Virtual Cookie Decorating

Cookie baking has always been a part of the Christmas season in my house.

But you can only make so many cookies before you run out of people to eat them. When you’ve made enough real cookies, head to this site to decorate some virtual cookies.

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Create Your Own Christmas Carol Ornament

This project is best for older kids. The paper strips are small and the ornaments are made of glass. That said, I had a good time making mine!

Supplies Needed:

Clear glass ornament

Printed Christmas carol lyrics

Scissors

Yarn or ribbon

Printer and ink

Google search for the lyrics of the Christmas carol of your choice. Here’s a good place to start. I chose Joy to the World. Copy and paste the lyrics into a word document and change the font size and color. I found that 18 point font is about the right size. Print two copies of the lyrics.

Cut the lines into strips and trim off the extra white paper. Bend, but do not crease, the first strip and slip it through the mouth of the ornament, center first. Repeat with every strip. The strips will open up and lie against the inside of the glass ball. If, after two copies, you don’t think your ornament is full enough, print another copy and keep adding strips.

Hang your ornament and enjoy!

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Create Your Own Gingerbread Man Garland

This is another kindergarten project that’s fun for all ages. When my sister was in kindergarten she made a gingerbread man garland that still hangs on our tree every year. My sister would be perfectly happy if that garland ended up in the trash and each year she tries to convince our mother to leave it off the tree, but her arguments only cause our mother to choose ever more prominent placements for that piece of kindergarten artwork.

Supplies Needed:

Brown paper (a bag will do)

Scissors

Yarn

Glue

Glitter

Beads

Sequins

Crayons

Markers

etc.

I believe my sister’s teacher used a die cut to make the gingerbread men, but you can create your own tracer by copying and pasting this gingerbread man into a word document and resizing. You want the gingerbread men to be about 4 inches by 6 inches. They should fit neatly into a sandwich bag for storage. An adult will want to cut four of five gingerbread men for each garland. Kindergarteners and 1^st graders will quickly become frustrated if they have to do it themselves.

Cover your work space! Glitter! Ahh!

Decorate each gingerbread man differently. Use any or all of the materials for each.

When everything is dry (this could take awhile), an adult can link the gingerbread men by stapling a length of yarn to the backs of the gingerbread men’s arms.

Hang on a tree or over a door and enjoy. Maybe it will still be around when you’re in your 20s!

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Create Your Own Patterned Candy Canes

I can’t take credit for this simple and easy project; I saw it in a kindergarten classroom this week. The idea is that the children practice making pattern using red and white beads. When they finish, they have an ornament to hang on the tree or in a window.

Supplies Needed:

Chenille stems

Red beads

White beads

String one bead onto the chenille stem and wrap the end of the stem around the bead to hold it in place. This may be a job for an adult.

Decide what pattern you will use. You could keep it simple and string one red bead, one white bead, one red bead, one white bead, and so on. Or you could be really tricky and string one red bead, one white bead, two red beads, one white bead, three red beads, one white bead, and so on. The limit is your imagination.

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NaNoWriMo 2009 Update

You’ll notice a 2009 National Novel Writing Month winner badge in this post. No, I did not earn that. Not this year. But my mom became a winner on November 16! I stalled out around 15,000 words. Whoops.

Congrats, Mom!

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