Bottle caps Christmas tree

While lightning the first Advent candle, we have started a new series of activities from our Advent calendar. It's the same one we made ​​two years ago and still serves us well.

Originally I saw the idea with paper plates, but as I don't usually buy paper plates for our birthday parties, I knew that it will not work for us in exactly that way, but I immediately remembered on all those bottle caps we passionately collect. Since the kids don't play with our bottle caps memory game any more, it was time to upcycle them.

The girls really liked this activity, and again we have learned a lot. I gave them a box with caps in various colors and let them choose only those in green colour. Here is when my Older had a great idea of putting a yellow cap on top which would be a star. After it, they were forming the caps by adding one more cap comparing to the previous row, and in that way they could practice their counting skills. I used hot glue for each cap (and fairly well burned my fingers).

We were still practicing with the first, so it didn't turned very neat and fancy:

 But the second one was so much better: 

 Never mind that not all stickers had a Christmas theme, the little hands were having so much fun:

If you need more ideas for Christmas activities, take a look at our "Christmas fun for kids" Pinterest board. We are planning to try out most of the ideas during this year's Advent.

Activities from the Advent calendar - the fourth week

Delicious food and gathering all the family and friends ... Holidays  were just as they should be, despite the Older still had a fever on Christmas Eve. Unlike last week , this week we've managed to find some time for crafts.

24th of December - decorating Christmas tree and listening to Christmas carols

We recently attended a great Christmas concert for kids where we bought a CD with Christmas carols - "Jingle Bells" turned out to be the absolute hit of the day.

25th and 26th of December - holidays ....

 

The menu was rich, despite the recession. Ever since I can remember, my family has never saved on food.... recipes coming soon!

27th of December - the exhibition of toys and funicular ride

 

Our plan was to visit the exhibition of vintage toys in the local museum, but unfortunately we had the wrong information about its working hours, so we were too late to enter it. Fortunately, the exhibition runs until May so we'll see it some other time.  

We also took the kids on their first funicular ride. After it, we went for a walk in the city center decorated with Christmas lights. It is such a magic experience - lights, candles, decorated trees .... and Gluhwein for adults ;)

28th December - recycling plastic yogurt cups

 

I finally got a glue gun and we made this cute little snowman:

So, I pasted the yoghurt cups with a glue gun (definitely a job for an adult, because the glue is heated to 200 Celsius degrees). The Older painted its hat, face and buttons. We are into snowmen these days, probably because of the immense amount of snow in December, which melted too soon.

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These are supposed to be little Christmas trees, but we couldn't manage to put a star on top:

We piled cups one on the other, painted them in green by using temperas. After they dried completely, we decorated them with stickers. Very easy and perfect for younger children. The one on the right was made by the Older. While we were making it, I was thinking it would look much nicer if we used acrylic paints, but it is not something appropriate for children.

29th December - a failed craft

These balloons supposed to be string Christmas decorations, but something definitely went wrong. Except that the string kept untying, I think I should have diluted the glue (I used a glue similar to Mod Podge).... So you can learn from my mistakes.

We also made a nice decoration out of pine cones. It is currently drying so you can expect photos very soon .

30th December - we begin preparing for New Year's Eve

We expect a lot of little guests and preparing them with various fun activities. See here for a couple of New Year's ideas , and we will put ours in one of the next posts.

Activities from our advent calendar - the third week

If you follow me on Facebook , you could see that we were sick a few days before Christmas, so there wasn't a lot of creative work, and unfortunately we have not done all the activities from our advent calendar. We have managed to make only one snowman which will be used as a pencil holder.

We pasted some cotton balls at the glass jar and the added paper eyes, nose and mouth.  Here you can see what kind of snowmen we made during the last week.

We also made a paper garland. Fold the paper into five parts (or more, if you have a larger piece of paper). Draw a figure you like (we drew penguins and gingerbread men). You must ensure that the "hands" are drawn to the edge of the folded paper, because in this way the figures stay connected. The idea originally comes from the book of Christmas things to make and do, which I already mentioned in a post about encouraging children to read and to love books.

The Older proudly decorated it by drawing their eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons:

 I wish you a peaceful, delicious and creative holiday season!

The activities from our Advent calendar - the second week

We continue to open the pockets in or Advent calendar made out of tea bags .
Here's what we have been doing the last seven days:

The 9th of December - the joys of winter

 

After cleaning the snow on our patio, a new resident settled in our backyard.  How do you like its styling? Luckily I was taking pics immediately, right after we made this snowman, because it soon melted. 

And we made a bird house as well. We were not very creative, with it, we just used plain old box and hang it on a tree, but somehow I think birds don't mind it since the food quickly disappeared. As soon as we find some time, I intend to provide more comfortable accommodation for birds, such as the one on this picture.

