Marble Painted Wreath

Easy Christmas Craft for kids ~ Marble Painted Wreath

Marble Painting is one of our favorite Christmas Crafts for kids. Its so easy and kids love it. This version is basically mess free, which in my books is pretty great! I love how these adorable Marble Painted Wreaths turned out.

Materials to make your own Marble Painted Wreath:

White Paper – Cut into a wreath shape
Green and red tempera paint
Egg Carton (or something similar) to hold the paint
Spoon – For scooping out the paint covered marbles
Pie container – A box or oat meal container will work great too.
Marbles – We used 5, but any number is fine. We have also marble painted with acorns and pine cones. Really anything that can roll is perfect.

Place your paper wreath into the painting container. You may want to tape is down.
Pour the green paint into one of the egg carton holes.
Place a few marbles in the other holes and give your toddler a spoon.
Have the kids transfer the marble into the paint and swirl it around until it is completly covered in paint.
Scoop the up paint covered marble and dump it into the prepared tray.
Once all the marbles are transferred to the tray have the kids gently tip the tray and watch them create paint tracks on their paper.
You may have to remove the marbles and re-dip them in the paint.
Allow to dry.

If you are wondering about out painting tray…we recycled a container that pumpkin pie came in from Costco. It worked great! I love that it had an extra lip on the top to prevent any marbles from escaping. We love re-purposing!

Once the green paint is dry, have your kids stamp red berries on the wreath with their fingers. I love that a few of the “grew” in a straight line:) These little marble painted wreathes turned out so cute!

For more Christmas Crafts for kids, check out our:

Paper Strip Christmas Tree

Gingerbread Play Dough

Shredded Paper Snowmen

Stained Glass Nativity

Gingerbread Ornaments

Perler Bead Ornaments

Perler Bead Ornaments ~ simple kids Christmas craft

My kids love creating with Perler Beads. They come in so many delightful colors, and are great for developing hand eye coordination and fine motor skills. I love the cute little Perler Bead Ornaments that the kids built today.

Materials you will need to make your own Perler Bead Ornaments:

Perler Beads – in an assortment of colors
Perler Bead Peg Boards – They come in a variety of fun shapes.
Perler Ironing Paper – Included in the kit when you purchase your beads
Iron – Ask an adult to fuse your design!
String to hang your ornament

Perler Beads come in lots of wonderful colors, including transparent and glow in the dark. Both of which are my kids favorite!

Lay your peg board on a flat surface, and begin creating your design. My kids love making up there own patterns. However, there are tons of great free patterns online that we also enjoy.

Don’t worry about filling up all the pegs when you are creating your design. However, make sure that the beads are touching in some manner or your design won’t fuse properly.

Once you are finished with your design, place it on a heat safe surface and ask an adult for help.
Cover the beads with the ironing paper and iron using a circular motion. Run the iron over the ironing paper for 10-20 seconds.
Peel the paper off your design and then remove it from the peg board.
Flip the design over, cover with ironing paper and iron the other side.
Thread your string through one of the holes and tie. You are all set to hang your ornament.

I love this Christmas tree! Bree was so excited to create a “window” in her ornament!

I have a love of snowmen, and this little guy is at the top of my list! I love his hat.

I have a tree dedicated to snowflakes. There is something delightful about each one!

Burlap Ornaments

Easy DIY Preschool Christmas Ornament

Today is the beginning of Advent. (I will be doing a post about our advent traditions soon) As you know, I love the Christmas season. The trees are all decorated, the lights are up and I am loving it! There is something comforting about the white lights and greenery. I also have a love of making Christmas crafts with my kids. We have created a few different ornaments together, however these little Burlap Ornaments might be my favorite. Cute, simple and incorporate two of my favorite things!

To make these simple Burlap Ornaments you will need:

Burlap – I used the back of a coffee sack, but you can purchase burlap at a fabric store.
White Felt
Permanent spray adhesive
White snowflake foam stickers

Cut a 2 squares of burlap and a square of felt to the same size. Use spray adhesive to sandwich the felt between a burlap front and back. This will help to add weight and stiffen the burlap. Trace circles onto the burlap and cut out.

