Craftivity Corner

Allison McDonald
Creative crafts, book suggestions, and tips to make time for learning in your busy day.

archives

December 24, 2010
Christmas Wish Letters
I want to share this idea with you, many if not all of you reading this are parents . I hope will appreciate this and maybe even do it yourselves. This year on Christmas Eve I am going to take a break from playing Santa , sit by the Christmas tree and write a letter to each of my children. I am going to write them letters about how blessed I am to have them, how frustrated they make me, and how much fun I have with them even at 6am most days. I want to give them a personal history from me. I know they won't appreciate these letters now but in 15 years maybe they will, and I know they will...
Crafts, Family History
December 23, 2010
My Top 10 Craft Links!
I love reading blogs but rarely have time and I know I'm not the only one.So I am listing ( in no specific order) my top 10 places to get craft and learning ideas online. If you haven't checked them out, do . You will be inspired! 1. Filth Wizardry 2. Make and Takes 3. Dollar Store Crafts 4. Mom Tried It 5. Ramblings Of A Crazy Woman 6. Bird On The Street 7. One Pretty Thing 8. Feels Like Home 9. TeachMama 10.  NurtureStore There are so so many more but I find myself going to these first! What's your favorite site?
Blogs, Crafts
December 22, 2010
Holiday Plane Travel Tips
It's that time of year again - busy airports, tired kids, frazzled parents. Here are my top 5 travel tips for traveling by plane with kids. #1. When you select your seats , try to get in a row where you have extra leg room. Not only will you be more comfortable your child won't be able to kick the seat in front of them. Which will lower your and the person in that unlucky seat 's blood pressure a lot! #2. Don't pack toys with wheels in the carryon. Trust me on this one. My son loves firetrucks- big mistake. Oh and ones that make noise especially sirens... yeah the woman...
Air Travel
December 21, 2010
Finger Print Christmas Lights - Holiday Card
Did you forget someone? If you did don't worry you still have time to make an easy personal and cute Christmas card! Gather your materials. You will need a plain light colored card. Multiple colors of stamp pads ( for the life of me I couldn't find my multi colored pad), and a black felt tip pen. Start by drawing a line across the card. Next press your pinky finger into the stamp pad and make lights Let dry then make sockets with the black felt. You can't  make something more personal than that , and it's so fast!   As I was surfing the web I just saw another...
Christmas Crafts
December 20, 2010
Learning with Packages.
A few days ago I updated my Facebook with " I have so many boxes in my foyer I could build a small shanty town." As you can see I wasn't joking.  I didn't build a town with it, or put it out for recycling ( yet), but I have played a long with my 4 year old as he turned our foyer and dining room into a UPS store. Oh to be 4 and interested in so many things. Here is what we've done with this mound of boxes. 1. Taped them all back together. This sounds simple but it take coordination and created a huge amount of pride in a 4 year old. 2. Practiced our pre reading...
Early Learning, Pretend Play
December 19, 2010
Quick Gift Tag Craft!
Christmas is knocking on my door and I am screaming " I am not ready yet, give me a few minutes k?" in an effort to keep my son from waking his sister and to get some of my to do list done we made a few gift tags. I did the cutting and writing, he did the lacing. Gather your materials. You will need some heavy paper ,old Christmas cards are a great option if you don't have any card stock. Some ribbon , a hole punch , a pen and scissors. We are using a holiday card stock with fun prints on each side. Start by cutting a circle out of your cardstock Punch holes Thread the ribbon...
Christmas Crafts
December 18, 2010
Educational Gifts Under $5
Will you be one of the many out at the stores this week, finishing up holiday shopping and grabbing last minute gifts? You can find all 5 of these ideas almost anywhere if you are really in a bind but feel good about giving something educational. Stickers Yes , readily available, easy to pack oh and cheap! So what is so great about stickers? Peeling and sticking them on things ( hopefully paper or cards, not walls or windows) works your children's fine motor skills. You can also sort and count them!   Cheap Maze Books You see them at big box stores but these little books are great...
Christmas Gifts
December 17, 2010
Modern Christmas Tree Craft
I get requests for low or no mess crafts all the time, this Modern Christmas tree fits those requirements for sure. It's not super easy though, this would be frustrating for most preschoolers if they had to cut the tape themselves but with a little help they should be good to go! Gather your materials. You will need some cardboard, scissors and colored tape. Start by cutting your cardboard into a triangle. Using all different colors start randomly placing the tape. Layer it with longer pieces of green and keep going. There really isn't a wrong way to do this, so explore!
