Christmas-Themed Math Activities

We’ve been doing some fun activities this first week of Advent and I thought I’d share a couple of them with you now in a bit more detail.  You’ll also see them in the weekly Tot School post.

We did a great clothespin counting activity.  I found these cute Christmas tags and ribbon at the Target dollar spot.  I wrote a number from 1 to 10 on the tags, then attached a length of ribbon to each one with a stapler.  I put some foam Christmas stickers on clothespins (you’ll need 55 clothespins total) and M clipped them to the ribbons, counting up to the number on each tag as he did so.  This great idea came from here, where it was done with an autumn theme.    He really stuck with this and did all 10 tags!  Why I don’t have a picture of that, I’m just not sure. :)  Crazy mommy-brain.

 

Next, a fun patterning activity with clothespins (again!) and cardstock Christmas lights.  I made a pattern, then traced it onto red, green, blue, and yellow cardstock.  I cut out the lights then added detail with a black marker. 

M and I strung the lights up on some yarn which was tacked into his flannel board, which is just flannel on a foam core board and comes in handy for things like this.

There are no action shots because we took turns holding the Christmas light and yarn together while the other person clipped on the clothespins.  M is really into patterns now that he’s got it all figured out.  He told me, “they’re taking turns!”  Um, why didn’t I think of that?  Weeks of trying to figure out how to help him understand patterns… I could’ve used that idea! 

We did a simple ABAB pattern as you can see.  I’m going to do this with him again next week and see how he does with an ABCABC pattern – I’m running with the taking turns idea.  I’m not sure if an AABB pattern would make sense at this point. 

Both of these activities were really enjoyed by M and I love that he was honing those fine-motor skills as well as learning a little math!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Crafts from Christmas Past

As I’ve mentioned before, M is in a no-crafts kind of mood lately.   Right at the beginning of craft-heaven season.  Sigh.  It may be pointless, but I’m still trying to come up with some fun crafts to do with him this year for Christmas.  I’ll talk about my plans in another post (soon, I hope!), but I thought it might be fun to show you some things M made last year, pre-blog.
In case these inspire you with any ideas of your own, M was just under 28 months old when he made these.
A Rudolf made with a cut out of M’s foot and two cutouts of his hands, along with a pom-pom and some googley eyes:
A wreath that he painted and glittered (cut from a paper plate) and then put stickers all over:
Some salty snowflakes… if I remember correctly, this was just tempera and salt mixed together.  He used blue and white paints, and we hung it up as a mobile (the salt made them somewhat sparkly, but you can’t see it here):
A cotton ball snowman, which was a huge hit (like the backward nose?):
And a Christmas tree decorated with colored pasta, which we hung up in his room:

Have a beautiful day! :)

Manger Tutorial

As we do the Jesse Tree during Advent, M will put one piece of yarn (hay) in the manger per night.  On Christmas Eve, baby Jesus will go in the manger on top of the hay. 

I have received a couple of emails with questions about how we made our manger.  It is so simple, I’m almost embarrassed to show you. :) 

First, start with a small cardboard tube:

Cut it in half lengthwise:

Cut one of the halves in half again, width-wise:

Trim both of the small pieces just a little bit.  Then staple one to each end of the large piece:

Look, a manger! :)  I cut a square of brown felt with pinking shears and glued it to ours:

It’s not the most elegant manger ever, but it works!  You could also use a square or rectangle box for the main manger part (think a box from a bar of soap), and cover it with paper or fabric, or paint.

For baby Jesus, I simply cut two flesh-colored pieces of felt in a peanut shape, sewed them together (you could use glue) and stuffed them with a bit of fiberfill.  I drew a face on him, then swaddled him in square piece of blue felt and glued everything in place:

It works for now.  When M is a bit older, we may do something a bit nicer. :)  You could use a baby Jesus from a Playmobile or Little People set if you have one!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Advent and the Jesse Tree - printable file and ornaments!

 **Please note - this post is from Advent of 2009.  A current  Jesse Tree packet, with schedule, ornaments, and prayers is here.**

A few of our Jesse Tree ornaments and the cards we use to go with them. They are decorated with glitter glue, which isn’t showing up too well in the picture. They’re pretty in real life. :)

We are spending a little bit of time this month Christmas shopping and getting ready for Advent, which begins Nov. 29th… I love having time before Christmas that isn’t hurried and rushed and chaotic… just time for our family to soak in the peacefulness and joy of the season.

One of our little traditions is the Jesse Tree. I use *tradition* in a pretty loose way here, because this is actually only our 2nd year:). But I do hope and plan to make this a tradition for years to come.

The Jesse Tree is a way of telling the story of Jesus’ genealogy and the history of God’s plan of salvation. It goes from creation to the birth of Jesus, hitting the high points like the fall of Adam and Eve, the flood, prophets, and the lineage from Jesse to Jesus. There is an ornament and scripture reading (or Bible story) for each day of Advent.

Because the number of days in Advent can vary a little from year to year (this year there are 26 days) there are a couple of options. You can do the same ornaments and stories every year starting with Dec. 1st and only doing 24 ornaments a year, similar to an advent calendar. Or you can have a couple of *extra* ornaments to slip in here and there, normally on the Sundays of Advent. This is what we will do.

There is no set way of doing a Jesse Tree, if you do a Google search you may find several other ornaments and ideas. It can get a little confusing the first time (or two!).

Some families print ornaments out and let their children decorate them, then hang them on a tree. Many use a bare branch in a garden pot for their Jesse tree. I decided on making a felt tree just for simplicity’s sake so we can do the same thing year after year. I created felt ornaments last year, but when M is older I may print them out, let him decorate the ornaments, and then glue felt to the back of them to hang on the tree. Here’s a picture of the felt tree we’ll use:
I’ve created a file which lists the ornaments and stories for each day. It also has some cards we use that have each day’s scripture reference on them, the special “emphasis point” to talk about, as well as a short prayer to read each evening (suitable for small children). Click on the image to go to the file and see all the elements. The last few pages have printable ornaments to color and decorate.
Last year I checked out a book about the Jesse Tree from the library, but for the life of me I can’t remember the title. I got the ideas for many of our ornaments and prayers from the book, as well as some of the other ideas.

Here’s the specifics of what we’ll do each evening of Advent…

• M will open his special Advent box: Inside the box will be a piece of candy, a sticker, a short length of yarn, the ornament of the day, and the card (for our reference):
• M will eat his piece of candy first (pretty sure of that :) )
• We’ll read the Bible story for the evening from one of our Children’s Bibles or from other religious story books we have. The scripture reference for each day is on each card if you want to read directly from the Bible for older children.
• M will place the ornament on the tree while we talk about the “emphasis point” for the evening (also on the card… things like God’s promises, what makes God sad, etc.).
• M will put the sticker on a tree cutout that we’ll use as an Advent calendar.
• We will read the short prayer written on the card.
• Finally, M will place the piece of yarn in the manger. One piece of yarn per evening to make a soft bed for baby Jesus, while doing this we’ll say something along the lines of “Come Baby Jesus, be born in our hearts”.On Christmas Eve there will be a baby Jesus to place in the manger on top of the “hay”.

Last year he was two and needed quite a bit of guidance, but by the end of Advent he had the routine totally down. Especially the candy part. ;)

If this is something you want to try with your family and you have any questions, please let me know!! Or if you already decorate a Jesse Tree as part of your tradition, I’d love to hear about it!

Have a beautiful day! :)