Archive for December 2011
I wish I’d thought of this earlier but they had a blast and it was great to reminisce as a family as we look forward to 2012. Every family member contributed to the activity and making the memories that made 2011 such a fantastic year.
- Gather your materials. I originally thought of making a wreath but when I saw my tinsel tree I grabbed it. Either works. You will also need some ribbon – ours was sheer and HARD to write on, plain cotton strips would be the easiest to write on but sheer is so pretty. You will also need some small containers ( eggs work great) to hide the memories in , some paper to survey your family for their favorite events/memories and some pipe cleaners for the tree topper.
- Start by asking your family for the top 12 events of the year – we tried to do one per month but it was closer 3 per season. We went around the table at dinner letting everyone add whatever they wanted. Hearing every one’s proudest and most special moments was in itself a great activity.
- Using pipe cleaners make a 2011 tree topper. I admit I did 2012 first and had to fix my mistake. Pop it on the top.
- Cut 12 pieces of ribbon. Write the memories onto the ribbon. Hold the ribbon tight and writing is easier. Use a permanent fine tip marker.
- Pop them in your containers. I was going to use eggs but I have NO clue where they are. Luckily I had a package of 12 paper favor boxes. Putting these together took longer than the rest of the activity. I need to find th0se plastic eggs.
- Hide them – how many can you see?
- Find them!
Read the memories as they are found. 
- Tie them onto the tree and keep going until you find them all.
Happy New Year !
I hope you and your family are blessed with fantastic memories of 2011 and countless opportunities to make great ones in 2012.
My kids have been busy playing with their new toys, my son has been building Legos and my daughter has been pushing babies around the house with her new buggy. I wanted to do something special to celebrate the amazing year we had so while they were playing I ran upstairs, found the bin of art and made an art gallery of their 2011 creations. It was a fun way to spend snack time and look back at our favorite pieces from 2011.
- Gather your materials. You will need your children’s art , painters tape ( so you don’t muck up the walls) , some snacks ( all gallery openings have snacks! ) , as well as something to use as a sign, and to write a blurb about the artists.
- I sorted through my kids’ art that made it to the keep bin in my son’s closet. I have a canvas bin in the corner of this closet that we run art into that passes the keep test. I also put in almost everything my daughter makes. She’ll get her own bin soon.
- I put the art up at their and slightly above their eye level. I was careful to have things my daughter made at a level she could touch… and as you will see that was a huge hit with her to be able to touch the pieces she made, and is clearly proud of.
- Make a sign for the door.
- Don’t forget a blurb about the artists.
- I put out art related books in the reading nook too.
- Add some snacks.
- Invite your guests of honor.
I wish I’d done this when my parents were still in town because my kids loved seeing their art and showing it off to their dad, they would have loved showing it off to their grandparents too.
- I loved that she gravitated towards her own art.
- My son showed off the pieces he loved making – marshmallow art is his favorite. No clue why.
- After her brother had his treats , and gave a quick gallery talk about when he made this or that he went back to legos, but my daughter stayed looking forever. I see many more museum trips in our future, although she has already been to one of my favorite museums with me.
- Then we read a few books and quietly had another cookie. Here are some great fine art books to check out .
Happy New Year !
Just because you haven’t gotten any snow doesn’t mean your kids can’t play with it! We are lucky enough to have a train table that my dad made ( he’s been hacking Ikea since before it was hip) and this week we took some time to play with pretend snow . This is a wonderful multi- age sensory activity and worked great for my 5 year old son and 18 month old daughter, they each explored and played learning different things but having the same amount of fun.
- Gather your materials. We used our train table , extra trains and some cotton balls. If you don’t have a train table grab a bath mat, large shallow bin or just a coffee table and set up some trains or trucks then add in the “snow”.
- Start by being a little goofy and pretending to be clouds that are snowing .
Give the kids the cotton balls and let them decide where the snow goes. I talked to my son about weather, asked him to look outside and tell me if he thought it would snow today in our yard. For my daughter we focused on the color white and the word “soft” feeling the soft cotton balls in our hands and on our faces. 
- Play. This is where some kids and many parents ( and even teachers) clam up. Now what? Here are some things we did that were fun.
- My son pretended to be delivering snow from one end of the train table to the other and we counted the snow as we loaded up the train, and then the pile when we dropped it off.
- My daughter had a ball putting the snow into the little train house , through the windows. Hello, fine motor and hand eye coordination practice!
- We made a blizzard.
- We pretended to be the wind and blowed the snow.
- And more play.
What I loved so much about this was that it made the train table feel new again and we played with it and the snow on and off for days.
Books About Trains
Freight Train 
Tracks
Terrific Trains 
9 Comments »
Writing Thank You cards is a task that is more manners than tradition. But it is slowly fading out. Parents can always text it or a phone call will usually suffice. I think Thank You cards are the perfect way to promote manners while practicing valuable skills. So this year we made snowflake cards with salt to spice things up.
You will need posterboard (or cardstock), glue, paint brush, pencil, marker, salt, scissors, and a tray or large flat bottom bowl.
Cut up your posterboard into smaller pieces that will be easier to mail.
Now write “Thank You” on the front and draw your snowflake. The simpler the better. If your child is writing then go ahead and let them do this.
Have your child write their name or draw the item they received on the back. Sometimes they might want to draw a heart or just doodle. That is okay. I tried to encourage my daughter to write her name, but she really doesn’t know how to yet. So her version of her name was just perfect. At least she tried and got some practice.
Let your child paint glue along the drawing of the snowflake. This where the simpler snowflake is very important.
Place the card inside the tray and have your child pour salt over it.
Be sure to cover the entire glue area with the salt. Shake off excess immediately.
Now let your snowflake dry. Your Thank You card is ready to mail!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours.
We hope that you have time to read, play and create as you celebrate or just enjoy a few quiet days off with your family .