The 10th of December - sewing clothes for Barbie dolls

 

Not exactly a typical pre-Christmas activity, but the temperature has dropped and even Barbie needs some new, warmer clothing. The photos coming soon. 

The 11th of December - making felt ornaments 

 

I cut two equal pieces of felt and sew them together by using a thread in contrasting color. When I was on "half way", I've inserted a cotton pad among the two felt pieces and continued sewing (see photos below). In the end, I added additional thread so the ornaments can easily be hung on a Christmas tree.





  The 12th of December - making homemade gifts

Unfortunately I have to disappoint you, since I will not upload photos of the gifts we made, as most of my friends read this blog, so in order not to spoil surprises, the photos will come after the holidays.

The 13th of December - balloons in the snow

This is an example of the fact that not all the Pinterest ideas are doable.

It was originally intended for the balloons to turn into large marbles as on this photo, but something went wrong, since they exploded when I was trying to cut their top. I think the mistake was that I have not poured enough water into them. That night the temperature dropped to a freezing -18 Celsius Degrees, so the balloons truly were frozen, but I believe that the large volume of air (compared to water) caused them to explode.

14th December - recycled materials snowmen

 

Our real snowman started to melt, but that's why we've created these little creatures. We used plastic bottles, markers and some bows to make them.

The Older also made her own snowman.

15th December - a little break

  We were invited on a birthday party, so we had a little break from creative activities. 

Wishing all of you a lot of free time for all the crafts you plan to do!

P.S. I am sharing the post on the following linky parties: 

Activities from our advent calendar - the first week

We could hardly wait for the time when we could open our handmade advent calendar. Its pockets contain one or more activities for each day. Here's what we have been doing the last week:

The 3rd of December - paper snowflakes

Except from going to a local Christmas concert for kids, we have made some nice paper snowflakes. When I was a kid, it was one of my favorite winter activities.

Snowflakes can be linked together in a nice garland, like the one on this photo.

 

You can even  make these cute balerina tutus :



 

Not sure how to cut snowflakes? Look here.

4th of December - making greeting cards

Here is what we created with some cardboard, paper cut from magazines, a glue, cotton pads and pastels:

5th of December - cleaning the boots and doing another season's greetings

Kids in Europe traditionally put their clean boots on the window at the night of 5th December, because they believe St. Nicholas will bring them a gift and leave it in the boots if they have been good all year.

6th of December - visiting local outing site

Lots of Christmas lights, just enough to make a child happy!

Source : gorica.hr

7th of December - 'decorating the tree'

The Older keeps asking when are we going to decorate theChristmas tree. Since we traditionally decorate the tree on Christmas Eve, I gave her to "decorate the tree" in this way:

I found a picture of Christmas trees in the advertising catalogues, which overflooded our mailbox these days more than ever, so I cut them, and let her to make decorations. I think you can guess which cartoon character is this week's favorite.

8th of December making paper chains

50 centimeters of snow fell during the previous night, so we had a lot of winter fun, but we still found time for some crafting.

Paper chains are another nice way to use old catalogues or wrapping paper scraps. I believe that many of you remember this activity from your own childhood.

Cut the paper into strips, then paste it so you get a chain link, and continue to do so on until you have used all the strips. Paper chains can be used as a convenient holiday decoration, especially if you're doing it from wrapping paper scraps.

List of linky parties I participate in:

Advent Calendar made of tea bags

Today, when it's all about copying someone else's ideas, I can proudly say that we did something that was originally my idea. I've thought of it back in September and I could hardly wait time before Christmas so we can start to make it, so I was collecting tea bags the entire fall season.

Tutorial for making the Advent Calendar out of tea bags

You'll need scissors, a cardboard box and some glue (this time I used UHU Glue Pen, by now it's doing well, we'll see when the kids start to open the bags on the calendar).

I cut the box into the desired shape and arranged tea bags , before pasting, just  to see which way would be the best. I've turned the bags inside out, so that they would be white and then wrote the dates on them. My initial plan was to fill the bags wiht mini candy bars, but I think kids today eat too much candy anyway and that finding candies would not be anything special to them, so that's why I've inserted a piece of paper with the activities for each day in each bag. Sometimes it's one, sometimes I plan more activities, depending on whether it's a weekend or a weekday, or whether we have anything else planned for the day, like going to a birthday party, etc. In any case, in the next few weeks I will be writing about these activities.

I know that it is not common to include December 25th in the Advent calendars, but we plan something special for the day as well, therefore, it's in the calendar.

I've used  fancy paper scraps to wrap it in. Besides cardboard boxes, you can use some old registers, or a softer cardboard, but in this case, the calendar can not stand alone as in the picture below.

This is how it looks like after The Big Girl decorated it the way she likes it. The thumbnails are cut from catalogues, and a special pleasure for her were the stickers, used for closing the bags.

 Need more good ideas for making an advent calendar? Look here.

And here's where I am linking this time: