Holiday Countdown: Yarn Ornaments

The process of this activity is super quick, it's the waiting to dry part that might drive yer kidlets nutty. Make them when you have some free time and the kidlets are doing the boredom dance. Stash them somewhere high on a sheet of wax paper to dry and when you check on them the next day they will be ready to hang on your tree or your gifts!

You will need:
*yarn
*glue that dries clear
*scissors
*wax paper
*mess friendly zone
*cookie sheet or sturdy cardboard
*paper bowls, plates or plastic lids
*glitter
*paperclips, ornament hooks or string
scrumdilly-do it!

This can get sticky so make sure yer tots are in non-fancy togs, okee doke? Squeeze a large amount of glue into your bowl, cup or lid. Place the cookie sheet or cardboard in front of your wee one and place a sheet of wax paper on top. Grab yer ball of yarn and have your wee ones cut varying lengths, set aside.When yer ready, roll up your kidlets sleeves and get ready for the sticky fun! Toss one noodle of yarn into the glue and get it all goopified. Have your wee one run their fingers along the length of their "noodle" to squeeze out excess glue and then shape it onto the wax paper however they like.Add a dash pf sparkle and glitter and move on to the next ornament. Keep going until you run out of room. Place your sheet of ornaments somewhere safe to dry. They will need to dry for at least twelve hours.Once dry, gently peel away from the wax paper. Trim off excess dried glue with scissors, add a hook or paperclip or a loop of string and have fun hanging them everywhichway! Happy Holidays!

Holiday Countdown: Make, Play, Share, Eat...

Here is a dilly of a round up of holiday friendly projects for you and your tots. All you need to do is switch up the colors to make 'em your kind of festive. Enjoy!Make scented dough to play with and to share.Bake up some pie crust cookies with jam!Make cards and ornaments with Tin Foil Festive!Make sock creatures and snow people!Snack on sandwich bread tunrovers.Get ooey with marshmallow puffs a la dilly-do!...and for those of you in warmer climates, wip up some faux snow to play with!

Holiday Countdown: Felty Button Tree

This is a perfect project to get your wee one started on stitching. Buttons and beads are really easy to stitch on and when you make this happy hoop tree, you give your kidlet a chance to decorate yet another tree!

You will need:
*large embroidery hoop
*fat quarter of a happy print
*felted sweater
*small piece of felt
*needle & thread
*sewing machine
*scissors
*buttons and/or beads
*large paper plate (optional)

scrumdilly-do it!

You will be doing a large part of the prep here. Your kidlet can help you choose the colors for the project, draw the tree, cut a little and then stitch.The first thing you will need to do for prep (other than gathering all your supplies) is iron your fat quarter of fabric. Once that is done you are ready to go.

Place hoop over your fabric so that you can eyeball the size of felted sweater you need. Cut a rectangle out of your sweater that will fit into the hoop without filling it. This is going to be your tree.To make your tree, fold rectangle in half and draw half of a tree outward from the fold OR ask your kidlet to draw a tree onto a paper plate and cut out for a pattern.Place hoop back over fabric and center your tree. Pin into place and stitch using your machine.Center your tree/fabric combo onto the under ring of the hoop and place the outer ring on top. Tighten and pull fabric taught. Have your kidlet spend some time playing around with the buttons and beads until they are ready to stitch. If you like, you can add a ring of glue to the outer side of the inner hoop before placing fabric over it. This will anchor it all into place. Let it dry before adding the "ornaments". Trim excess fabric with scissors.Have your kidlet stitch on the buttons and/or beads with a shortish length of doubled up thread. A twelve inch tail is good. Do not worry about sharp needles and all that. Poking happens. My mother taught me cross stitch at 6 and I would go through phases where I was soooo eager to stitch and a lot of poking happened. It still does. You will need to keep an eye out for when to tie the thread and add a new one. Your kidlet can stitch many buttons on with one length. All she or he needs to do is to zig zag from the back.Beads may be easier than buttons as they only have one hole to go through. If you double up the thread you are good. Teach your child to go up from the bottom, thread through the hole of the bead and then go down from the top. They can do it, they really can! If yer not gung-ho about the stitching, get a bottle of tacky glue and have your wee one glue their "ornaments" on. Tacky or Fabric glue is key. White glue won't stick to the felt very well.

Once done with the decorating part of the tree, cut out a small rectangle of felt and add your trunk with a few long stitches. Hang and admire!

A big hoop makes for a bigger tree. Don't go too small. Kids may have little hands but their fine motor skills are still in dress rehearsal. For an added step, have your kidlet paint the hoop before beginning. You can also do a snowman with a button face or a felty wreath with beaded baubels. Happy Holidays!

Holiday Countdown: loverly wrapped bottles

I know it has been done before but look how cool a small grouping of similarly colored yarn bottles look. The best part, is that they are super duper easy to make and adaptable to any holiday gathering. They make a great gift for family as well! Centerpiece anyone?

You will need:
*assortment of glass bottles or jars (cans will work as well)
*glue that dries clear
*yarn

scrumdilly-do it!

Wash and dry your bottles and/or cans and gather up yer supplies.Squeeze a liberal amount of glue all over the bottom portion of your bottle. Use your finger to coat.Beginning with the bottom of your vessel, start wrapping your yarn around and around pulling a tad tightly as you wrap (I held the jar upside down while wrapping). The yarn can overlap previous wrappings but won't stick unless there is a lot of glue. Because we are using one color, the wrapping can be as neat or as wonky as you want. It all looks pretty festive. You can work with shorter lengths of yarn or from the ball. If you need more yarn, cut another length and add a dollop of glue to the end, press down next to where the previous strand ended and begin wrapping again.The more uniform in shape the bottle or can is, the easier it will be to wrap. You may want to work with cans if your kidlets are under age 8 or perfectionists. If your jar slopes inward at the bottom, begin your glue and wrapping a little higher, otherwise the yarn will slip under and there will be a lot of frustration (not like I'm speaking from experience or anything, ahem.)Super fat yarn would work very well for your younger tots. You can add button, sequins or pom-pom decorations when your jars are dry if you like. Plastic bottles may not hold your glue as well as the glass. Use eight smaller jars and you can turn this into a Menorah!

If your kidlet is having trouble holding the bottle and wrapping. Plop it over the handle of a wooden spoon and plop that into a wad of play clay, or can anchored with wads of paper inside to prevent slipping.