crafts

Easy Last Minute Advent Calendar for Families

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 Use these easy last minute Advent calendar ideas for families as a way to connect this season. This advent calendar is a craft the kids will love to create each year while developing fine motor skills and making memories! 

For Christmas activity ideas with a therapy punch, use these 25 days of Christmas play ideas. Paste them onto the Christmas lights in the Easy last minute Advent calendar below.

 
 

 

Does your family made an Advent Calendar each year?  We love to fill our Advent Calendar with activities for the whole family, and designed to make memories.  This year, we were a little late getting our calendar filled with activates and figured there are so many other busy families who are in the same boat!  We needed an Easy, Last Minute, and Home-made Advent calendar.   This calendar does just that.  This was so easy to throw together, and with a little help form the kids, hang in our home for festive Christmas décor!  We chose activities that are part of are usual Holiday traditions, so that it would be easy to add into our days leading up to Christmas.  We really don’t need to have a huge to-do list every day and make more work for our selves.  This Christmas Advent Calendar is perfect for busy families and will make lasting memories!
 
{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.}
 
 

 Easy Last Minute Advent Calendar

To make our calendar, I cut light shaped pieces of red and green  Construction Paper , and little black squares.  These were by no means exact AT ALL!  Just easy and quick.  A little Glue
to hold the black squares in place, and the lights were done.

 

 
 

Advent Calendar Activities for Families

The kids and I came up with fun Christmas activities that we normally do every year to write on our lights.  This is memory making right here, folks!  With a black Marker, I wrote out our favorite traditions…
 
Decorate the Christmas Tree
Eat a candy cane
Donate toys
Visit Santa Claus
Watch Frosty the Snowman movie
Make cookies
Play with Christmas Play Dough
Make Christmas cards
Drink hot cocoa
Deliver treats to neighbors
 
…What holiday traditions are part of your family?
 
A little tape and Red Yarn, our lights were strung!  We used clothes pins to attach our activity lights for ease and for the one reason that may make our holiday very simple…
we can easily change the activities around based on what our day looks like.  Maybe on a certain day, Christmas play dough is just NOT going to happen.  Switch it out for Reading a Christmas Book.  
 
See, this really is the easiest Advent calendar for busy families!
 

Our Christmas Advent calendar ends with a star and a special activity…Singing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus!

So, we’re heading into the Christmas season with our last minute, home-made Advent calendar all ready to go!

Gratitude Leaf Garland

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We make a Thankful Tree every year where the kids tell me the things they are thankful for and I write out the leaves.  We have our Thankful Tree up on the dining room table all November up until Thanksgiving.  Check out last year’s Thanksgiving Tree.  This year we went a different route with our thankful leaves and made a Gratitude Garland.  We still had the fall colored leaves and the kids told me all of the things they are thankful for.  We strung our garland along the wall in the dining room so we can see the leaves while we’re eating dinner.   We save our leaves from each year in envelopes so that we can read through them together and remember the things we were thankful for each year.  This is one of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions!


{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.}
Gratitude Leaf Garland for Thanksgiving by Sugar Aunts

Garland Leaf Garland

I cut out a bunch of leaves in nice fall colors and set out the pen so we were ready to go once Big Sister got home from school one day.  The kids started telling me all of the things they are thankful for.  My favorites: noodles, God, Jesus, hot dogs, and especially the handwritten-by-Big Sister “thankful mom” and “thankful dad” leaves!

Gratitude Leaf Garland for Thanksgiving by Sugar Aunts
This is the easiest family craft to make.  All you need is Construction Paper, Markers, and Yarn.  A few leaves cut from the paper and you are all set.  This would be a great scissor skill activity for the kids too if they would cut out the leaves. 
Big Sister wrote out a few of her leaves this year.  Love that new writer handwriting!
Gratitude Leaf Garland for Thanksgiving by Sugar Aunts

 I LOVE pulling out the envelopes of leaves from each year and reading through them with the kids!  We keep them in our fall decorations bins in storage, so once it’s time to decorate for fall, we have them handy each year.

These leaves will be something that I save forever!

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions to share gratitude?  Do you make a thanksgiving tree or garland? 

