Christmas Tree & Snowman School Lunch

'Tis the season for festive school lunches! I made this one with the hopes of getting my daughter in the Christmas spirit (as if she isn't already) when she opens her lunch at school!

Christmas Tree Sandwich:
Ingredients:
- Honey Wheat Bread
- Sandwich fillers of your choosing (I used SunButter and a chocolate hazelnut spread because those are my daughters favorites)
- Food safe markers
- A Christmas tree cookie cutter

All you need to do to make this sandwich is lightly toast your bread (optional, but it makes it easier to work with), assemble it how you normally would and then use a Christmas tree cookie cutter to get the shape you're looking for! To make it look even more like a tree all decorated for Christmas, use some food safe markers to add some green around the edges, and some strings of lights/ornaments, perhaps a star on top. It can be made in just minutes and looks so festive and adorable!

Cheese Stick Snowman:
Ingredients:
- Cheese stick
- Sharpies (black, orange, and blue)

All you need to do to make this is take your cheese stick (still in the wrapper of course) and use the Sharpies to decorate it like a snowman. Such an easy and adorable thing to do!

Also included in this lunch was:
- Green grapes (green for Christmas, combined with strawberries would be cute too for that red and green vibe, but ours were nasty looking so I left them out and threw them away instead!)
-  An Honest Kids Organic Apple Juice

Design your own stocking craft

I wanted to share this awesome, and cheap idea for a fun Christmas craft. Your kiddo can design their own stocking (not a functional one, but still!) and make it however they want. My daughter just wanted to color on hers with some crayons, but you could add glitter or stickers, etc. The options are endless! All you need to do is buy one of the cute little character stockings from Dollar Tree, and inside there is a little piece of paper shaped like a stocking. You could even use the template to cut out more of your own on cardstock for decorating/crafting as well.

List of 29 Christmas Books to Buy!

I know some people like to get a lot of Christmas books and give them to their kids each night to unwrap, and some people like to get one for the Christmas eve box or whatever. Our elf gets out all our books when he comes. Some Christmas books to think about purchasing before the next Christmas rolls around:

1. Christmas Is Together-Time by Charles M. Schulz
2. Hallmark Stories of Santa: Up on the Housetop/Jolly Old St. Nicholas (A Storybook of Two Beloved Santa Claus Songs) by Benjamin Russell Hanby
3. that's just our Elf on the Shelf book that comes with the elf
4. Shrek The Halls by Catherine Hapka
5. Christmas Every Day by W. D. Howells
6. The Best Smelling Christmas Book Ever by Laura Rader
7. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Little Golden Book) by Rick Bunsen
8. Merry Christmas, Rugrats!: Rugrats Christmas Lift-The-Flap by Kitty Richards
9. Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney
10. Frosty the Snowman Big Golden Book by Suzy Capozzi
11. 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. There's a ton of versions, find one you like!
12. Madeline's Christmas by Ludwig Bemelmans
13. A Gift From Sofia by Elizabeth Bennett
14. Arthur Decks the Hall (Nifty Lift-and-Look) by Marc Brown
15. The Twelve Days of Christmas. There's a ton of versions, find one you like!
16. Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh
17. Baby Kermit's Christmas (A Jim Henson Muppet Press Book).
18. My First Words Christmas. You can find this at Yoyo-books.com
19. The Power Puff Girls 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas by Laura Dower
20. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Shaped Board Books (Set of 2) on Amazon
21. Sesame Street C Is for Celebrate Board Book on Amazon
22. We have that Christopher Pop-In-Kins book from a Santa we saw at the mall, I guess it's another Elf on the Shelf type of thing.
23. Slide and Find Christmas by Roger Priddy
24. Christmas in Snowy Forest: A Muppet Lift-the-Flap Book by Alison Inches
25. The Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear by Stan Berenstain
26. Christmas in the Castle Disney Princess Pictureback with Flaps) by RH Disney
27. My Little Pony: Holly, Jolly Harmony by D. Jakobs
28. Doc McStuffins Jingle Bell Doc by Sheila Sweeny Higginson
29. Penguins! Holiday Parade Shaped Board Book by The Clever Factory on Amazon

Sugar Cookie Math Bath

So, my daughter got some Frozen Sugar Cookie bubble bath for her birthday and it inspired me to create a math bath with a sugar cookie theme. 

