Holiday crafts

Crafting at home with my boys hasn't happened much since Zaxxon started preschool.  Kal'El is still a bit too young for most, and Zaxxon gets a lot of that out of his system in school, so we haven't done as much.  Not to mention, with Zaxxon gone three mornings a week, and a regular playgroup meeting once a week, we haven't had as much time to do such things.

I did decide to make a few holiday crafts this year, however.  It helps us get into a festive spirit.  So I decided that Zaxxon was going to make a Thankful Turkey again this year.  He can do much more of it himself this time around.

We wrote all the things he is thankful for on the turkey feathers.  He even wrote a few himself (with me spelling, of course.)

We made another turkey, and he glued real feathers to it

Kal'El can no longer be kept out of the way during craft time, which is another reason we haven't done as many crafts lately.  However, I've discovered that if I tape a coloring sheet to his high chair tray and provide him with a few crayons, he'll occupy himself for a few minutes without eating TOO much wax--and that gives me a few minutes to focus on Zaxxon.

Zaxxon also made some hand print turkeys, which he thoroughly enjoyed

He enjoyed them even more once he started deviating from what I'd suggested he do with them.  We've got some crazy, mutant turkeys going on here

We made another turkey using Zaxxon's feet as the body and hands as feathers. I first did this with the boys last year, and thought it would be fun to make them yearly and see how much the turkeys grew.  So we tried it again.  Zaxxon wanted to trace his own hands this time.

Kal'El got to "make" one too--which means I held his hand down to trace it, and made it for him.  I guess I didn't take many pictures though

When it came to Christmas, Zaxxon has made Christmas gifts of one form or another for the last two years, so I decided to continue this tradition.  This year, I gave him elastic and beads, and he made bracelets.

This was quite an involved project.  I wanted him to make them for his playgroup friends and for family members, so obviously we couldn't do all of them at once.  We averaged one or two per day for a while, then took more than a week off, and then hurried to do at least two a day again right before the holiday.  He enjoyed it at first but definitely got bored.  I should probably pick something less time-consuming next year.

We made wrapping paper by attaching stickers to a big sheet of paper, and then I cut it into small pieces to wrap the bracelets.  Zaxxon absolutely LOVES to write these days, but even so, I was surprised when he decided to label all of the bracelet presents himself--in one session.  He needed me to spell the names, of course, but did every. single. one.

The only other Christmas activity we did was a holiday themed sensory bin.

I dyed macaroni for the first time, using a mixture of rubbing alcohol and food coloring.  (I was inspired by this and did the same, using vinegar and food coloring, so we could eat colored macaroni too.)  Then I added pom poms, bows, ribbon, tiny doves that I'd purchased for some unknown purpose years ago, bells, and some Christmas pop-up figures.  This is the first time I've done an actual theme, and the boys got a big kick out of it.  Kal'El loved it too, and often wants to play with the "beans."  It's too bad he's too young to be left unattended yet, because it will keep him occupied for long(ish) stretches of time.

So that's it for our holiday crafts!