Terri Thompson

Felt Bird Ornament: Christmas Sewing for Kids

December 9, 2016 By Terri Thompson

Have you seen all those themed Christmas trees? They’re beautiful and often very clever. I’m always blown away when I see some of the themed trees.

My tree won’t ever be on display in a store window, but it does have a theme. My very favorite theme of all.

Memories.

It’s full of memories. I hang ornaments that both my husband and I received as a child, ornaments that my kids’ grandparents give them every year, and many lovely homemade ornaments. Those homemade ornaments are the best ones of all. And this year, we’re going to add a Felt Bird Ornament (or two) to the tree.

Make this simple felt bird ornament inspired by the book The Birds of Bethlehem by Tomie dePaola. It's a simple sewing project for kids.

When you look at our tree, you can see the how my girls’ skills improved over the years, from paper and glue to salt dough creations. This year, we’re showing off a new skill – sewing.

My girls were delighted to get out their sewing kits and stitch up simple bird ornaments for our tree.

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The Birds of Bethlehem

I discovered a lovely Christmas book this year, The Birds of Bethlehem by Tomie dePaola. It’s the story of the Nativity told from the point of view of the birds of Bethlehem who saw all that happened. My older girls (ages 7 and 9) enjoyed the story, but it’s also one that preschoolers and even toddlers would enjoy.

I was completely enchanted by all the bird illustrations. They were simple and translated well to a simple sewing project. Keep reading to find out how we made our Felt Bird Ornament.

Supplies Needed (for each bird ornament):

1 sheet of felt (approximately 9″ x 12″)
Bird pattern (click here to download pattern)
Scissors
Straight pins
Needle
White thread
Fiberfill

Prepare your pattern

Before you begin, print out the bird pattern. You can click here to download and print. It’s hand-drawn and inspired by all the bird illustrations in the book.

Fold your felt sheet in half and pin the cut-out pattern to your felt with straight pins.

Cut around your pattern. Because of the folded felt, you’ll have two birds.

How to make your felt bird ornament

Thread your needle with your white thread. We used white thread for a contrast and so you could see the pretty stitches.

Note: I doubled the thread so you could see it better. Basically, put the needle in the middle of your length of thread. Take both ends of the thread and knot them together. Now you’ve got a double-thickness of thread.

Put the two bird pieces back to back and start sewing the two pieces together. We used a simple whip stitch to combine the two pieces. This is a very easy stitch for kids to try. Basically, you push the needle up through the back, come up through the front. Then bring the thread from front to back and push the needle up through the back again.

Click here for a detailed explanation of a whip stitch.

Sew all around the bird. Keep an opening from the beginning of the tail to the base of the neck for your stuffing. (See photo above.)

Do not tie a knot or cut your thread yet.

Use your fiberfill to stuff your bird.

Make sure to push some of your stuffing up into the head and into the tail. We left part of our tail flat to look more bird-like.

Once your bird is stuffed, use the leftover thread to sew the hole together. Continue on using a whip stitch until you’ve sewn all the way across your hole. Tie a knot and cut your extra thread.

Use another length of thread and your needle to sew through the top of your bird and form a loop for hanging on the tree. You’re all done.

It’s time to hang your ornament on your tree.

We’ve got our Birds of Bethlehem felt bird ornaments hanging on our memory tree now. Not only do they tell the story of the Nativity, but they also bring back memories of our afternoon sewing.

Our Felt Bird Ornaments are part of a lovely blog hop – 10 bloggers, 10 books, and 10 fun Christmas activities. Check out all the other participants below.

1st Day Inspired by Family-The Legend of the Christmas Cookie book & Easy Reindeer Cookies
2nd Day Teaching Mama The Legend of the Candy Cane book & Easy & Cute Candy Cane ornament
3rd Day Beautiful Messy Motherhood A Carol for Christmas book & Write Your Own Christmas Carol Idea
4th Day Meaningful Mama The Crippled Lamb book & Handprint Nativity Craft
5th Day Happy Home Fairy -M is for Manger book & another lovely and different (from the one above) Nativity Handprint Craft
6th Day Simple Home Blessings Who is Coming to Our House book & Christmas Garland craft
7th Day The Chaos and the Clutter
8th Day Creative Family Fun The Birds of Bethlehem felt bird ornaments. (You’re here now!)
9th Day True Aim Education
10th Day Sunshine Whispers

Free Printable 2017 Calendar

December 7, 2016 By Terri Thompson

It’s time.