All I did for prep was cut out two gingerbread cookie people from brown craft foam, a few sugar cookies from light brown craft foam, and some little squares for chocolate chips for the sugar cookies from dark brown craft foam. 

In the bath I added the sugar cookie bubble bath for scent and then stuck the cookies to the wall and left the chocolate chips floating in the water. My daughter had to count how many she put on each cookie, and then add each cookie's chips up together.

Hositng the Perfect Christmas Cookie Decorating Party

So, I know Christmas is over but this could still be really helpful for next year or for anyone who wants to have a cookie decorating party anytime of the year, these ideas could be tweaked a bit to fit their individual needs.

We had a Christmas cookie decorating party that included craft time, bingo, and a visit from Santa himself! See how below.

The first step to having any great party is keeping track of what you'll be serving, doing, and what still needs to be done. So I had my list going and then the other important part is letting your child help with the prepping for the party so they really feel like the little hosts/hostesses that they are since the party is for their friends/classmates/cousins/etc. 

 

So, some things my daughter helped me with in preparation for the party were putting the cupcake wrappers in the pan, and whisking the homemade eggnog. Which, I'll share here the awesome recipe I found for dairy free homemade eggnog.

So we had our party at 11am, which would also be a great time to do a "north pole brunch" theme, which I thought about doing. We just did some sweet treats. We had Santa cupcakes (which I'll share how I made), some peppermint chocolate chip cookies, the eggnog, and this vegan hot chocolate. For the vegan hot chocolate I also gave some candy canes, marshmallows, and organ whipped cream. 

Now, I saw some Santa cupcakes on Pinterest that looked pretty similar to this, but I'm just going to share how I made these ones. I had my daughter put the Christmas cupcake liners in the baking pan, and then poured some yellow cake mix into each one and baked them according to the directions on the box. Once they cooled I iced them with some vanilla icing. Then it was time to turn them into Santa's. What you'll need:

- organic coconut flakes

- gluten free dairy free mini chocolate chips

- marshmallows

- red sprinkles

- red m&m's

- a sharp knife

- two paper plates

So I first cut up a bunch of marshmallows in half so they'd be able to be stuck on and look right for the Santa hat's. You can follow how it looks in the picture. The sprinkles made the hat, the chocolate chips for the eyes, and the m&m for the nose, coconut flakes for the beard. I say you'll need two paper plates, one for slicing the marshmallows in half and one for putting on the sprinkles and the coconut flakes. 

We also had water bottles that I put these printables on to make them say "melted snowman" with a picture of Olaf. 

Now, I don't know what a Christmas party would be without a Santa coming! Luckily we have a family friend who dresses up as Santa every year and takes pictures with children and does parties and what not. So, we had him come to the party. 

 He stood outside and jingled his sleigh bells while the kids were doing their craft. Their craft by the way was a big pack I got from Hobby Lobby of a craft foam gingerbread house and lots of sparkly stickers and things to add to it. Toddlers and preschoolers love stickers and since that was the age group I decided that would be good. There was also a lot in the pack, so Charlie was able to make some as Christmas gifts for other family members too. To make them purposeful I also gave them magnet stickers to put on the backs of them so they'd be able to use them as Christmas magnets on their fridge. 

Anyway, Santa came in and surprised the kids. They were so excited! He had a sack with him in which he had gifts for each child (a small treat, a big chocolate candy cane). He also had a list that he looked at while he asked each child their name and told them they were on the good list. Then he took pictures with each child and we got one of all the cousins together with Santa.

After Santa left, we decorated the cookies. I gave each child two sugar cookies along with their own tube of gel icing, and then had some red and some green sprinkles sitting out on the table for them to share. The cookies and icings were grouped together in small cups so they were easily passed out to each child. They decorated and ate them.

