Holiday Crafts

We're trying to do a lot of holiday crafts. I love crafts, but it's hard to get around to doing them (deciding what to do, picking out materials, sitting the kids down). So, I've decided to focus on seasonal things (mainly Christmas). I very much prefer crafts that are low-preparation and uncomplicated! My boys do too!

Here's what we've done so far this season:

1) Leaf collage: This is a great craft because it can be done with children of many ages, toddler and on up. I uesd clear contact paper on both sides. I actually used this craft at a homeschool park day and set it up for all the children to do. I spread out a vinyl tablecloth on a picnic table, and masking taped the contact paper down for the children to work on.

2) Popsicle stick stars and snowflakes. These are also fun. We painted the sticks with glitter patio paint and then glued them the next day. Bug loved this. Bee insisted on painting his sticks with watercolors and fastening them into a house. Which was fine--he always has to come up with his own way of doing things!

3) Paper chain! Ours is 25 feet tall, and we plan to put it on our christmas tree. Bee made most of it, but Bug had fun helping too. We used scrapbook paper. I have tons of extra scrapbook paper. I cut them into pieces 6 inches by one inch with my paper trimmer and taped them together.

4) Some foamie ornaments. A little cheesey, I know, but Bug loved making them.

We need to make tons of ornaments for our tree this year to fill it up!

Get a Grip

We have started working with TOPScience: Get a Grip, for grades K-6. It is a set of puzzles that teach math and science concepts through measuring lentils. I think it is quite ingenious. Bee, my second grader, is really enjoying it. Bug, my preschooler just enjoys pouring with the lentils. The great thing is that they can work on it together. It came with all materials, so all I had to do was glue on labels and make copies of the answer sheets for Bee. I can save all of the materials and use them again when Bug is Bee's age. I plan to try many more sets from this company.

Dot-to-Dots

Yesterday, the boys became obsessed with dot-to-dots. I let Bug work with our friend J's hand-me-down preschool workbook to keep him occupied while I worked with Bee, and he fell in love with the dot-to-dot concept. Anyway, after A. (age 7) finished his work, he wanted to do dot-to-dots, so he got an old book (for ages 4-6) and began working on it with gusto and managed to finish it in the car on the way to gymnastics and back.

I have found some great dot-to-dots for Bee at Raising Our Kids that are a little harder. I printed them and put them on a clipboard, for him to do at Bug's gymnastics and in the car. I'm excited--I think he will like them.

I also found some logic puzzles at Enchanted Learning, and I plan to look for more. Bee had his first logic puzzle in his math workbook and loved it, so I think he'll be excited about those as well.

I'm trying to find things that Bee will want to do on his own without realizing that they are "school."