Sparkle !

I love glitter and it’s a good thing because my kitchen , my son and I are all  covered after this and we bought pre-glittered stuff!  I figure a little extra sparkle is never a bad thing! This advent craft is a fun number search every day leading up to Christmas, it’s also a great Christmas centerpiece.  My plan is to take each number off the tree and place it on to our Christmas tree ! These are great kid friendly ornaments that add sparkle but not a lot of cost to your decorating budget.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some fun wire decorative branches, some snowflake ornaments, some labels ( pre cut circles ones would be way easier) some crayons, a marker and a vase.
2. Start by writing out the numbers 1-25 on the labels. I didn’t have circle ones  so we cut ours into circles but if i did this again we’d get pre-cut circle ones.
3. Have your child color the numbers, and identify the numbers they are coloring too ! Yay Math!
4. Cut into circles if you need to.
5. Peel and place the stickers on each snowflake ornament. Press firmly.
6. Hang onto the tree!
7. Have fun counting down to Christmas!

Books!

The Little Drummer Mouse by Mercer Mayer is a beautiful book. The dedication to his grandchild is perhaps my favorite part even though the book itself is wonderful too! Read it and you’ll see !  The story is a retelling of the little drummer boy , but in this book he’s a tiny little insignificant mouse. At least he thinks he’s insignificant until he follows the bright star to the manger on the very first Christmas night! The little acorn drum that this little mouse beats is anything but insignificant and he is thrust into the spotlight as Baby Jesus likes his music best of all ! The illustrations are amazing, they have so much detail I find myself opening this book over and over to just look. Great book, the test is lengthy for toddlers but preschoolers and older will love it.

Merry Christmas, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff is an adorable little Christmas counting book. Most of the praise should really be on Felicia Bond the illustrator because the pictures take the cake on this one. The book follows the mouse as he decorates the Christmas tree, 1 Star… 2 angels… etc… It’s a perfect to read and then count the ornaments on your own tree. After reading it my son and I found 4 bells, and 3 trains on our own tree.

McDuff’s Christmas by Rosemary Wells was a classroom classic in my last year teaching. I think I read it every day for 3 weeks straight and then a few weeks after Christmas too! In it McDuff the little Westie dog saves the day finding Santa stuck in the snow! I love Susan Jeffer’s retro illustrations and the little details like the dad feeding the baby, the doggy sweaters the McDuff wears in the snow, and how Santa gave them all gifts they needed in the story . This book was never really put away after last Christmas and has been in bedtime reading rotation since, a definite favorite of my now 3 year old!