After that, we played this Christmas bingo that I printed out. We used red and green m&m's to play it with and the prize for the winner was a Santa tic-tac-toe set from Dollar Tree.

As you may have noticed there is a Little People Nativity set out on the table above as decor and something the kids could play with if they wanted. The counter with the cookies and cupcakes was also decorated a bit.

I had out the Little People Christmas village set, a couple Christmas trees made of tinsel that I got at Dollar Tree last year, the cookies, the cupcakes, and the water bottles. I also had my ipod doc going with a Christmas play list I made.

It really was a great party!

Favorite Christmas Activities for Kids

Here's a post where I'm going to share some of my favorite holiday/Christmas activities to do with my daughter. Just thought I'd compile one list. I do apologize that I haven't been posting much lately, we've been busy with all the holiday seasons.

1. This is probably the absolute easiest to set up, and requires very little. You probably already have all or most of what is needed. Christmas Cookie Cutter Prints. 

To set this up all you need to do is put some washable tempera paint (preferably red or green) on a paper plate and then put out a piece of paper and a Christmas cookie cutter. We decided to use a Christmas tree shaped one. It really made a cute piece of Christmas decor.

2. Christmas Play Dough Mats. 

 This is a really good activity for when you're busy making the Christmas meal or addressing your Christmas cards or whatever. It's also good to do with your kids too. I found a few different printables for play dough mats with Christmas themes, and then laminated them with contact paper. Then gave them to my daughter with some homemade play dough.

3. Christmas Movies with Matching Stuffed Animals.

My daughter loves to watch Christmas movies with matching stuffed animals! The best way to make this happen is to go shopping on the sales after Christmas and get some Christmas stuffed animals for a low price. We've done Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas with Christmas Mickey and Minnie's, Rudolph with Rudolph and Abominable Snowman stuffed animals, and Frosty with a Frosty stuffed animal!

4. Advent. 

This is the first year my daughter has been really into doing the advent thing, and I'm so glad that her aunt gifted this to her. It's really nice quality, wooden, and has magnetic pieces that are so cute. You can buy one here.

5. Make a Christmas Necklace.

All you need to make a Christmas necklace is dry pasta (penne works well), two ziploc bags, red food coloring, green food coloring, some string that looks Christmas (I had red and white), rubbing alcohol, and tin foil. So all you need to do is put some pieces of pasta in one bag and some in another bag, and then you add just a little bit of rubbing alcohol into each bag (enough to coat the noodles, it helps the color stick). Then you put a few drops of each color into their bags and shake the bags up to coat all the noodles in color. Pour them onto some tin foil so they can dry and get rid of the alcohol smell. Have your little one string them onto the string in alternating order (this is a good fine motor activity). And then tie it around their neck!

6. Decorating Christmas Trees with Grandparents.

If you're able to take your child to their grandparents houses so they can help them decorate their Christmas trees I'm sure they would absolutely love it. Great bonding moments between grandchildren and grandparents.

7. Cinnamon Bear Craft

Now, this was something that Charlie got to do at a craft time at our library. I thought it was cool so I'm going to share a little bit about it. It reminded me of a gingerbread man. You cut out the shape of a teddy bear on tan cardstock and then have them draw on a face and glue on different buttons and Christmas ribbons. What made them cinnamon bears was how they cut out pieces of sandpaper for their bears hands and rubbed a cinnamon stick on the sandpaper.

8. Fine Motor Sticker Ornaments

This was another craft they did at the library. They just had them cut out an ornament shape onto construction paper and stick on craft foam stickers of various shapes. My daughter chose really little stars and when she was peeling the backs off she was definitely honing those fine motor skills.

10. Reindeer Play Dough.

Whip up a batch of chocolate play dough and give it to your little one with some googly eyes, brown pipe cleaners and red pom poms.

Christmas Bath

This bath is really, really simple to put together and gets kids in the Christmas spirit. It really is very simple, but still makes for a fun surprise at bath time.