That new year switch in my brain has been turned on. Lately, I’ve been clearing out excess paper and even cleaning up digital files in order to get ready for the new year.

I love a fresh start. Don’t you?

And a fresh start always comes with a brand-new calendar.

I always had a hard time find exactly the kind of calendar I want. I’m looking for simple. I want the right size. And, I want it to be pretty. I never could find the type I wanted, so I began making my own.

Keep reading to grab your own copy of my free printable 2017 Calendar.

Keep organized with this free printable 2017 calendar. It prints vertically and fits perfectly on a clipboard or in a pretty binder.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate link. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Why do you need this calendar?

It’s simple and uncluttered. You won’t find any holidays, moon phases, or anything else that can clutter up a calendar. We all have different dates that are important to our families, so there is plenty of room to personalize it yourself.

It’s vertical. So many printable calendars are horizontal. I couldn’t find many options for vertical calendars. I love this design because it’s easy to clip on a clipboard or to punch with a three-hold punch and add to a binder.

It’s free. No need to leave the house. Just download and print. If you need a family calendar and a personal calendar, just print two copies. How much easier can it get?

Click the link below to get your calendar. If you have any problems downloading, please let me know.

PRINTABLE 2017 CALENDAR

It’s time to get a fresh start for the New Year with a fresh calendar. Be sure to download yours today.

Telling Time with a Turkey Clock

November 18, 2016 By Terri Thompson

How does a turkey tell time?

With a turkey clock, of course!

Okay, okay… I know none of us are trying to teach a turkey how to tell time. But, I know plenty of kids that need to learn.

A Turkey Clock is a fun Thanksgiving math activity that will help your kids learn how to tell time.

And, once you’ve made your clock, check out all of our fun Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids here.

Practice telling time with a turkey clock. It's a fun Thanksgiving math activity that your kids will love. It's perfect for homeschool or classrooms.

Let’s gather our supplies and get ready to make this fun paper plate clock.

Supplies Needed:

2 paper plates
Orange, red, brown, white, and yellow paint
Red construction paper (you’ll only need a small piece, so a scrap of paper will work)
Ruler
Black permanent marker
Brass fastener
Glue

How to Make Your Clock:

Use your ruler and a pencil to divide the edges of one paper plate into 12 equal sections. This will be your turkey feathers and the numbers on your clock.

Paint each outer section in alternating colors of orange and red.

Paint the round middle section with brown paint.

While your turkey is drying, draw two beak shapes on your second paper plate. These will be the hands on your clock, so you will want one beak to be longer than the other.

Paint each beak with yellow paint.

Cut your beaks out once they are dry.

After the brown paint dries, locate the middle of your turkey plate. Put your brass fastener through the wide top of your short beak and then the wide top of your long beak. Attach your beaks to your plate by pushing the fastener through the middle of your turkey plate.

Paint two white ovals above your beaks for the eyes.

Use the red construction paper and cut out a small piece for the wattle. Glue this next to the beaks.

Once all your paint is dry, use your black permanent marker to write your numbers on your clock and add the details to your eyes.

How to Play with Your Turkey Clock:

Tell Time: Move the beaks to a specific time. Have your child read the clock and tell you what time it is.

Move the Beaks to a Specific Time: Ask your child to show 3:00 or to show 6:45. Call out different times and have them move the beaks to the correct locations.

Find Elapsed Time: Elapsed time is the amount of time that has passed. You can use your turkey clock to practice calculating elapsed time. Set the clock to a specific time, such as 2:00. Ask your child what time it will be in 30 minutes. Let them use the clock to figure out the new time.

This Turkey Clock is a fun tool to use in the classroom or at home to practice telling time. It’s easy to make and a great way to get your kids learning.

Gift Ideas for Kids Who Love to Create

November 10, 2016 By Terri Thompson

My oldest daughter is a maker. She love to draw, craft, sew, and bake.

I love to buy her gifts that support this interest. Gifts that promote creativity or that can teach a new skill. I want to give a gift that may be the beginning of a lifetime hobby.

Here are some great gift ideas for creative kids in your life. Light that spark of creativity.

What kids of gift do you get for kids who love to create? Your creative kids will love one of the ideas in this gift guide.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Gift to Help Them Create:

Get them a set of fun markers like Mr. Sketch Scented Markers.

Or their own Sharpie collection.

