Santa Sight Words

E has started recognizing a few sight words.  As such, I was looking for a fun sight word game that would fit into our Christmas theme.  I couldn't find one that I liked, so I decided to make one on my own.

I stumbled across some Santa Sight Words and thought it would be fun to make a house with a chimney that he could drop the cards down as he practiced them.

I took a box and wrapped it in wrapping paper.  I, then, took the scraps (flaps of the box) and made a door, windows,  roof and chimney.  The smoke is a white piece of felt taped to the inside of the chimney.

I cut out the Santa Sight Words and we said them out loud as we dropped them down the chimney.  E would then say "Be careful, St. Nick!".  It was too cute.

Check out more of our Christmas ideas by clicking here.

E is currently 29 months old.

Tree Cards with Corn Syrup Paint

E had so much fun with our Thanksgiving cards that I wanted to do something this month for Christmas.  I decided to have him make these tree cards.

I had seen this posting on painting with corn syrup and had been wanting to do it.  Since the corn syrup paint would dry shiny, I thought it would look good as ornaments on Christmas trees.

I painted some trees on cards using Crayola Washable Paint (all I had) and let them dry overnight.  The next day, I mixed corn syrup and food coloring and had E dip his brush in it and dot the trees.

The ornaments dried just as I had hoped.  They were raised and shiny and E loved them.

Hot Chocolate Math Game

This game was extremely easy to make and provided lots of entertainment for E.  It was, by far, his favorite this week.

I took a large mug, a small cup, and a scrap of brown felt and made it into fake hot chocolate.  I wrapped the small cup in felt and taped it in place.  I then slipped it into the mug.  Luckily, my cup fit perfectly inside my mug.  I added a bag of marshmallows and a homemade die (made out of a lacing bead) to the tray and we were ready to play.

Day 1, we simply rolled the die and practiced counting marshmallows as we placed them into the "hot chocolate".  E got to eat one after each of his turns (perhaps why he liked the tray so much).

Day 2, I made up a new game (on the fly) to make it a bit more challenging.  This time we took turns.  E rolled the die and counted out his marshmallows (without eating).  Then, I rolled and had to either add or take away (eat) marshmallows to make the new number.  We continued to go back and forth for quite some time.

I was amazed at how well this went.  E was very focused and actually got the concept.  He really liked the marshmallows and wanted to eat them.  It made him really think about whether he had to add or he could eat.

When he would add, I noticed him checking back to see how many he had and then counting on to the new number.  I really encouraged this.  This is a great skill for him to learn and was excited to see it happening so naturally.

As for subtracting, he would set aside the number he was supposed to keep and then look at me while pointing to the leftovers and ask "I eat these, Mommy?".  I had modeled this a couple times and thought it would be a stretch to expect it of him, but he surprised me.

I never dreamed the game would go this well.  I was going to be happy simply counting out marshmallows for the week.  The fact that it became much more made any guilt about marshmallow consumption melt away in my fake hot chocolate.

E blowing on his hot chocolate.

If you want to see some more of our Christmas activities click here.  I will be posting some new ideas soon.

E is currently 29 months.

Advent Calendar

Last year, my in-laws got E the Little People Nativity Scene.  I loved that he was able to play with the characters and we could talk about them in preparation for Christmas.  

This year, I had my eye on the Little People Nativity Advent Calendar that matched the nativity scene.  I talked myself out of buying it so I was thrilled when my in-laws surprised E and T with it for Thanksgiving.  

E and I started officially using it today, but I introduced it a few days ago and tried to explain how it all works.

We started off by taking all the pieces out and talking about who and what they represent.  Then, we practiced our numbers by putting them all back in the right spots.  I love that the numbers are on the back.

Now that December is here, we are going to keep it hung in E's room and remove one piece each morning after he wakes up.  This morning he jumped out of bed and proudly placed Mary on top of the stable (the pieces have velcro on the back and can be placed in the nativity scene at the top of the calendar).  I asked him if she should go inside and he said "No. She go on top, Mommy".

He can't wait to get to number 25 which is baby Jesus.  E has been planning His birthday.  He thinks Jesus would like a Mater and Lightening McQueen party and a cake with sprinkles.

Placing Presents

This was a tray I added this week to practice placement/direction words.  I bought a tree at the dollar store along with some presents that were meant to be ornaments.

I wrote the words "right", "left", "front", and "behind" on pieces of white card stock and folded them to make them stand.  I placed the cards in the appropriate spots around the tree as E and I talked about each word.

I wrote letter clues on the bottom of each present (F for front, R for right, etc...).  E took the presents, read the letter and then placed them in the correct spot.

E loved this activity and asked to do it many times.  I am planning on taking the placement cards away later in the week to see if he can do it without the words.