Fine Motor Sun Catchers

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The dyed pumpkin seeds have returned in this easy, last minute, thrown-together craft!  A fine motor play activity turned into a cute sun catcher craft.  We played with sequins and contact paper before nap time one day recently, and it’s a great Halloween occupational therapy activity.  With a little child-led art, the sequins-on-contact paper turned into a pumpkin seed/sequins sun catcher!
 
Fine Motor Sun Catchers

This post includes affiliate links.

Supplies needed for this sequin fine motor activity and sun catcher craft include Sequins, Clear Contact Paper, pumpkin seeds, and Food Coloring.  

Fine Motor Sun Catchers

Sequin Fine Motor Activity

We started out with this little fine motor play activity for the littlest kids in the house before their nap time one afternoon.  I put out squares of clear contact paper and a scatter of sequins and let them go to it!  I showed them how to pick up the sequins and stick them onto the contact paper. 
Baby Girl and Little Niece and Nephew are two years old and I wasn’t sure how this would go over with them.  They both really liked sticking those little sequins on the sticky paper!  (There was a lot of tongues sticking out too…you know when kids stick their tongues out when they cut with scissors or reeeeallly concentrate on something?  LOVE that cuteness!)
Fine Motor Sun Catchers

Pumpkin Seed and Sequin Sun Catcher

Then Little Nephew pulled out some of the Dyed Pumpkin Seeds that we have been playing with a lot lately.  He started sticking them onto the contact paper and making a pretty little art collage! 

These little buggers are so easy to make…just a few drops of food dye into a baggie of dry seeds and you’ve got an instant sorting, pattern making, art medium for play and learning!

Fine Motor Sun Catchers

One funny thing, when the dyed pumpkin seeds were stuck to the contact paper and then moved, the dye peeled off a little.  We stuck another square of contact paper on top of our sun catchers and hung the art to our dining room window.  Cute, easy sun catcher fun! 

Note:  Be sure to monitor closely children when laying with small items such as sequins and pumpkin seeds with young children.  All children are different and an activity like this one may not be appropriate for some.  Always use caution when doing one of the activities found on our website and social media communities.  Have fun!

Leaves Craft and Fall Leaf Books

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We made a Leaf Placemat Craft recently for a play date craft.  This was so much fun that when we came home from the play group, the kids wanted to make more!   Our dining room table is looking pretty festive with our leaf place mats.  We enjoyed going out on a nature hunt to collect lots of leaves of different size and color from the yard. And now, it’s nice to see them every day at every meal!  This was such an easy craft for younger kids and a hit at the play group.  One day, I was able to set up a little after-nap snack and book time, using our leaf place mats and a few new favorite books from the library.  123 We  read the books and had a little Cheerio snack on our easy leaf placemats.   Read more below to see what we did and our book recommendations:

{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.}
Leaves Craft and Books
 

Leaves Craft

We started by collecting different colored leaves from around the yard in lots of colors and sizes.  Luckily (or unluckily, depending on who is working the rake…) we have a bunch of HUGE trees and loads of leaves to jump in, play with, and collect.  We put our leaves in big trays to dry and take to our play group.

Leaves Craft and Books
The craft was SO easy and perfect for toddlers.  We cut sheets of Clear Contact Paper
into large sheets that would be able to fold over to placemat size.  This was definitely NOT accurate or precise.  Each of our placemats are slightly different sizes and as unique as the child making them!
Be sure to grab the clear contact paper and not the one with a white backing so the leaves will show through both sides.
Leaves Craft and Books
This was fun for the kids to scatter leaves around on the contact paper.  Big Sister made a few shapes and pictures with her leaves.  (Perfect for one of the books we read!)
Leaves Craft and Books
Leaves Craft and Books

 Fall Leaf Books

The books we had from the library were fun fall books, just right for a leaf placemat snack!
   Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert is such a fun book, showing leaves as they move across the land in the breeze.  They pictures of the leaves change forms as the book progresses and Big Sister really like pointing out the man, or cow, or bird made from leaves on each page.  This book was perfect for our leaf craft project!

Leaves
by David Ezra Stein is such a cute story about a bear who is surprised about the falling leaves.  This book was fun for us because we enjoy seeing the leaves fall from our trees and we love to try to catch them as they fall.

Autumn Orange (Know Your Colors)
by Christianne C. Jones was a good book for us and a fun read.  Especially Baby Girl liked this one (who is just learning her colors and thinks every color is purple 🙂 !

Leaves Craft and Books
It’s not too late to grab up a few fall themed books and create a leaf craft before the craziness of the Christmas season is on us!  What are your favorite fall books? 

Turkey Napkin Rings

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Turkey napkin ring craft

Another Turkey craft happened in our house!  This time we made a Turkey Napkin Ring.  And just in time for your Thanksgiving dinner place settings 🙂  This is another cardboard turkey craft that uses a recycled paper roll…much like this toilet paper roll turkey post that we updated recently. Today’s cardboard tube turned into a turkey napkin ring that would look amazing at the family Thanksgiving table.

Turkey napkin ring that kids can make! This Thanksgiving table craft is so much fun for the kids table!
Thanksgiving Turkey Silverware Napkin Rings

Turkey Napkin Rings

We started with a paper roll and a hole punch.  The holes were easy to punch toward the ends of the roll. To reach the center, you will have to bend the roll a bit and double up the cardboard while punching the holes.  That was pretty tough to do, but not impossible. 

I think next time we make these, I would cut the paper tube to maybe 3 to 4 inches long.  Then, it would be easy to punch holes along the length of the tube.  

This turkey napkin ring craft is a great way for kids to develop fine motor skills.

Big Sister took care of pushing the feathers into the holes.  We used fall colored pipe cleaners to give the turkey a fall festive look.  We cut the pipe cleaners in half first.

Cutting pipe cleaners is a great hand strengthening activity for kids working on hand strength and scissor skills.  They need to squeeze the scissors with a gross grasp and really encourage strengthening of the arches of the hand. 

Kids can make this turkey napkin ring craft with a cardboard tube and pipe cleaners.

 

After our pipe cleaners were cut in half, Big Sister folded the pipe cleaner in half (without creasing the fold) and pushed both ends of into the holes.  Another great fine motor activity! 

She was able to use a tripod grasp to push the pipe cleaner into the holes…and had a lot of fun!  We doubled up a few of the holes for extra feathers (and a little more restiveness when she pushed the pipe cleaners into the holes…extra fine motor work!)  

Use cardboard rolls for crafts like this turkey napkin ring that kids can make for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

The turkey is looking pretty good!  Glue a couple of googly eyes and a beak.  We used a scrap of foam sheet cut into a little triangle.   

Turkey craft for kids turns into a turkey napkin ring for the dinner table.

  Big Sister added the wattle to the turkey with a marker…and added a little red dot to the beak.  “That is his nostril, Mom.”  

How cute is this toilet paper roll craft that turns into a paper roll napkin ring.

  Pretty cute!  

Use this turkey napkin ring craft as the Thanksgiving kids table decorations!
Kids

Wrap a set of silverware in a paper towel (or fabric) and the turkey is ready to join the table settings!

Use the turkey napkin ring craft as a Thanksgiving kids table craft.

This would make a great Thanksgiving kids table craft for kids to make and build right at the kids table!    

It’s also a great fine motor activity for kids using a toilet paper roll!

Wouldn’t this look completely cute along with the Turkey Juice Box covers from yesterday’s post??  

For more Thanksgiving activities for kids, try this Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit. It’s on sale now and covers handwriting, pencil control, coloring, scissor skills, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, and more:

Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit
Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit…on sale now!

Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit…on sale now!

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

Dinosaur Craft and Pretend Play

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Dinosaurs and pretend play are two of the favorite things to play in this house.  This craft was such a fun combination of the two and we had an absolute blast creating these dinos…And playing with them!

This dinosaur craft kit is such a fun craft.  We loved seeing this come in the mail. The excitement in our house was pretty high when this package came!

