Merry (early) Christmas to you, our readers! We wanted to share one more printable this year, so here you have it. Wishing you and your families a merry and joyous Christmas!
O Holy Night Free Printable
Colleen Beck OTR/L
Christmas Healthy Snacks for Kids
You may have seen these Christmas snacks that our kids have been enjoying recently on our Instagram feed. ((Are you following us? Stop by and check it out! We are loving Instagram!)) These Healthy Christmas Snacks for the Kids were easy to throw together for hungry kids. (Aren’t they ALWAYS hungry?) This time of year, there are so many sweets everywhere. A few healthy and festive snack ideas are perfect to make a special moment. Of course, they don’t need their cut up apples in a fancy shape to eat healthy foods, it’s just fun to make things special every once in a while!
Healthy Snack for Kids: Christmas Tree with Apples:
This was a last minute after-school snack for Big Sister one day. She comes home from school SO hungry! A cut up apple and a pretzel rod made the perfect Christmas Tree snack and filled her belly until dinner time. A reader on our Facebook page suggested adding dried cranberries for ornaments. Wouldn’t that be the perfect addition? Love that idea!!
Healthy Snack for Kids: Cucumber Snowmen
One snowy Saturday, there were choruses of “I’m hungry!” from the kids. This was a quick snack and was gobbled up just as quickly! When they saw these snowmen, there were cheers. This one used slices of cucumber. (I doubled them up for each section of the snowmen.) A few raisins, slices of red peppers, and a bit of shredded cheese. Done!
What healthy snacks do your kids love?
Christmas Sensory Fine Motor Noodle Play
This sensory play activity with noodles was a hit with Baby Girl (age 2)! She loved the fine motor aspect and the sensory play. She is a fun-loving two year old and this Christmas play activity was just right for her.
Christmas Sensory Play with Noodles
Noodle Fine Motor and Sensory Play
{Note: This post contains affiliate links. In other words, this blog will receive monetary compensation when any purchases are made through the links in this post. Our opinions and ideas are in no way affected. As always, we thank you for your support and community here at Sugar Aunts.}
We had a handful of noodles that were left over from a meal and were not going to be eaten. These were the perfect thing for a little sensory and fine motor play…candy cane style! I grabbed half of the noodles and tossed them with red food coloring in a baggie. A few drops of peppermint extract
in the baggie and another good shake, and we were ready to play. I added a couple of drops of extract to the un-dyed noodles too…these sensory noodles smelled so good!
in the baggie and another good shake, and we were ready to play. I added a couple of drops of extract to the un-dyed noodles too…these sensory noodles smelled so good!
We had the red noodles mixed in with the un-dyed noodles in a bin and a cookie sheet right beside it. Baby Girl spent the longest time just pulling noodles out and laying them on the cookie sheet. This was such a fun sensory play experience for her.
I extended the play a little bit longer (and added a fine motor component) by pulling out a recycled grated cheese container. I showed her how to thread the noodles into the holes of the lid. This was great fine motor work. She loved threading the red and white noodles through the holes. We worked a little on the color red, too.
Christmas Keep Calm Free Printable
We put together this cute Keep Calm Free Printable for you!
Keep Calm Free Christmas Printable:
Get the 8 x 10 printable here.
Looking for a few Candy Cane activities? Try some of these:
Spaghetti Wreath Christmas Ornament for Kids to Make
We’ve been making a ton of Christmas crafts this month. This Spaghetti Wreath Ornament made from dyed pasta was SO much fun! One of the cousins were at our house one day for a little crafting time and all of the kids really got into the process of making our ornaments.
Kid Made Ornaments: Spaghetti Christmas Wreath
My kids (aged 6, 4, and 2) and my little niece and nephew (age 2) really got into each step of this kid-made ornament. They got to explore a little sensory fun with dyed and cooked pasta AND hone their fine motor skills while placing the pasta in the wreath shape and adding pom pom berries.
This post contains affiliate links.
Materials needed for these ornaments:
- cooked pasta
- green food coloring
- wax paper
- red crafting pom poms
- glue
- Start by adding green food coloring to your cooked pasta. I put the pasta into a container with a lid so the kids could shake, shake, shake that pasta. The gross motor work was a great way to get out a little excess winter energy (perfect!) and at the same time, coat the spaghetti with a nice green color.
- Squirt in a lot of glue (depending on how much pasta you’ve got going on there…)
- and give that container another good shake. You want all of the pasta coated with glue.
4. Place a sheet of wax paper on the table and you are ready to get started on forming the wreaths! This job was a little better for Big Sister (age 6), and we used a spoon to help form the wreath shapes. {Note: If you use your fingers, you WILL end up with Grinch-like green fingertips!}
5. Place the red pom poms around the wreaths. This part was great for fine motor dexterity. Picking up those little poms and placing them carefully on the wreaths used a nice tip to tip grasp and was pretty fun, too!
We finished with another generous squirt of glue around the wreaths to make sure they stuck together as they dried.
These little guys took two whole days to dry! This is definitely a craft that will require advance planning, but it is so worth the wait! Once dried and on the tree, these pasta wreaths look pretty cool!
Let us know if you try this craft at home, and how it goes for you! We love to hear from you.
Christmas Sensory Play for Kids
Happy Saturday, friends! We loved the link ups this week…so festive and very Christmas-y! If you follow our blog, you know that we are big advocates of sensory play. We pulled the features this week together to create the Ultimate List of Christmas Sensory Play Ideas! So get ready to get messy and enjoy a little sensory exploration of textures, scents, and sounds with a Christmas theme.
Do your kids dive into sensory play? Or do they need a little coaxing to get their fingers messy? Either way, the ideas below are sure to inspire language, self-confidence, pretend play, and learning!
{Note: This post contains affiliate links. In other words, this blog will receive monetary compensation when any purchases are made through the links in this post. Our opinions and ideas are in no way affected. As always, we thank you for your support and community here at Sugar Aunts.}
Christmas Sensory Play for Kids
The features this week:
1. Candy Cane Play Dough from KC Edventures
2. Scented Snowman Play Dough from Sugar Aunts
3. Scented Wreath Craft from My Nearest and Dearest
4. Christmas Ornament Sensory Bin from Sugar Aunts
5. Fizzing Candy Canes from Teaching Mama
6. Toddler Christmas Sensory Bin from Sow Sprout Play
7. Sensory Snow Play from Sugar Aunts
8. Gingerbread Bath Paint from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
9. Smell and Shake Discovery Bottles from Adventures At Home With Mum
10. 12 Christmas Sensory Play Ideas from Gift of Curiosity
11. Christmas Sensory Bins from Stir The Wonder
12. Sensory Christmas Tree from Sugar Aunts
13. A Christmas Exploration Sensory Bin Alternative from Suzy Homeschooler
14. Christmas Water Play from Sugar Aunts
15. Christmas Sensory Bin from Sugar Aunts
16. Make Your Own Snow from Danya Banya
17. Gingerbread Salt Dough Garland from Sugar Aunts
18. Candy Cane Scented Moon Dough from Sugar Aunts
19. Christmas Sensory Bin from There’s Just One Mommy
20. Candy Cane Goo-Bleck from Sow Sprout Play
21. Christmas Painting With Candy Canes and Pine Cones from Gift of Curiosity
22. Potpourri Hike from Sugar Aunts
23. Simple Christmas Sensory Play from My Nearest and Dearest
24. Invitation to Explore Wrapping Paper from Laughing Kids Learn
25. Christmas Sensory Bin for Babies from Sugar Aunts
Christmas Sorting Activity for Kids
A fun Christmas Sorting Activity for the kids was easy to set up one day. The kids loved doing this sorting peppermint activity while we created a little Christmas craft. The kids know that they can’t eat these candies because it’s a choking hazard, so if you do this activity at your house, please use extreme caution and supervise your kids during the entire activity. This activity sure did smell good while we manipulated the two colors of peppermints and had a little fun with sorting!
Check out these Christmas Fine Motor Activities for more creative ways to work on fine motor skills and address development of skills this Christmas season.
Christmas Sorting Activity for Kids
We started with a pile of red and green peppermints in our Christmas sorting task. The kids were very interested in helping (it is candy!) and we got to work.
{Note: This post contains affiliate links.
We pulled out the wooden baskets from our Melissa & Doug Food Groups
So what did we do with these sorted mints once we were done? We had a fun project planned! Little Guy and Big Sister helped to place the peppermints on a piece of aluminum foil. We made a little circle of peppermints with a design using the red and the green colors. (Big Sister especially liked this part!) I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees F and placed the foil on a cookie sheet.
Keep an eye on your peppermints in the oven, they will melt fast! We kept the candies in the oven for about 10 minutes and pulled them out when they looked nice and melty. I had sprayed the foil with non-sticking cooking spray before placing the peppermints in our design, but it turns out that step isn’t needed. The candy will pull right off of the foil without difficulty and the non-sticking cooking spray only added a layer of grease that wasn’t needed. (It wiped right off.)