Kids love stickers, especially foam stickers. They are puffy, come in all kinds of wonderful shapes, colors and themes all geared to kids. I found these adorable snowflake stickers, and I knew they would be perfect for creating a simple ornament for preschoolers.

How perfect are these simple burlap ornaments. All you need to add it the sting to hang them on. I separated a strand of the burlap and a dot of hot glue to create our hangers.

I love how simple these ornaments were to create and how beautiful they turned out. They would make a cute present from the kids, simple gift tags or as ornaments.

Click on the link to find more creative Christmas inspiration.

Do you recall…the most famous Reindeer of all?

Stacking Shapes … Reindeer crafts for Preschoolers

You Know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet, cupid, and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall…The most famous reindeer of all? This simple Reindeer craft uses basic shapes to make a fun and simple Reindeer Portrait. It might be our easiest reindeer crafts for preschoolers that we have made yet. Read on to find out how we made it.

I love this little Christmas collage project. It is perfect for reinforcing cutting and pasting skills, reviewing shapes and organizing them by size.

Stacking Reindeer:

Scissors
Glue
Brown paper – cut into 3 rectangles in graduating sizes
White paper – cut into 3 circles in graduating sizes
Black paper – cut into 3 small circles in graduating sizes
Blue paper for background
Darker brown paper – cut into strips for antlers, and 2 small rectangles for noses
Red paper – cut into a rectangle for Rudolph nose.

I cut all the shapes ahead of time, just to make is easier for little fingers. However, if you are working with older kids, they could cut out the shapes themselves. My preschooler had so much fun building these little stacking reindeer.

I love these little guys eyes, and quirky antlers.

A fun activity for Christmas Eve is sprinkling Magical Reindeer Food. It is so easy to create, and can make a perfect gift for families with little kids.

For more Christmas Crafts and Activities, check out our:

Paper Strip Christmas Tree

Gingerbread Play Dough

Shredded Paper Snowmen

Stained Glass Nativity

Gingerbread Ornaments

Indoor Winter Fun – Weekly Kids Co-op #4

Last week I featured 8 fun Recycle Bin Activities. This week I’m featuring Indoor Winter Fun ideas linked up from last weeks Kids Co-op. I can’t wait to try a few of these ideas out with my kids.

Check out this list of Indoor Winter Fun ideas featured from last weeks kids Co-op:

Make lunch special with these yummy Rudolph Sandwich from Sweet and Lovely Crafts. I have a huge stash of cookie cutters that I need to pull out next time I make lunches.
Adorable Christmas Cards and tags with Paper Snowflakes from At Home with Ali. The combination of watercolors and snowflakes is stunning. What a fun way to personalize a special gift.
You all know I am a sucker for recycled crafts. I can’t wait to try out these simple Recycled Snowmen from Taming the Goblin
I love this creative Small World Snow Play from Taming the Goblin. I would never have thought to use what she did for the snow. Brilliant!
I love this wonderful smelling sensory play recipe. Run, Run, as Fast as you can…to make Gingerbread Cloud Dough with your kids from In Lieu of Preschool
Add a little glitz and glam to your Play Dough Fun with Christmas Cookie Cutters from One Perfect Day.
This DIY Christmas count down couldn’t be easier. ‘No Numbers’ Advent Calendar from Two of Everything

If you were featured this week, feel free to grab a Housing A Forest button.

Come back every Thursday to see if your creative idea were featured and link up any new ideas! (I will be using one image and a link to your blog.)

If you don’t want to miss out on any of the fun we are having at Housing A Forest, make sure to follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Google + and Twitter.

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Thanks for sharing your creativity with us. I look forward to snuggling in with a cup of coffee and browsing through all your inspiring ideas! Now on to the kids co-op party!

Yearly Archives: 2012