Christmas Tree, Kids Crafts
December 14, 2010
Christmas Craft : Mini Shakers
My baby is getting into everything and one of her favorite things to do at almost 6 months old is to grab and shake. So I threw together these mini shakers for her to play with . Although the tops are on tight and taped never, leave a child alone with these. I was within arms reach the whole time she had access to these- and didn't allow her to put them in her mouth either. Gather your materials. You will need some plastic spice containers. Some materials that will make different sounds , I am doing a Christmas theme so I am using some garland for no sound, marshmallows for soft and...
5 senses, Christmas Crafts, Sounds
December 14, 2010
Christmas Tree Crafts Galore!
I adore this handprint tree (above) from Chronicles Of An Infant Bibliophile ! I love how Cathy at Nurture Store made a math lesson out of these fun trees!   These candy trees from Cara Jouglard Photography capture the fun of making this classic tree craft .   These pine cone trees from Time For Play bring back childhood memories of the best kind. I love them! I think this Money Tree from Then She Made... is a great way to give cash and still make it personal.
Christmas, Crafts
December 12, 2010
Fuzzy Wreath Ornament
Are your breakable ornaments packed away waiting for a Christmas where no one tries to climb the tree? Ours are and so that left our tree a little bare. We have busily been making unbreakable ornaments to fill in the gaps. These are easy andsparkle like crazy in the evening when the tree is lit .  Kids can do the garland , although the pipe cleaners may proove to be a little frustrating for some so be prepared to help. 1. Gather your materials. You will need a plastic lid ( yogurt, oatmeal ... or in our case icing.), some garland , 2 pipe cleaners and that's it. 2. Start by cutting...
Christmas Crafts
December 10, 2010
Easy Christmas Tree Ornament
Easy is so important when time is short! This craft is as easy as you make it. It can be detailed , or sparse, kids can make detailed ornaments, garland etc.. or put easy cut pieces of foam on. 1. Gather your materials. You will need some green , red and white sticky back foam  , a gold pipe cleaner, scissors and a marker. 2. Start by drawing a tree on the backing of your green foam. 3. Layer with another piece and cut out. 4. Cut small shapes from the other colors of foam. 5. Peel of the backing of the small pieces, add to the trees. 6. Cut the pipe cleaner in two and bend into a U...
Christmas, Kids Craft
December 10, 2010
Counting on Lunch
If you haven't figured this out yet I love themes. I love teaching with them and I even love feeding my kids with them . Today's them was the number 4 ( but the lesson was simple subtraction) and was such a big hit I wanted to share . Preschoolers generally don't need much food and some kids get really overwhelmed ( especially with new foods) if a huge amount is dished out even if they aren't being forced to finish. Choose a realistic number ( or cut into tiny pieces) and find a fun way to present it. As my son ate I asked him " How many of each item did you have? How...
Counting, Early Learning, Food
December 8, 2010
Homemade Gifts: Pen Pal Kit
Neither my husband or I grew up in Seattle and we travel to Canada and Texas every year visit family and friends. Now that we have kids and our friends do too we want to build their connections and this home made gift is a great way to do that. This exact kit will be wrapped up and given to friends this holiday and other than a few little trinkets it's the gift I am most excited to give.   Gather your materials, you will need a pencil case , some cardstock, a marker, 13 fun note cards with 12 matching envelopes, stamps and stickers. Start by writing out on one of the note cards how...
Christmas, DIY, Gifts, Hanukkah
December 6, 2010
Easiest Candy Cane Craft Ever
I love easy crafts, and this one is super simple but really cute. 1.Gather your materials , you will need a piece of red construction paper, white tape, scissors and a red marker ( don't be fooled by the green lid ). 2. Fold your paper in two and draw a candy cane with the left edge being the fold. 3. Using the white tape make stripes on the candy cane. 4. Cut out along the inside, bottom and top edges. Do not cut the left side. 5. Write your message!  
Christmas Crafts, Kids Crafts
December 5, 2010
Errand Fun
This time of year my time devoted to my son and daughter gets squashed. I mean I am still devoted to them but instead of activities for them on my must do list, I have shopping, wrapping, baking, shopping, making costumes for the Christmas pageant, and I have to find time for an egg nog in there too! So we take fun on the road! Toy Store Something I have been doing to curb my son's " Can I have that?" at the toy store is to save our toys for tots donations for him to choose. We donate a handful of toys every year and this year he chose 3 at stores . I tell him the age and gender and let him...
Holidays, Toddlers and Preschoolers