We used our little candy plate to hold some almonds for a Christmas-y snack that afternoon. It was a fun sorting activity and crafty experiment!
Christmas Pencil Control Activities for Kids DIY Workdsheets
We did a few Christmas Themed Pencil Control Activities with DIY worksheets this week.
This is so good for Little Guy (age 4) who needs a little practice with controlling the pencil when he’s writing letters. He’s only just begun writing his name, so this is the perfect age to improve pencil control as a preparation for more letter formation and line awareness as he starts to write on lines in coming months and years. New handwriters and kids who are not yet writing can do these easy (and fun) pencil control activities as a prep activity. And better yet, these pencil control activities are beginning homemade worksheets with a fun Christmas Theme!
Pencil Control Activities with a Christmas Theme
Little Guy loved this candy cane activity. I drew a quick candy cane on white paper with thin spaces on a diagonal. I had Little guy use a red marker to draw lines inside the thin stripes. We made a few of these candy canes because Little Guy wanted to keep going and make more!
{Note: This post contains affiliate links. In other words, this blog will receive monetary compensation when any purchases are made through the links in this post. Our opinions and ideas are in no way affected. As always, we thank you for your support and community here at Sugar Aunts.}
For a new pencil user, encourage your child to draw the lines from right to left (**not like in this picture, oops!**) and the child should rest their arm on the table surface. Little Guy needs verbal and a physical cue to rest his hands on the table surface for better control. This will improve pencil control when the child is attempting to draw a line in a certain area.
He kept his lines within the stripes very nicely, and did not often go over the edges of the candy cane. This is a great activity for a new writer!
Our next activity was encouraging tripod grasp to manipulate pony beads
Little Guy had to keep the beads on the circles and really concentrate on the lines. To manage the beads and place them gently on the circles, encouraged a tripod grasp with extended wrist for improved pencil control.
This Christmas tree was another easy DIY pencil control worksheet to throw together. Baby Girl (age 2) really liked this activity too.
I didn’t capture a picture of the next step, but I had Little Guy connect the bulbs with a pencil. I asked him to keep the pencil from going in the bulb, because it might break the light! Connecting the dots and concentrating on the lines of the circles was a great way to work on pencil control.
More DIY Christmas Pencil Control Worksheets for Kids
Our last pencil control activity was a present themed one. We started by making presents with some paper tubes shaped into a square. We used our Spill Proof Paint Cups
to hold the paint and stamped some squares.
to hold the paint and stamped some squares.
We waited until the next day when our present squares were dry.
Baby Girl kind of took over this activity before Little Guy got a chance to practice his pencil control…
I showed Little Guy how to make crosses on the presents (over Baby Girl’s added decorations!) so he could practice simple copying. He was to make the lines top to bottom and left to right to encourage improved pencil control in letter formation. He did pretty well!
Kid Made Christmas Ornament Crafts
The ornaments on the tree that mean the most are the Kid-made ones, right? The ones that you keep year after year are so special! We’ve started making more Christmas ornament crafts this year (so watch this space for a few more fun ideas, coming soon!) We wanted to put together this round-up of Christmas ornaments for kids feature from you fabulous bloggers who link up week after week, with amazing creativity and fun ideas. If you’re looking for a few special Christmas keep-sakes for the tree this year, check out the links below! Get ready to get crafty with the kids, because these are some fun ornament making ideas!
Check out these Christmas Fine Motor Activities for more creative ways to work on fine motor skills and address development of skills this Christmas season.
Note: This post contains affiliate links.
Christmas Ornament Crafts for Kids
Abstract Homemade Christmas Ornaments from Buggy and Buddy
CD Snowman Ornaments from Happy Hooligans
Egg Carton Jingle Bells Christmas Ornaments from Powerful Mothering
Handprint Ornaments from Sugar Aunts
Gingerbread Men, Christmas Tree, and Star Ornament Printables from Powerful Mothering
I Spy Christmas Ornament from Teach Beside Me
Craft Stick Stars Ornament from Powerful Mothering
Popsicle Stick Tree with Buttons Ornament from Crystal’s Tiny Treasures
Gingerbread Salt Dough Christmas Tree Garland from Sugar Aunts
Milk Carton Christmas Ornaments from Laughing Kids Learn
Christmas Tree Candle Lights from Peakle Pie
Pine Cone Christmas Tree Ornaments from Sugar Aunts
Egg Carton Bells from Crystal’s Tiny Treasures
Cheerios Bird Feeder Ornaments from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