Dinosaur Craft

Everything sent in the kit was high quality…from the solid wood dinosaurs to the thick and brightly colored paint, I was very impressed with this craft kit!  The whole kit came packaged up in a super cute burlap bag and once untied, we were ready to get crafting!
We had my three kids here and Little Niece and Nephew.  They were all so excited that they got to paint their own dinosaurs. 
We went with a child-led painting process here.  And together thought that since we really don’t know what color dinosaurs reeeeeallly were, why not make them however we wanted??
Our dinosaurs turned out to be a pretty mix of colors!
This craft kit is such a great quality that it would be a great piece to add to a nursery as shelf decoration.  We used our dinosaurs in pretend play.  The wooden pieces are very sturdy and are holding up really well to lots of busy hands.
They played on a table together as a family…
…And hung out in a corn sensory bin too. 
We even took these guys outside to play in the leaves.  We’ve been using our dinosaurs in pretend play almost every day since the paint dried!

Corn Husk Stamping Fall Art

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Use some Indian corn here and used a few pieces of the husks to create fun stamping art project. 

Fall Art: Corn Husk Stamps

 This little fall art craft was fun to let the kids just go and create art as they liked!
Corn Husk Stamping: Fall Art for kids

Corn Husk Stamping: Fall Art for kids
I set out a few dried corn husks and paint on paper plates.  They could stamp the husk into the paint, paint it on with a brush, and stamp away.
Corn Husk Stamping: Fall Art for kids

The paintings turned out so pretty in fall colors.  We loved the texture that showed up in the stamps.  It was neat to see what the kids came up with in this process centered art.

Corn Husk Stamping: Fall Art for kids
The painted husks turned out pretty cool too 🙂

Autumn Art Projects for Kids

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 Share It Saturday Time!
The link ups this week were so fun to look through!  We love seeing all of the fun Fall creativity, posts on learning, art, and play!  You guys are seriously talented.  And for our readers, what a great resource this listing is each week.  Even if you’re not interested in the round-up theme we’ve featured for the week, there is always such inspiration to be had.  If nothing else, fun new blogs to check out! 

Autumn Art Projects

This week’s features are all about Fall Art.  These links share fun with paint to create leaves, trees, decorated pumpkins and more.  Wouldn’t these projects be perfect for a fall play date or a gift for family?  I’m thinking we’ll do some of these projects for Baby Girl’s birthday thank you notes!  Have you done any fall activities (or any other kids-related learning, play, or projects) this week? Link them up. We would love to check them out!  And, if you’re not a blogger, get ready to peruse the links below for creative fun!

Autumn Art Projects for Kids

Autumn Art Projects for Kids
Spin Painted Apples by Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds
Apple Printing by Simple Fun For Kids
Pumpkin Decorating with Melted Crayons by Gift of Curiosity
Fall Hand Print Art- Negative Space by Fun-A-Day

Salt Dough Apples

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We made these salt dough apples one day after we pulled out our Fall decorations.  We had made salt dough pumpkins two years ago and they are still in great condition.  So, we decided to make some more decorations with salt dough! 

Salt Dough Apples
Salt Dough Pumpkins

Salt Dough Apples

We used a variation of this recipe from The Imagination Tree for our salt dough: 
1 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water
 
Mix together until combined.  We added a little more flour because the dough was a little sticky to work with.  Once nice and mixed, we added red food coloring.  And then a bit more flour because of the moisture from the food coloring made it sticky again!  I’m thinking gel food coloring would work a little better for the consistency.
 
Roll the dough out and cut with a cookie cutter.  We used a pumpkin cookie cutter for our apples and it worked just as well.
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.  Place the dough cut-outs on a sheet of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet.  Bake the cut outs for 2 hours. 
When we made our pumpkins, we didn’t add color.  Rather, we painted them after they were cooked and cooled.  With our apples, they didn’t need any painting, they were just right as is!

 
Be sure to poke holes in the bottom of the dough before baking.  This allows the dough to bake flat and not rise.  Maybe it rises more with self-rising flour? I forgot to add the fork holes on our apples and they puffed up.  You can see how flat the pumpkins are compared to our apples in the bottom picture.
Slat Dough Pumpkins
We’ve been using our Salt Dough Apples for decorations, pretend play in our play kitchen, patterns with Little Guy and Big Sister, and counting.  We’ll keep these little cuties with our pumpkins and pull them out year after year!
Salt Dough Apples