Trees, Trees, Trees - 2012 Holiday Crafts

For some reason, the kids and I created several tree crafts. I'm not sure why the need for green evergreens hit me this year but we made a bunch of cute things that I hope will last for years to come. I never made salt dough ornaments with the kids before and thought that would be an easy thing to make. It turns out, it is easy but I messed up the first round in true "Jessica hates cooking" fashion. The idea came from: http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/christmas/christmas-tree-craft.asp

I combined 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 1/2 cups of water. I kneaded the dough for 20 minutes. It was the longest 20 minutes of my life. Soooo boring!

I rolled out the dough and had the kids put their hand prints in the dough. I cooked the mixture for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven and ended up with a disaster. I opened the oven to find three big puffy balls of dough that resembled small loaves of bread with little finger indents. The puffy balls found themselves in the garbage and I started round two.

Round two involved a thinner rolled out mixture. The kids cut trees out of the dough and we cooked the three evergreens. Success! Lane and Alex didn't believe me that the dough wasn't for cookies so they had to taste the mixture. They might not be so quick to try a dough next time. Yuck! The trees were a success and the kids were able to paint them.

A few weeks ago I bought a large piece of green felt and smaller pieces of colored felt. I drew a tree on the green piece and cut it out. It looked like a decent tree until I cut it out and it didn't look so great. Trust me, I know I need a template from now on. The kids didn't care and enjoyed "hanging" the felt cutouts I made for the tree. The idea came from this site: http://www.solandrachel.com/2011/12/pinterest-christmas.html

I printed trees on green paper and cut them out for the kids. I punched holes and the kids glued tissue paper squares to the back. The tissue paper looked like lights when the tree was turned over. It was an easy craft. The idea came from this site: http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/christmas/christmas-tree-craft.asp

Aren't they cute?

I'm thrilled with the way Lane can count and understands one-to-one coorespondence. She is doing a great job with her numbers and counting. When I saw a tree counting activity, I knew it would be a good idea for her. I found it on this site: http://www.baby.co.uk/life_and_home/20121127christmas-tree-counting/

Lane enjoyed the activity. I only wish it had lasted longer.