottom of your lids and move them about with your brushes.

• Apply your painted lid to your paper, creating your snowballs!

Purpose

• Exploring various painting techniques and tools.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.

Materials

• Watercolour paper
• Glitter glue
• Paintbrushes
• Liquid watercolour paints
• Scissors
• Circular punch (Don’t have this?  Simply use a lid to trace circles and then cut them out!)
• Silver paper (You could use heavy duty tin foil)
• Glue gun
• Twine
• Craft tray
• Containers for the paint/ a bit of water (Sorry- we missed this in the photo!)

We always find a smock helpful too!

Directions

• Don your smock.  You can really use any painting technique that your child is into for this.  We are currently interested in shimmery finishes so we decided a glitter glue resist would bring a bit of sparkle to the ornaments (to conjure the magical feel of the season!).

• We painted our watercolour paper with a bit of glitter glue and allowed it to dry overnight.  Be sure to wash your brushes throughly after using them in glue.

• The following day we painted over our dried glitter glue with diluted liquid watercolour paints and allowed this to dry overnight.

• The following day we used our punch and made circles.

• We sketched and cut the ornament caps out of silver paper, gluing them to the top of our ornament.

• Attach a little loop of twine both to the back of the cap and the circular part of the ornament.  (You may need a little assistance with this part.)

• Fold your cardstock paper in half to form a card.  Glue your ornaments to the front of your card.

• Using a metallic pen and write a note for a family member or friends inside your card!

• An alternative our son thought of was to lay a large branch in the centre of your table and hang your paper ornaments on it, creating a centrepiece.  Or hang the paper ornaments on your Christmas tree!

• How sweet is this ornament card that a class made for their families?  They experimented with multiple painting techniques so each one was personalized.  Have you tried an idea sparked from Make it Your Own?  We’d love for you to share it with us!

Purpose

• Experimenting with various painting techniques.
• Using different types of tools.
• Creating meaningful opportunities for writing.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and direct adult supervision and/or assistance.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.