Creative Family Fun

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Holidays

Pom Pom and Jingle Bell Necklaces

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Everyone needs a festive necklace to wear for Christmas, right? I thought so.

That’s why we spent an afternoon making a few DIY pom pom and jingle bell necklaces.

Pom pom making is fun and it’s easy to do, even without a special pom pom maker. We don’t have one and were able to make these necklaces quite easily.

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Supplies Needed:

Thin cardboard (cereal or cracker box)
Yarn
Sharp scissors
Jingle bells

Before you begin, cut a couple of strips from the cardboard. Ours were about width of three fingers, and I thought it made a nice sized pom pom.

Next, wrap the yarn around the strips. Don’t wrap too tight! We wrapped the yarn around approximately 100 times. (Extra counting practice – yahoo!)

We found that 100 times made a perfect pom pom.

Carefully slide your cardboard out of your yarn bundle. If you wrap too tight, you won’t be able to get it out.

I found that the thin cardboard worked best because we were able to bend it a bit to slide it out more easily. Lay your yarn bundle on top of another length of string.

Bring up the yarn on either side of your bundle and tie it in a tight knot. Your bundle will form this nice little ball while you’re tying.

A grown-up may want to do this part because you will need to tie this tightly. We left one of ours too loose and our pom pom eventually scattered bits of yarn all over the floor. The ones we’ve tied tightly have held together nicely.

After you’ve tied your knot, slip another length of yarn underneath the knot. This will be the necklace.

Slip your scissors through the loops and start cutting. Use sharp scissors because kid safety scissors won’t cut the yarn well. Both of my girls did their own cutting and were well supervised at the time.

After all your loops are cut, trim your ends so that your pom pom resembles a ball instead of an unruly bundle of yarn.

Be careful that you don’t trim your long pieces of the necklace. You’ll need those to tie around your neck.

Once your pom poms are trimmed to your satisfaction, string two jingle bells on each necklace. We did find this step to be a bit difficult since our jingle bells had small openings at the top. We ended up wrapping tape around one end of the yarn and using it as a makeshift needle.

Once the jingle bells are on, tie the ends of the yarn together to make your necklace.

Now, you’ve got the perfect necklace for a bit of caroling.

Jingle bell, jingle bells
Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun, it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh. Hey!

Have fun making your own DIY pom pom and jingle bell necklaces for Christmas.

Thankful Jar

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I love activities this time of year that get kids talking about gratitude.

Recently, we made this thankful jar and the kids have been filling it with all the things that make them thankful.

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Supplies Needed:

Glass jar
Brown paper bag
Mod Podge
Paint brush

*Note: I originally considered using the twine to tie around the top of the jar, but decided I liked the plain jar better. The twine is a good option if you want to add a bit of something extra to your jar.

Cut a selection of hearts from your brown paper bag.

You won’t need very many to decorate your jar. We only used five. Don’t worry about creases in the paper either, they will smooth out once you begin Mod Podging.

Cover your jar with a coat of Mod Podge.

If you’re looking for a nice, neat finish, try to keep your brush strokes going in the same direction and cover your jar with a nice even coat. I was crafting with a 4-year-old and decided it didn’t really matter. Our jar was just as beautiful this way and you really couldn’t tell that we had an uneven coat.

Once you have your coat of Mod Podge on the jar, add your hearts, smoothing out any bumps, bubbles, and wrinkles.

Once you’re satisfied with the layout of your hearts, paint another coating of Mod Podge over the top of everything. The Mod Podge will dry clear.

It takes about 30 minutes for the Mod Podge to dry enough for handling.

While our jar was drying, I cut a piece of paper into strips.

We started writing down the things we were thankful for, such as God, birds, grandparents, and good books.

We added our strips to the jar once it was dry.

I also left a pile of blank strips and a pen next to our jar with the invitation to add strips to the jar at any time.

This really was an easy craft to do and quite appropriate for older kids to do themselves. I worked side-by-side with my 4-year-old, but an older child would be able to make the jar independently.

My favorite part of the project was watching my 6-year-old sneak over to the jar later that evening, write down a few carefully thought out things, drop them in the jar, and run off to play. That’s enough to make your heart smile!

Do you have any fun ideas for teaching gratitude to kids?

