Christmas Craft: Paper Plate Wreath

Christmas crafts for kids ~ Paper Plate Wreath

This simple but beautiful Paper Plate Wreath is my all-time favorite toddler and preschooler Christmas craft. This classic Christmas wreath is so easy to make…it seriously only takes a few moments to create.

Time always seems to be at a premium over the holidays. That is what makes this simple Wreath perfect. It only takes a few moments to put together, and the kids can do it without too much guidance from me.

Plus kids love seeing their creations hanging up. We have a special spot on the kids doors for projects just like this one. We seem to continually have a christmas craft extravaganza in our house so we need a special place to hang them.

To make our Paper Plate Wreath, you’ll need:

Paper Plates with the center cut out (or you could use cardboard, or a cereal box)
Squares of green paper
Smaller squares of red paper (or you could use a large hole punch to make circles)
Glue ~ our DIY glue sponge would work great for this project.

Set out all the materials and let the kids start creating. Really there is no wrong way to put it together. Let them decide what they want to add to the wreath (jewels, sequence, feathers…anything goes)

Once the wreath is dry, find a special place to hang it.

Christmas is a favorite holiday at our house. We love creating simple Christmas crafts for kids each season. A few of our favorites include…

Paper Strip Christmas Tree

Gingerbread Play Dough

Shredded Paper Snowmen

Stained Glass Nativity

Gingerbread Ornaments

Ice Cream Bread Recipe

2 Ingredient Ice Cream Bread Recipe ~ A fun kitchen experiment!

The kids love experimenting in the kitchen. Especially when it involves a sweet treat like Ice Cream. So when I found a simple 2 ingredient ice cream bread recipe, I knew we had to try it. Plus we were excited by the novelty of baking ice cream.

Ready for one of the best kept secrets of fun things to bake with the kids? It only uses 2 ingredients and one of them is Ice Cream! What kid would not be excited about that?

Ice Cream Bread Recipe

2 cups (1 pint) of your favorite Ice Cream. We used Haagen Dazs dulce de leche caramel and it was delicious!
1 1/2 cups Self Rising Flour

f you don’t have self rising flour on hand…no problem. To make your own self rising flour, for every 1 cup of flour add, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8.5″x4.5″ pan. (anything from 8×4-9×5 will work).
In a mixing bowl, mix together the softened ice cream and the self rising flour, until combined. Do not over mix, just until combined.
Using a spatula, pour into greased loaf pan and smooth out the top with the spatula.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
Remove from the pan and place on a cooling rack.

Ice Cream Bread Recipe tips:

Used full fat Ice Cream ~ Don’t try to use a low fat or low sugar/no sugar ice cream. Neither the results nor the flavor will not be the same. Throw caution to the wind and go full fat and full sugar. Trust me on this one.
Let the ice Cream soften on the counter before mixing. You may be tempted to thaw in the microwave, but don’t. Patience is a virtue;)
Like most yummy baked treats, this bread is best served warm from the oven.
The bolder the Ice Cream flavor, the tastier the bread. With that said, also expect more of a bread like flavor than a sweet cake like flavor.
You can add mix in ingredients to enhance the flavors. (M&M’s, peanut butter cups, sprinkles Nuts, dried fruit…)
or add a little bump in flavor with an extract (cherry, almond, peppermint, pineapple…)
To make your own self rising flour, for every 1 cup of flour add, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.
Most importantly…Experiment and have fun!

Just THINK of all the possibilities! Moose Tracks, Rocky Road, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cookies and Cream…the list could go on and on! My kids can’t wait to try another version of ICE CREAM BREAD soon!

Remember this is bread…not cake. You will think it is going to be as sweet as your favorite ice cream flavor, but its not. As long as you keep that in mind, you’ll enjoy this fun little treat! My kids could not get over the fact that they just baked Ice Cream and then proceeded to eat it with their hands. Yep eating Ice Cream with your fingers is a novelty around here;) No spoon necessary for this little Ice Cream Treat!

Ice Cream is a favorite indulgence in our house. In the winter we love making Snow Ice Cream. Its not as creamy as traditional Ice Cream, but a fun treat all the same.

Snowman Crafts for Kids

Winter is here ~ Celebrate with these simple Snowman Crafts for Kids

From snowman ornaments to snowman crafts for kids, we’ve got you covered this holiday season. Outdoor snowman and snowman crafts…I love them all. I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite adorable snowman crafts for you to create with the kids this holiday. Some of the snowmen crafts are super easy and will only take moments to create while some are a little more involved…but each one is adorable and fun!

Creative and Fun Snowman Craft ideas

Make sure to click on the links for the full tutorial.