Or maybe they would like a nice set of colored pencils for creating.

Creative kids need a place to create. A simple sketchbook is great for this.

Or maybe they want to create pictures on these mini scratch art sheets.

Give them a new art supplies to experiment with. Chalkboard markers would be fun.

So would a pack of sculpting clay and some sculpting tools to work with.

Gifts to Teach Them a New Skill:

Teach them to sew while they make a simple sock kitty.

Or they can sew up a set of cute woodland animals.

They can learn about weaving while working with a new wooden weaving loom.

Learn the art of origami with a My First Origami kit.

We love Klutz Kits and always have fun with them. This Felted Friends kit is a fun one which teaches the craft of felting.

Or learn how to work with clay by making mini Clay Charms with this set.

What gifts are you going to get your creative kids this year?

You can find even more links to great gift guides at this post, 50+ Gift Guides for Toddlers, Kids, and Teens. You’ll find something for everyone on your list!

Painting With Sugar – Exploring Barbados Through Art

November 4, 2016 By Terri Thompson

Every time we get creative with Project: Around the World, I realize just how valuable it is.

We learn a little, ask questions, wonder, and expand our world.

And with the state of the world lately, we need to expand our world beyond our own neighborhood.

Our latest project was inspired by the island nation of Barbados. While there are many beautiful and fascinating things about the country (read all about it here), we found our inspiration in their production of sugar cane. Sugar played a very important role in the economic growth of the country.

So, we concocted our own DIY sugar paint and let ourselves be inspired by the Caribbean nation of Barbados.

Mix up a batch of DIY sugar paint - made with corn syrup - to do this fun art project inspired by the country of Barbados.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

In order to paint with sugar, we needed a liquid form of sugar. Light corn syrup was the first thing that popped in my head. I had remembered seeing other versions of DIY paint that used corn syrup, so I thought we’d give it a try.

I took a trip to the grocery store for supplies. The only thing I’ve ever used light corn syrup in was pecan pie and I’ve only made that a few times in my life. I never have corn syrup in my pantry. Other than the corn syrup, I only needed one other item: food coloring.

How to Make Corn Syrup Paint:

You’ll need a muffin tin (this makes for easy clean up), light corn syrup, and food coloring.

Add one to two tablespoons of corn syrup to each muffin cup. Exact measurements are not really that important, just eyeball it. For two children, we didn’t use much paint, one tablespoon in each cup would have been enough.

Add five to six drops of food coloring to each cup. The more food coloring you use, the brighter the color.

Mix each with a spoon. Now you’re ready to paint.

Clean Up Hint: Our paint brushes cleaned easily with a little mild soap and water. I used a bit of dish soap when I cleaned up.

Once we made the paint, we were ready to create. We used our regular paint brushes and white drawing paper for our picture. You won’t want to use thin paper, but anything as thick as white copy paper will be fine.

While we painted, we learned about Barbados.

Did you know:

Barbados is tiny. It’s only 167 square miles in size with a population of just over 284,000.

It’s home to four different nesting turtle species: the loggerhead, green turtle, hawksbill turtle, and leatherback.

Cricket is the most popular sport.

Like many other Caribbean nations, tourism plays an important role in its economy.

We created.

While we talked, we painted.

We leaned that our sugar paint was a little bit harder to use than our favorite type of paint – watercolors. The paint was thick and sticky.

We quickly learned to adapt. It was hard to make long sweeping lines, so we stuck with shorter lines.

It took more time to fill in a large area, so we had to go slowly.

We veered off from creating actual pictures when my oldest daughter discovered what happened when you dripped the paint on your paper.

The paint didn’t run. It stayed in droplets. Cool!

Soon our creations turned into awesome abstract pictures using drip painting.

It’s so much fun to create with a new medium. Especially when that new medium is linked to a fun geography lesson.

We learned about sugar and about Barbados all while creating beautiful artwork.

Now, I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the corn syrup!

Special note: Make sure you take picture of the completed artwork. The paint did dry, but remained sticky. I wouldn’t recommend keeping the completed projects for too long. Photography is a great way to keep artwork without the paper clutter (or in this case, sticky paper).

You may also enjoy one of these Project: Around the World art projects:

Layered Paper Underwater Scenes: Exploring The Bahamas Through Art

Painting on Music: Exploring Austria Through Art

Handprint Art: Exploring Argentina Through Art

Find all the Project: Around the World posts here.

Terri Thompson