Kyler's first Halloween 2015

 

     Halloween is my favorite holiday besides Christmas. Every year I do family theme costumes but this year was Kyler's first Halloween. I had to make it special so I had custom hats made for kids costumes where its cold in New Brunswick during the evenings. We went as thing one and thing two and I was the cat in the hat. My aunt knitted my bow and the hats and I got kids red shirts to put on over their coats and cut out and glued circles to them and wrote thing one and thing two. Next I made my black sweater a white belly for the cat in the hat. We stopped at the local church for the trunk or treat on our way over to trick or treat on the west side of town. Kyler was excited to see all the kids dressed up and the houses decorated. Halloween this year had great weather it was not snowing or raining and was made it a great night spent with the kids. We only did 3 streets and got a great amount of treats.

   To make this Halloween special I decided to host a kids Halloween party. We had a great turn out of friends and kids. For the party Eloise was a girl buzz lightyear and Kyler was candy corn.  To decorate for the kids party I did my hallway with streamers with balloons on the end which was a huge hit with the kids.  It made the hallway from living room to the kitchen fun and a little scary effect for the kids. Since Eloise is 3 and Kyler 6 months I didn't have many activity's we had some different colouring sheets and paper masks to colour.  also I picked up wooden ornaments that you can colour and a spider web with Halloween stickers for a craft. we decorated the kitchen with a Halloween table cloth and some window clings. For treats we picked out a little cake in which my mom surprised us with one that looked like Frankenstein. Eloise and I baked chocolate chip cookies too for the kids. We froze fake spiders in ice cubes for the drinks to make the kids drinks special.

celebration Home-made Play Dough

 Eloise loves play dough and glitter so this celebration play-dough was a great hit! play-dough is  great sensory play for kids. Grab some cookie cutters and a rolling pin and Eloise plays for hours when shes given play-dough. This recipe is one of the best recipes I have tried. This play doh was a great hit the past new years and will be made this year for new years too. This is super easy and gives kids all ages hours of fun. you can add vanilla or peppermint extract to make it scented for extra sensory fun.

What you need to make play dough:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1 teaspoon oil

3/4 cup boiling water

glitter 

(not needed) but if on hand 1 table spoon of cream of tarter  

if you want it scented for extra sensory play add in a teaspoon of coconut oil or any type of extract

Directions to make play-dough:

1)mix flour salt and glitter into a bowl

2)boil water 

3)mix oil water and scent oil in with dry ingredients 

4) mix with hands till its a consistent dough then let the kids play.

5)  when done place in a zip lock bag or a container to use again

Christmas tree ornaments

    Here are a few different Christmas tree ornaments we made this week with Eloise and Kyler.  Eloise loves to make crafts. When we have time we have been making different  Christmas  tree ornaments. Well this week at play group we got to make a few different ones. 
 I thought it would be great to blog these simple ornaments that are toddler friendly to make. These are very easy and cheap to make they would make great gifts for people too. 

Snowman / Reindeer

what you need to make these is  clear bulbs foam balls red paper google eyes. brown pipe cleaner and red pom pom, orange paper for snowman's nose and black circle stickers for snow mans mouth. Fill bulbs with paper or foam next glue on eye.  Next glue nose on and stick stickers on to make mouth after wrap pipe cleaner for antlers.

Christmas tress (Popsicle stick)

You need green Popsicle sticks 3 to make a triangle. Next cut brown or yellow Popsicle stick in half. Glue them as stems onto your tree. When dry glue on bells gems or buttons onto the green part as ornaments on the tree. When done tie a string onto it to hang. Very simple for kids to make.

Glitter ornaments 

To make these all you need is clear bulbs, glitter glue, ribbon. Let child squeeze colours of their choice of glitter glue into the bulb. Make sure they spread the colours all around in the bulb. Next put cover on bulb and let child shake the ornament. When glitter glue is fully spread around tie a ribbon bow onto it. Then its ready to hang on your tree.

Sensory Play dough cookie cutter tree girfts

With Eloise in stepping stones last year I thought it would be a great idea to make sensory play gifts for the kids in her room at her school. Eloise loves play dough so I figured that would be a great gift. This gift also  would help with working on their grasp and sensory needs. I made the play dough mint scented so that it used more then one of their senses. these gifts are fun to play with and also very inexpensive to make. Eloise is still using her extra one I made just for her at school. this is a great activity for kids to play with when its not very nice out.

What you will need:

green play dough (I used mint oil for scent)

Christmas tree cookie cutters

clear treat bags I used Christmas zip lock bags

beads or mini crystals  Eloise chose crystals




What you need to make play dough:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1 teaspoon oil

3/4 cup boiling water


(not needed) but if on hand 1 table spoon of cream of tarter and glycerin 

food colour green 

scent (mint oil)

Directions to make play dough gifts:

1) mix flour salt in a mixing bowl

2) add in wet ingredients  mix well

3) when play dough is done break into balls

4) roll ball out place cookie cutter in center

5) take excess  dough off around cutter edges

6) make sure dough is as thick as cutter 

7) add in the mini crystals as ornaments on tree

8) place in a mini zip lock baggie add tag then pass out

Pine cone Christmas tree ornament

    Eloise loved making this craft. It was nice to get out and look for pine cones during a nature walk to make these. It's that more special that we took the time to pick them out ourselves. this is a simple craft that was easy for Eloise to make herself except needed mommy's help with the glue gun.  we made a few to hang on our Christmas tree you can make them in colours of your theme for your tree.


What you will need:

pine cones

glue gun or white glue

pom poms

 ribbon

mini bells


Directions:

1) tie string to top of pine cone

2) place spots of glue on random pieces of the pine cone

3) where you put glue place a pom pom or bell

4) when the pine cones pieces have enough to make it look like mini Christmas trees the ornament is done.

5) hang on your Christmas tree

melted snowman sensory bag

    Eloise loves sensory play this was a great idea. I saw different sensory bags thought of  this and had to make for her. We have made a few different sensory bags but this one turned out awesome. It is a great winter one and with Eloise loving her felt snowman wall. I thought it would be perfect for her to play with.

what you will need:                                             

foam

clear hair gel

zip lock bag

scissors

glue

a little water

Directions:

1) cut out eyes mouth nose and a hat from the foam

2) in zip lock bag pour gel

3) next mix in glitter and some water 

4) then add in eyes nose and mouth and seal bag with no air in it

5) next glue the hat to the bag

6) when glue is dry give to your child to play with supervised

special drink for the kids

        Eloise loves kool aid but I do not let her have it much.  As a child my nanny made me a few different special treats and drinks.  This was a hit with Eloise and a few friends kids.  I put it in a clear glass you you can see in pics. To make this special summer drink you need to make ice cubes with kool aid any flavor of your choice.  When ice cubes are ready pour a cup of sprite or ginger ale pop and add ice cubes to it as the ice cubes melt the colour and flavor of the drink changes.  I made this a few different times through out the summer.  With different flavors it was a hit every time.  This is even a great idea for party's.  If you don't like pop you can use water and add extra ice cubes.