Candy Cane Patterns

A quick, simple and fun learning activity!

I cut a candy cane shape from cardboard. Then, I cut some red and green pipe cleaners into ~1.5 inch pieces.

I would start a pattern on the candy cane and let Little Mister finish it. We tried several different repeating patterns, like:

Red, Green

Red, Red, Green

Green, Red, Green

You get the idea!

He had fun and then......

An elf in a 4-wheeler showed up and ruined everything!

Merry Christmas!

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Santa in Shapes

  Little Mister has been walking around singing,

 "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Santa Clause is Coming to Town"!

 I guess squishing 2 Christmas Carols together makes it so much better!

Since we have been singing about Santa for some time now, I thought we should add him to our holiday craft line-up!

You need:

4 Rectangles

3 Circles

2 Triangles

1 Square

some cotton balls and google eyes

 We first sorted our shapes into groups. 

We counted them (each group and then all together). 

Then, we grouped by color.

Finally, I handed him a glue stick!

 He was proud!

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Thinking about Christmas - Printables

My Little Mister is getting so excited about Christmas; the lights, the decorations, the crafts, Santa everywhere we go... Did I mention lights?? He is definitely giving me a much needed shove boost into the Christmas spirit this year!

Here are a few printables I created to keep in tune with this festive season!

As always, I hope you enjoy and give me some feed back.

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Paper Plate Angel Wall Display

I have a giant empty wall space that needed a Christmas lift! So Little Mister and I cut out some paper plate angels. He actually ended up playing with the scrap wedge pieces. He grabbed my hole punch and tried his best to punch holes in them. So, I swiftly seized this teachable moment and punched a different number of holes in each and had him counting while I made more angels!

We then stamped the line "Heaven and Angels Sing" from a wonderful Christmas Carol using letter blocks and ink. Finally, we hung them on the wall. I hot glued a bit of yarn on the back of the plates to use as a hook!

Lyrics
Angels we have heard on high
Singing sweetly o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be,
Which inspire your heavenly song?
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem and see
Him Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

History
In A.D. 129, Telesphous, Bishop of Rome, ordained that, "In the Holy Night of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, all shall solemnly sing the 'Angel's Hymn.' " With that proclamation the 'Angels Hymn' became the first Christmas hymn of the Christian church. Its most common English version was translated in 1862 by James Chadwick, and its most memorable feature is its chorus Gloria in Excelsis Deo!, which is Latin for Glory to God in the Highest.

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My First Nativity

As a child, I vividly remember my Granny's beautiful nativity! I was in awe every year when it was carefully unwrapped and painstakingly placed in just the right spots. I knew better than to touch it, but it seemed to beckon everyone to come and gaze upon its beauty! Maybe it was the artistry of the figurines themselves or perhaps it was the beautiful way it was displayed, I couldn't really say. I do know that I loved it and wish I was in possession of it to this day!

 Little Mister is very hands on and definitely not ready to just 'gaze in awe' at anything. So I searched for some kid friendly nativities. I found an exciting (yet older) post from Mama Smiles. She used felt shapes to make the figures of the nativity scene.

I was immediately intrigued by the shapes idea. Why not sneak in some math activity while having some fun?!

We used 5 triangles, 3 circles, 2 rectangles and 1 oval.

First, he played with the shapes making all sorts of things. Then I showed how they made people when we placed them a certain way. He was thrilled! My Little Mister has such a sweet soul. When we put together the baby Jesus, he whispered, "Mommy that baby is beautiful"!

Next, we glued the shapes onto a block of wood. After it dried completely, I Modge Podged it. It now sits on our mantle and I think of my Granny's beautiful nativity every time I see it!

Remember the TRUE Reason for the Season!

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Button Tree Sequencing

I have been trying to organize my craft supplies, which is becoming a too current event! Sigh!

This time around, I discovered an abundance of buttons. So we decided to use them in our first Christmas activity of the season! I had 5 different colors each in six sizes.

Little Mister placed each color in size order. First, biggest to smallest. Then, smallest to biggest!

By removing one button per color, we created a perfect tree. 

Just add a star and Ta-Da!

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The Good Long Road