Shape Wreath { perfect for bedroom doors!}

Shapes are such a simple way of sneaking some math into creative projects, and that is exactly what I did with my kids when we made Christmas wreaths for their bedroom doors. You could make this a patterning lesson as well. The main goal with this project though wasn’t to learn the difference between a triangle and square it was to create something for my kids to decorate their own doors with. I remember feeling so grown up with my own wreath, and I hope my kids feel the pride in decorating their own space too.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some cardboard, green paint, glue, shape cut outs like these wood ones and felt stars from craftprojectideas.com and ribbon.
2. Start by cutting out a wreath from cardboard. I used a salad bowl for the outside and a soup bowl for the inner one.
3. Next get the table ready for painting. At first, I had it like this. Way better for picture taking… but a table like this is way better for having fun and no one worrying about mess.
4. Add kids and paint.
5. Let the paint dry. Ours only took about 15 minutes to dry enough to glue. We played doll house and made Lego presents for our Little People while we waited.
6. Now it’s time to glue and add some shapes.
7. The mix of felt stickers and wood shapes were fun for my toddler to explore. But my favorite part was the conversation between the two of them. Listening to them talk and craft at the same time makes me so happy.
8. Let the wreaths dry and add ribbons.Wait a full day before hanging up just to be sure everything stays put.

 Christmas Books

Oh, What a Christmas!by Micheal Garland is a sweet story about how Santa made do when the unexpected happened. As we all know reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh but when the reins break and Santa comes crashing down they are nowhere to be seen! Luckily a ragtag group of farm animals step in and save the day. The message that it’s not the reindeer but rather the magic that makes the difference is loud and clear. I like how this book can also open a dialog about how even special days can have unexpected bumps, and you make do with what you have, just like Santa in this story.

Santa Duck and His Merry Helpersby David Milgrim is really funny. Santa duck is the duck liaison to Santa, and he goes around to find out what all the other ducks want for Christmas. His younger siblings want in on the action too and start telling ducks that they can get them bigger and better gifts in an effort to out Santa Santa Duck.  Santa Duck explains that bigger and better gifts is not what Christmas is about. Christmas is about giving and sharing with your family. My son who is 6 and I both laughed at the smart alec ducks, and while rude and annoying in many ways they were right when they said Santa Duck was hogging all the fun by being the only duck allowed to dress as Santa and be his helper.  Cute book!