1. Snowman Craft from Tin Cans from Hands On As We Grow

2. Glowing Snowman from Fun Free Christmas

3. Shredded Paper Snowmen from Housing A Forest

4. Giant Snowman Craft from Happy Home Fairy

5. Paper Pulp Snowmen from Housing A Forest

6. Peanut Snowmen from Sweet Paul

7. Newspaper Snowman from Inner Child Fun

8. Snowman Garland from Real Life, One Day at a Time

9. Yarn Pom Snow People from Hostess with the Mostess

10. CD Snowman Ornaments from Happy Hooligans

11. Paper Plate Snowman Lacing Practice from I Heart Crafty Things

12. Stained Glass Snowmen from Twelve Months of Fun

13. Rock Snowman from Tools are for Women too

14. Counting Snowmen from Housing A Forest

15. Footprint Snowman from Daisy Cottage Designs

16. Cupcake Liner Snowmen from I Heart Crafty Things

17. Handprint Snowmen from Revenons a Nos Boutons

18. Stacking Snowman Play from Mess for Less

19. Clay Thumbprint Snowman Ornament from Lines Across

20. Toilet Roll Snowman Craft from Happy Hooligans

21. Handprint Snowman Ornaments from Eighteen 25

22. Bottle Cap Ornaments from Yesterday on Tuesday

23. Finger Print Snowmen from Crafty Morning

24. Cotton Ball Snowman from Children’s Learning Activities

Chicken Food Sensory Activity

Chicken Food Sensory Bin ~ Sensory Activity for Toddlers

Who knew Chicken Food would make a great sensory activity for toddlers and preschoolers to explore with their sense or touch, sound and engineering skills.

Chicken Food Sensory Bin ~ Sensory Activity for Toddlers

What do you get when you combine a roll of tape, a few cardboard tubes, recycled tins, a water table and a bag of chicken feed? A couple of happy kids and a morning spent engineering, constructing, dumping and pouring. Love that!

I generally try not to use food as a play material, especially when there are other alternatives available. We are playing with the seed mix we feed our chickens. It is a simple alternative to rice, and something we always have on hand. Our chickens don’t mind eating the seed even after we’ve played with it, so nothing is wasted. Love that!

I missed taking photos of the kids engineering the cardboard tubes. It was so fun to watch them in action. It was a lot of trial and error, but with a little perseverance the kids did a wonderful job. Tape played a big roll in keeping their whole contraption together.

The kiddos spent the morning filling the tin cans with the chicken food…dumping it down the tubes and repeating it…over and over.

The loved the sound the chicken food made as is flowed threw the cardboard tubes. It sounded very similar to a rain stick.

The kids spent a good chunk of the morning simply pouring, mixing, sorting and running their hands through the chicken feed. Seriously, who knew a bag of chicken feed could be so much fun?

The kids eventually expanded their play/learning to 2 levels. Love it!

Playing outside made cleanup a breeze. The kids diligently scooped the chicken food back in the storage bin and then chickens came in a cleaned up the rest. Easy peasy!

We LOVE simple sensory activities like this. A few of our favorites include paper pulp, shaving cream, indoor snow play, and shredded paper! What is your kiddos favorite sensory material?

Magical Reindeer Food

Reindeer Food Gift Idea

My kids love making Magical Reindeer Food. It is so easy to put together, and makes the perfect gift for families with little kids. The premise of Reindeer Food is that the kids sprinkle it on the lawn on Christmas Eve night to help guide Santa’s Reindeer to their home. How cute is that?

Magical Reindeer Food is a cute Christmas Eve tradition in our house. The kids set out cookies and milk for Santa and sprinkle some food for his reindeer too! It is so easy to put together, and a fun gift to give as well.

The kids had fun making the Thumbprint Reindeer. They started with a brown thumbprint, added the eyes with puffy paint, drew on the antlers and glued on a red jeweled nose.

We added this simple poem to the backside of each of the tags.

Reindeer Food Poem

Sprinkle on your lawn at night.
In the moon, it will sparkle bright.
As Santa’s reindeer fly and roam
this wonderful treat will guide them to your home!

Magical Reindeer Food Ingredients:

Rolled Oats
Red Sprinkles ~ we used the sugar sprinkles because they look similar to glitter.

To make the Reindeer Food, simply pour Rolled Oats and some colored sprinkles into a bowl and mix

(Please don’t use glitter…the wild life may eat it and it can harm them).

I love these refillable glitter tubes. I am sure you can find them on line, but we purchased ours at our local craft store. For us they are the perfect size for our Reindeer Food. We filled them with the oat mixture and then used red bakers twine to tie on the tags.

Quick, simple and adorable.