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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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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You're a WHoot! with printables

Owls seem to be everywhere all of a sudden. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, but my Little Mister really likes them. I am always trying to appeal to his interests when thinking of some learning activities. So, we have owls! 

 The free printables at the end of this post include: matching, fill in the color, letter recognition, complete the pattern, counting skills, maze, pre-writing skills, trace the letter and size sorting.

I hope you will try them with your kiddos and give me some feedback. Enjoy!

But first, Whoo Loves You? We made a cute little frame to answer that question!

We painted 6 large craft sticks brown. Then, we glued them all together. We added juice lids for eyes and a construction paper beak. Little Mister picked out this particular picture that he wanted in the frame. One of my early favorites of the chunky monkey!

We also made a cute little owlet from a pine cone, two cotton balls, two google eyes, a construction paper beak and a cardboard circle. Easy and very cute!

Did you know you can dry and make your pine cones open by placing them in the oven? It also leaves a warm, earthy smell in your house! Love it.

Some great owl-ee books we enjoyed also:

Here are our owl-lovin' printables for the week! If you try them please give me some feedback. I want to know what you liked or (gulp) disliked about them. Thanks and enjoy!

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Yo Ho Matey! with Printables

Yo Ho, Yo Ho a pirate's life for me!
I'm not sure what the fascination is with pirates but my Little Mister thinks they are great. I admit it, I like the Johnny Depp version myself!

Here is our attempt of living a pirate's life for a day! 

I have also created some pirate theme printables including: letter recognition, size selection, color and shape review, pre-writing skills, tracing letters, patterns, number matching, counting and more. Take a look at the end of this post!

 

You all know how much I love hand print crafts. I couldn't resist making this cute little pirate!

What are pirates without their ships? Here is a cute little one we made while reviewing some shapes: squares and rectangles.

All truly worthy pirate ships have at least one thing in common .... The PLANK! Here we are working on some motor skills, enjoying the nice weather and walking the plank!

Then, we worked on some observation skills while inspecting our buried treasure!

Hope you enjoyed our attempt at a pirate's life.

Don't forget to check out our printables below. I would love to hear from someone who tried them with their little one's!