You'll need:
- green food coloring
- red food coloring
- Christmas rubber duckies
- plastic bowls
- paint brush
- shaving cream

All you have to do is fill up the tub with water, and add in some green food coloring to color the water. While the tub is filling up you can squirt some shaving cream into some plastic bowls, and add green food coloring to one and red food coloring to the other. You mix the food coloring in with the paint brush.
I used the red bath paint to write "HO HO HO!" on the wall of the tub.

Reindeer Pancake

Now, I've seen a lot of reindeer pancakes floating around on Pinterest, but I must say I think mine is the best! The antlers I've seen are always made of bacon, and not everyone eats bacon (especially young kids). So here's my rendition that I made for my daughter for breakfast on Christmas last year.

Ingredients:

-Pancake mix of your choice

- 2 blackberries

- 1 strawberry

- Amber agave nectar (or maple syrup, whatever you prefer your kids have)

So, you make a pretty decent sized pancake first for the reindeer's head, then you make a smaller one for his little nose area. Then you make another big one and overcook it a little so it's more brown than the other pancakes. Cut that pancake into the shapes of two antlers. You can just do four strips, two big ones and two little ones and then lay them on the pancake/plate how they go. 

For the rest of the face, add two blackberries for the eyes, and cut off the leafy top of a strawberry and use that bottom up for the nose. Then you can add some agave or syrup onto it or give it to your kids in a little bowl for dipping if they'd like.

Red & Green Complimentary Colors Sensory Bin

Once children know their basic colors I think it's important to start introducing concepts such as complimentary colors. Red and green of course are familiar complimentary colors. I didn't do this bin around Christmas time, but it easily could be a fun addition for babies and younger toddlers to explore some of the holiday colors around that time as well. I think it's so cute of a bin that really promotes abstract thinking.

For the base material I used a bag of split peas. They can be found at the grocery store by the beans. Then for the red I added four red blocks. I really like the way there's not only the red and the green, but there's also the squares and the circles in this bin.

Winter Wonderland Sensory Bin

This sensory bin is kind of similar to our Christmas Sensory Bin, it does have more sensory elements to it though. The "bin" is again a cool bowl from Dollar Tree, but this time it's red instead of green. All the things in the bowl can also be found at Dollar Tree.

The base material was a thing of white garland/tinsel that had candy canes on it. Then I added ornament balls, ornaments of houses with snow covering them, a red bow, and some silver jingle bells.

That's how ours looked when I presented it to my little one. I said that it has more sensory elements to it because not only is there the interesting garland to feel, and the ornaments to explore, there's a felt bow to rub and discuss what it feels like. The jingle bells also provide some sound to the sensory experience. The more senses you can use at once the better the activity!

Christmas Sensory Bin

This Christmas Sensory Bin couldn't be easier to throw together and is very frugal! It's great for babies, young toddlers, and older toddlers alike. Younger children and older children will both love to feel and play with the foil shred, as well as explore the ornaments in the bin. Different ornaments will provoke lots of discussion about colors, shapes, designs, etc.

All the materials, including the green bowl we used as the bin were purchased from Dollar Tree. We had red foil shred as the base material, and gold and green ball ornaments as the objects.

Christmas Tree Bath Paints

We often use themed baths as a way to get excited for upcoming holidays and events. In December a favorite we have is using Christmas Tree Bath Paints. These allow my daughter to create and decorate her very own Christmas tree again and again. It's a great process art since you're obviously unable to save the finished product anyway.

Here are the paints

To make these bath paints all you need is 

- shaving cream

- make up brush or paint brush

- food colorings, green for the Christmas tree, and whatever colors you want for the ornaments. We used red, yellow, and blue.

- containers to hold the paints, we like muffin tins and dip bowls

- essential oils for scents optional. You could use eucalyptus if your child has a cold, or peppermint if you want a Christmasy feel. You just need a few drops in the green bath paint.

You just put the shaving cream into each container, then add the drops of food coloring to each and mix them together with your paint brush or make up brush, rinsing off after each color so they don't mix. 

Set the paints out during bath time and tell your child to make you a Christmas tree! They will delight in this opportunity, especially if the big Christmas tree is off limits to them. 

Here's the gorgeous tree my little love bug created!