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Santa is Coming

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and everyone knows as soon as we are done feasting, our minds instantly switch over to Christmas mode. I mean, before Thanksgiving is even over the Black Friday sales and shopping begin. So before I got too caught up in it all, I made a Christmas Advent Calender with Chase. That way on December 1 it was all ready with no hassle. 

Basically, the advent calender is a special countdown to Christmas and each day of December your kids can open up a little present. The one I made looked similar to this one.

 However, as a background I used green poster board and had Chase decorate the envelopes. He colored them green and red and put Christmas stickers all over. In each envelope I had a little something special for him to open each day leading up to Christmas. Some things included: stickers, candy canes, ring pops, a harmonica, and a Santa wind-up toy.

I really enjoyed making this for many reasons. It was fun and allows the children you babysit to express their unique creativity as they decorate each envelope. It is also a great way to reinforce good behavior. The kids know Santa is coming so they have to be good. If the children are being good or do something nice, they can open their present for that day. 

Here are some other fun ideas:

What other advent calender ideas do you have or any other fun ways to make sure your kids are being good, because you know Santa is watching :)

Turkey Craft: Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving is right around the corner so of course I've been trying to find fun turkey crafts. I chose this particular one to post about because it comes with stencils to trace and can be easily adapted to many ages. Older children can trace and cut themselves, while younger children can glue together pre-cut pieces. All the while (if you're anything like me), you do not need any fancy artistic skills ;)

Instructions: 

1. Pick out your construction paper colors! To make sure it looks like a turkey you probably want brown for the body, orange or yellow for the beak, and red for the mouth. And then fun turkey feather colors. You can paste your turkey to a background as in the photo above, or just leave the turkey free standing!

2. Next cut out the turkey parts including the body, eyes, beak, mouth, feet, and feathers! 

3. Now its time to glue it together :) Glue the facial parts to the top of the turkey and the feet to the bottom.

4. Now it's time to be creative!

- You can have the kids write (or help them write) something they are thankful for on each feather.

-Cut out a circle of lined paper, slightly smaller than the turkey's belly and have the kids write a few sentences of what they are thankful for this year.

-Or "By Guess & By Josh" had a great ideas! "Each day during November have your child add a feather to the turkey. [...] By the time Thanksgiving arrives, your turkey will have a full set of colorful feathers! Another option... instead of cutting feathers out of colored paper, you can buy colored feathers from the craft store."

I found this idea from the blog 'By Guess & By Gosh!' Here is their November Kid Activity and be sure to check out the rest of their blog :)

Happy Turkey Day!

Octopus Buddy Craft!

Monthly Blog Question

Each month I want to ask my visitors a question.

Lately, I've been trying to find different ways to distract Chase. His parents work from home and we avoid coming in the house through the back door which leads right to their offices. We always come in and out through the front of the house but some days Chase decides he wants to use the back door. I try my hardest, however, not to use it. Not even "just this one time" because once always turns into all the time with young kiddies. I usually tell him, "Oh no, the door is locked. We HAVE to use the front door to get it." Whether the door is locked or not, after a few minutes he finally gives in. 

This month's question:

How do YOU distract your tiny toddlers when they are persistently trying to do something you do not want them to do?

Fourth of July: Uncle Sam Craft

Fourth of July was one day away. Wanting to help Chase get into the spirit of the holiday, I looked up fun crafts. I found this Uncle Sam mask craft and fell in love. Too cute and couldn't have been any easier to make.

Things You’ll Need: Red, white, and blue construction paper, Paper plate, Cotton Balls, Scissors, Glue (Optional: White star stickers)

Step 1: Take a paper plate from the kitchen and cut out a circle in the middle. This is where the tiny toddler’s face will go.

Step 2: Cut out all of the construction paper for the hat. You can use a red rectangle and cut white strips for stripes OR you can use a white rectangle and red paper for the stripes. It is up to you. Next, cut a smaller blue rectangle for the hat’s brim.

Step 3: You have different options for the stars. You can use stickers or cut out stars using white construction paper. (I cut them out paper but I’m sure the stickers would be easier!)

Step 4: This is when your tiny toddler comes in to play. Have him or her help glue the stars to the blue brim, the brim to the large rectangle, and the stripes to the rectangle. When you are all done glue the hat to the paper plate.

Step 5: To finish it all off, glue cotton balls all along the bottom of the paper plate for the beard!

Step 6: After it dries, enjoy watching your tiny toddler look like Uncle Sam!