I had meant to get this posted a little earlier so that you would have time to do it if you want to.  But I have been so sick that I just haven’t been able to get sit at my computer for more than a couple of minutes at a time.  I feel a little better today so I’m going to post this, hoping it all makes sense (I feel like I’m in a fog right now).

Anyhoo- it doesn’t really take all that long to do, it’s just that you have to allow time for the paint to dry.  This is what Hailey made for her grandparents for a Christmas present this year (so no peeking Gramma and Nana!)

Here is what you’ll need: an old gift box, construction paper, red and white paint, something to paint with, a fine tip marker, sequence, glue and a pipe cleaner.

Paint your child’s hand white.

Press onto the paper.

Whenever we do a project that involves a hand print I always have extra paper there for Hailey to make hand prints on once I am done with her- so here she is having fun stamping her hand prints all over the paper.

From the box- cut 2 squares.  Cut the center out of one of the squares- this will be your frame.

Paint the frame.

Once the frame is dry, add some sequence or any kind of decoration you want.

Sorry for the blurriness of this picture- too much cough medicine I guess.  Anyhoo- write your poem on construction paper.  Or if you have messy handwriting like I do, just print it out.  This is the poem we are using:

This is the hand
you used to hold
when I was only
2 years old

Of course you can use any poem you want.

Put everything together.

Once I actually have enough strength, I will cut the excess off the sides and come back and post a picture of the final product.  Also- when I first thought of this, in my mind it was going to be an ornament for the Christmas tree.  Now that it’s done I see it is too big for that.  So I’m not exactly sure what it is going to be.  A magnet for the fridge?  Just a frame?  I don’t know yet.  Any ideas?

Here is another very simple and fun Christmas craft you can do with your toddler (or preschooler).

Here’s what you’ll need: paper plate with the center cut out, red pom poms, green paint, something to paint with, 2 red pipe cleaners and glue.

Paint the paper plate green.

Do your best to make a bow out of one of the pipe cleaners.  As you can see mine did not turn out very well but it worked just fine anyways.

Once the paint is dry- glue the red pom poms on and then add your bow.

Thread the other pipe cleaner through the top of the wreath- and hang it up.  Ours is haning next to our front door and Hailey is so proud to see it there.

Since Hailey talks about Santa Claus non-stop I thought it would be fun to make a cute little Santa Claus craft with her.

Here’s what you’ll need: construction paper- 2 white and 1 red, cotton, wiggly eyes and glue.

Make a circle from the white paper.  Cut out a hat, mouth and nose from the red.  With the other white piece of paper cut out a piece of paper that will be used to glue Santa’s beard onto.  Sort of a U shape.

Glue everything together.

The finished Santa Claus.

This is a really easy and fun Christmas craft.  I love it because you can make one every year to track your childs growth.

Here’s what you’ll need: 2 handprints, 1 footprint, wiggly eyes, red pom pom, glue and a piece of construction paper to glue your reindeer onto.

Put everything together.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!

See?  I promised I would post a Christmas craft today- and I’m doing it!  Woo Hoo!!  I have several cute projects planned to do with Hailey this week, so be sure to check back!

First up- an easy and cute Christmas tree.

Here’s what you’ll need: a piece of blue construction paper, 3 green triangles- small, medium and large, a small brown rectangle, glue, glitter glue, sequence (and whatever else you want to use to decorate your tree).

Glue the triangles and the rectangle onto the blue paper to make a Christmas tree.

Glue the sequence on the tree.

Add some glitter glue (or just regular glitter if you don’t mind the mess).

The finished Christmas tree.

Today when we were making this Christmas tree I told Hailey I was so happy that she was making good choices and not eating the glue (Hailey’s glue eating had gotten so bad that I just stopped doing projects with her because she would only eat the glue and not do any of the art project.)  She replied, “But my IS eating the glue.”

Oh well.  At least she was honest about it.