Jazzing up January

January's just days away.  Can you believe it?

A few years ago I learned from a friend what she does to make dull, boring January more fun for her and her kids.

It's called

Jazzing Up January

21 little envelopes sealed tightly for each weekday in January.

And everyday you get to open one up for a fun, simple, doable-each-day activity.

Fun, huh?

Something to look forward to each day . . .

Never knowing what the surprise might be . . .

And I've been wanting to do this for the last two years and just haven't been able to pull it together in time.  But when I thought of it the other day I realized that if I don't do it this year my daughter will soon be off to school and we'll miss our chance.

So I came up with my list, tucked each activity in an envelope and now I'm ready for years to come.

Here's how we'll be spending our January:

1. Make snowflakes and hang them from the ceiling.

 

2. Read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

3. Drink hot chocolate with marshmallows.

4. Make tracks in the snow with your snow boots.

5. Read Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner.

6. Read The Mitten by Jan Brett.

7. Make a snowman snack using donut holes.

8. Have a bubble bath.

9. Have a teddy bear picnic.

10. Order pizza for dinner.

11. Watch Frosty the Snowman.

12. Have a puppet show.

13. Make a winter collage using old magazines.

14. Build a snowman.

15. Make snow angles.

16. Read books by the fire.

17. Watch a movie and eat popcorn.

18. Paint with water and q-tips on construction paper.

19. Go sledding.

20. Play pin the carrot on the snowman.

21. Make cookies.

22. Build a fort.

I hope you join me and 

Have fun!

Winter Accessories - Hat and Scarf

It's that time of year to bundle up.

How about some cute winter accessories to match with a new coat or jacket?

They made for one very happy girl in this house.  She loves her new winter things.  It makes going outside to play in the snow that much more fun.

A perfect new hat with a beautiful flower on the side . . .

And a new scarf to keep her extra warm.

Want to make your own?

When I first saw this hat I fell in love with it right away.  I knew I had to make one to match with my daughters new winter coat.  It took me a while to find an inexpensive white hat, but as soon as I did I snatched it up.  I made the flower using a scrap of white flannel with the instructions that I found HERE.  Love it!



My daughter has this thing about neck scarfs. (Is that even what you call them?  I'm a southern California girl so I really don't know.)  It's the only kind of scarf she'll wear and the only one we have is an old one that belongs to my husband.  I decided it was time she had her own.

To make one I bought half a yard of fleece fabric.

I cut out a 18x20 inch piece.  I then folded it in half and sewed a quarter inch seam.

When I was done I had a tub that looked like this.

I then tucked the bottom side up through the inside . . .

Lined up the edges, pinned them and then sewed another quarter inch seam leaving a small opening to turn it right side out.

Once I had it turned right side out I sewed up my opening and was done.  Simple.

Nice and warm for a cold winter day of playing in the snow.

Apple Wreaths

In honor of Christmas the kids and I made some apple wreaths for a fun snack one afternoon.

First we sliced and cored our apple to make them into perfect little wreaths for decorating.

We then gathered some toppings to decorated our wreaths with--nutella, dried fruit and cinnamon & sugar.

My daughter decorated hers with thoughtfulness and care . . .

And my little mister made a wonderfully large mess.  But he had fun.  And that's what counts, right?

 

No beautiful apple wreaths to show you in the end.  Just a lot of fun--and a yummy treat too.

Merry Christmas!
 

Gifts Kids Can Make: "Piggy" Bank

 We recently began paying our 6-year-old for helping out around the house.  We want to teach him to save some but I haven't been able to find a container that I'm happy with.  Most piggy banks are glass . . . and I'm just not ready to deal with tears from a broken piggy bank.  Besides, the last thing I need is broken glass everywhere.  Here is where this next homemade gift comes in!

I needed something for my 3-year-old to make for his older brother.  We had an empty Gatorade container lying around (but any container you have will do!) and I went out to buy some colored plastic tape.  You could use duct tape as well.  Then I helped guide my preschooler as he wrapped tape around the jar.  (We picked blue because it's big brother's favorite color.)  Next we added a dollar sign on one side and his initial on the other.  All done in about 5 minutes!

