Some Holiday Crafts

These three projects are simple projects to do if you are looking for something fun, as well as something that will keep toddlers interested and happy.  At school I try to do a lot of experimenting with art materials where they don't have to have a finished project, yet sometimes they love walking out the door with something to show their parents.  These first two projects came from Family Fun, and they are just that.  The last project is a simple paper chain.

Glowing Snow People:

You will need recycled water bottles or other plastic bottles, white tissue paper (we used recycle tissue paper from a present which we cut up into small pieces...this gave us the opportunity to talk about reusing items), google eyes, felt for the hat, a battery operated tea light, and watered down glue.

Prior to giving the children the bottles I cut holes in the bottom of the bottle a little bit smaller than the tea lights, so that after pushing them into the bottle they do not fall out.

• Start by painting the glue mixture on the bottle. 

I love the look on his face!

• Next, start adding the tissue paper all around the bottle
  

•  Add eyes, and black felt around the bottle top for the hat, if you have the actual bottle top you can just paint it black.  For the mouth and nose I found it easier and more expressive to have the children draw them on. oh, and of course glue on some felt circles for buttons.

I love the personality these Snow People have.

Popsicle Tree:

• Have the children color in their Popsicle sticks with green marker, or if they wish to chose another color, that also looks great .  It helped to have different length pop cycles. 
• Have them glue down the popsicles in the fashion of a tree.
• Then have them glue embellishments on as ornaments.

Paper Chains:

I think everyone knows how to make a paper chain, but the trick to making a nice one is to have beautiful paper.  This paper was from my paper collection, and instead of having it sit in the drawer, I decided it should be showed off.

One quick tip, I found that glue sticks work best with this age group because it sticks rather quickly and is easier to handle.