Make a Matching Game

I have found that when there are just a few more days before Christmas, it is always nice to have a game to occupy them.

This is a very simple game to make.
You need some Hershey's Kisses and either
white circle stickers and small stamps or
colored circle stickers or
small stickers, but make sure you have two of each.

Put your stickers on the bottom of the Kisses...

in pairs.

Now you have a matching game, which can be played with one player...

or two.
Just take turns picking up two of the Kisses and seeing if they match.
If they do, you get to keep them. How many matches can you make?
When you get tired of playing with them, you can eat them!

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Thanksgiving Week Activity: Miniature Bows and Arrows

When I saw these cute miniature bow and arrows sets at Almost Unschoolers, I knew I had to make them for my history-loving boys.

The Brooding Hen has a wonderful step-by-step tutorial, so if you want to make one, you might want to go there for the details, but basically you:
1. cut four small notches in a Popsicle stick
2. soak them in water for an hour or so.
3. Tie dental floss around one end of the Popsicles stick, wrap it around a few times
4.Gently bend the Popsicle stick and wrap and tie it on the other end, making sure the floss is taut and on the same side of the Popsicle stick on both ends.
5. The arrows are made from Q-tips that have one end removed.

You have to watch out for suprise attacks, however!

My boys discovered that they are also perfect for their GI Joes.

These are not only great for Thanksgiving, but all sorts of history time periods depended on the bow and arrow, and so it has many possiblities...William Tell...Robin Hood...

Dipping Candles

We wanted to experience an old fashioned craft this Thanksgiving; something to evoke the image of the struggling Pilgrims and yet be warm and homey at the same time. We decided on hand-dipped candles, which I first saw at Dresses and Messes. You can make them too. They are simple enough for your youngest and interesting enough for your oldest. This could also be a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah activity.

First put your wax in a clean empty can. Fill it with candle wax. beeswax or broken crayons. Put the can into a pan filled about 1/2-way with water. Heat it slowly, until the wax melts. While the wax is melting, fill another can or Mason jar with cold water.Tie candle wicking or string on a wooden spoon. Dip string into the melted wax.

Alternate between the can of wax and the jar of cold water. The cold water harden and seals the wax so that you are just not melting the wax off your candle with each dip instead of building up your candle.

We had a rhythm going, since we had two children sharing each set, of 10 seconds and then switch.

Continue until it’s as thick as you like. Allow to cool completely.

Happy May Day

Making May Day "Baskets"

 Gathering Flowers

James added origami ladybugs this year.

 Delivering baskets around the neighborhood.

 Happy May Day.

Quick and Simple Christmas Crafts and Treats

Here are a few very simple Christmas activities that take only a few materials to make. You may know them, but I find that I forget to do them until my kids remind me of how fun they can be!

Candy Cane Christmas Ornaments All that is needed for this one is red or white pipe cleaners and red and white pony beads. You just string the beads on the pipe cleaners and bend up each of the ends to hold the beads on. Bend it into the shape of a candy cane and slip onto the Christmas tree.

Chocolate Spoons This needs plastic spoons, chocolate chips (or Wilton melting chips), and decorating sugar and/or pieces. It can only be done with children old enough to understand how to be safe with hot melted chocolate.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove and bring to the table. Have them dip the spoons in and then add decorations. Place on a piece of wax paper. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes, until hardened. These are great in hot chocolate or coffee, or to give as gifts (especially with a jar of hot cocoa mix.)

Ice Cream Cone Christmas Trees These require sugar ice cream cones, white frosting tinted green, various candies for decorations.

Just turn the cone upside down on a plate, and frost with the icing.

Decorate with whatever candies you have on hand or wish to use.

Use as decorations (especially nice for gingerbread house scenes) or eat as a treat!

Holiday S'mores

This is just like making regular S'mores (graham cracker, chocolate squares, marshmallows and another graham cracker) but you use holiday Peeps (snowmen, in this case) for the marshmallows and just microwave for about 10 seconds.

Have you ever watched Peeps in the microwave? They puff up wonderfully. The boys love to watch them.

The ingredients in a small gift bag (my kids received these as take-home bags at a dance) would also make a nice addition to a food gift basket.

Paper Pizzas

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We had so much fun this week making paper pizzas. I saw the idea at Filth Wizardry and once I had gathered some round cardboard pieces, we were ready to go.

First we cut out the appropriate colored pieces from construction paper for cheese, pepperoni, green peppers and black olives. I cut black circles of paper for the olives and use a hole punch to make them look like olive slices. I also took each round piece of cardboard and covered the bottom of it with a brown paper bag, letting the edges come up and I crumpled them to look like crust around the edges. I glued these edges down, but then had to use clear tape as well to keep them from coming unglued. Perhaps once they are fully dry, we can take off the tape.

I used Filth Wizardry's suggestion of adding red food coloring to glue to make the tomato sauce and it                  worked really well. 

It looks a bit pink in the picture, but it is more reddish in real life. 

Next, the boys added their toppings.

What can you do with them when they are finished?

Pretend pizza parlor...

 Cut into pieces and they can be a puzzle to put back together, matching up the toppings.

You can also make a graph of the toppings on the pizza. What topping does your pizza have the most of? The least?

 If you cut each of several pizzas into different amounts of slices, you can make a fractions game. We used three pizzas and cut one into sixths, one into eighths and one into twelfths. We used the cards from our Fractions Jugglers game, but you can use any fractions flashcards or make cards of your own on index cards. 

Give each person five cards to start and take turns discarding one card, getting that amount of pizza, and drawing a new card to maintain five cards at all times. Once you have enough for a full pizza, you have won the game. This is an easy introduction to adding and subtracting fractions.

I am sure that other games could be made using paper pizzas. Can you think of one?