Learning Gratitude: A Simple Thank You

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When I stumbled across Secret of Saying Thanks by Douglas Wood at our library, I knew it would be the perfect book choice for talking about gratitude.

The words and illustrations beautifully illustrate a secret everyone should know: saying thank you makes you happy.

Yes, it’s that simple. It’s a wonderful lesson for children and for adults as well.

To extend the message in the book, we wrote a few simple thank you notes.

The girl in the book takes the time to thank many things in nature, such as an old tree, rocks, and a bird.

I asked the girls to do the same. We were armed with some construction paper and simple coloring sheets I found at Crayola.com.

The girls colored in their coloring sheet with markers and cut out each of the images. We used those to decorate our cards.

We made the cards simply by cutting a sheet of construction paper in half and then folding each half into a card.

The girls glued their cutouts onto the card and then wrote their thank you messages.

Taking a cue from the pictures, they wrote thank you notes to the leaves.

The card above was made by my 4-year-old. She had more to say but was tired of writing!

My 1st grader made the card below. “Thanks you for leafs. They are pretty in the fall.” I love getting little glimpses into what they are thinking.

The book and simple craft provided an opening to talk about the things we are grateful for.

We spent a pleasant afternoon talking about all the people, animals, and things we would like to thank.

While it’s not a Thanksgiving book, Secret of Saying Thanks dives right into the heart of the holiday and is the perfect addition to your reading list.

If you could say thank you to anything in nature, what would it be? I’d love to thank all the little birds that visit our feeders on a daily basis. They’re always good for a smile!

Thanksgiving Activity Pack

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Thanksgiving can be a busy time and sometimes you just need an easy, go-to activity for the kids.

This free printable Thanksgiving activity pack can be just the ticket.

Print them out for the kid’s table while everyone is waiting for Thanksgiving dinner.

Or, maybe you just need a quiet activity after a busy day. Print this activity pack and you’ll be good to go!

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Thanksgiving Word Search:

My girls always love a good word search and these are perfect for keeping the kids occupied while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner.

I included the two word search puzzles I created last year in this pack for all of your word-search loving kids. Both of these are perfect for the younger elementary crowd.

Thanksgiving Word Scramble:

This game is a little bit more difficult and will challenge young and old alike.

Unscramble the Thanksgiving words and see who can figure them out the quickest.

I Am Thankful Leaves:

What are you thankful for? Write the words or draw a picture.

Your pre-writers can get in on the fun with this sheet. My girls decided to draw pictures, instead of writing.

Get the kids thinking about what Thanksgiving is all about. The best part about this sheet is that it’s fun to see what the kids will include.

I snapped a picture of my 4-year-old’s sheet. She’s thankful for her cat, dog, Mom, Dad, and God. I love how we all look alike!

Are you ready for some Thanksgiving fun with your kids?

Print these out for a long car trip, set them out on the kid’s table, or just have around for some after school fun. You can print out your own activity pack using the link below. Please use them and enjoy.

Printable Thanksgiving Activity Pack

Happy Halloween!

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Happy Halloween! Do you have big plans for the day?

Once school lets out we’ll be piling into our costumes. Miss 1st decided to be a ballerina this year, dressed all in pink. Miss Preschool is dressing up as a cat. She won’t be your typical black Halloween cat, she wants to be a white cat. That meant I had to hunker down with my sewing machine and sew up her costume. It’s done and she’s going to be quite a cute cat!

We’ll take our pictures while it’s still daylight, then head over to Great Grandma’s assisted living. The residents are always so generous and love seeing all the kids on Halloween. If you have an assisted living home in your town, check and see if they welcome trick-or-treaters. I find it’s such a valuable time for both the residents and the kids. Plus, it’s a perfect place to go if don’t live in a good neighborhood for trick-or-treating.

Afterward, we’ll head home, eat mummy dogs for dinner, and head out into the neighborhood. Should be fun!

Are you heading out trick-or-treating tonight? JDaniel4’s Mom has put together a helpful list of Halloween safety rules. It’s always a good idea to go over these with your kids before going out.

If you’re looking for some last minute Halloween crafts, Learn Play imagine has a great list. Also you can check out my Halloween Fun for Kids Pinterest board or search my blog under Halloween.

Have a fun Halloween!

What are your kids dressing up as this year?