Again, we have another proud, excited boy who can't wait to give on Christmas morning!

Away in a Manger

*Update: Find my template for the manger here.

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Do you have time to slip in one more craft with your kids before Christmas?

I hope so, because this is a good one . . . and easy too.

This little manger started out empty, but each time my daughter does a good deed or act of service she gets to add a straw to the manger to make it soft in time for the baby Jesus to arrive for Christmas.

Want to make your own? Don't worry there is still time. And what a great activity to do with your kids on the week of Christmas.

First I found some sturdy card stock (or thin cardboard will do also) and drew these images on it.

I then cut them out and pieced them together. See. Easy project. I didn't even use glue. Just fold your rectangle piece in half, cut the slits and insert the legs of the manger.

Find some straw (or raffia, or even paper shreds) and let your kids add them to the manger good deed by good deed.

Now for the baby Jesus.
I picked up these wooden pieces at Hobby Lobby for under $2 the other day. Perfect for our baby.

I then found some white scraps of flannel for a blanket and a sharpie to draw on the face.

Here's the baby all wrapped up and cozy.

I can't tell you how much my daughter has loved filling her manger with straw. It's been fun to see her being so helpful and offering to do all kinds of wonderful things around the house.

Just perfect for helping to remember the true meaning of Christmas.



You can also find a fun little story to go along with this project HERE.

Merry Christmas!

Gifts Kids Can Make: Tic-Tac-Toe

This year I decided that my kids would make the gifts that they gave to each other... rather then letting them pick something from the dollar store as I've done in the past.  Last Saturday my oldest and I had the morning and the house to ourselves so I decided to get started.  I suggested that he make his 3-year-old brother a tic-tac-toe game out of felt.  He (thankfully) jumped right on board.  First, we decided that it needed a pocket for the pieces to go into when they weren't playing.  We picked out our felt and I showed him out to hand stitch the pocket onto the back.  He caught on so quickly!

Next we cut out some fusible webbing to put on the under side of this piece.  This we did to fuse it to another square . . . just to give it a little more sturdiness.  He loved ironing it together.

Our next step was to cut out the board.  First, however, we adhered some fusible webbing to the underside.  Then we were able to piece our board together.

And finally we cut out our playing pieces . . . and played a few games.

My oldest is super proud of what he made and really excited to give it to his brother on Christmas morning!

Snowmen - Craft Stick Style

Ahhhhh . . . Christmastime.  I have to say that as my kids get older Christmas gets to be more and more fun every year.  I love it!

And to keep us busy while we're stuck indoors on these cold winter days we've been doing plenty of crafts.

This one was a favorite:

First we painted six sticks white.

Once they were dry we taped them on the back to keep them all together.

After we had the sticks together we drew a line and painted the top black for the hat.  We also painted another stick black.

After waiting for it to dry again we glued on the black stick to finish off the hat and added a ribbon.

Then it was time to glue on those fun googly eyes and draw the face.  My daughter decided to add a star embellishment too.

I just think this might have been my daughters most favorite craft we've done together.  She had so much fun making it and was thrilled with the end result that she created all by herself.  Not only did we have fun making it together but we spent hours afterward making videos and being silly with her snowman.
 

Great project!



And while we had the craft sticks out and were painting we made a few of these little snowman that I found at Crafts by Amanda via Ucreate with Kids.

We did this one during a play date at our house.  The kids thought it was great that they go to pick out what color hat and scarf they wanted and had fun decorating their very own stick snowman.

We used a toothpick for the nose, a 2"x2" piece of felt for the hat, and a small scrap of fleece for the scarf.

Great winter fun!

Christmas Word Art

Kind of funny that Amy posted her subway art this week.  I, too, was looking for some word art that tied in the true meaning of Christmas.  I couldn't find a thing.  Then I remembered wordle.  Oh how I love wordle!  This is what I came up with . . . a little bit of Christmas fun mixed with the real reason for the season.

Then I framed it with something I picked up for less than $1 at Goodwill.

Do you like it?  You can print it off here.