Crafts

With the cold weather, I've been searching for ways to keep the kids' brains active. I decided, crafts is the way to go! Help them gain some dexterity, some confidence, and let their minds soar!

I also love that I get to do it right along side them. Because I'm working on my own, they don't ask me to simply do it for them, which has been a problem in the past for Aaron. I love seeing what they create!

We've ... done a lot of crafts. And I find my children to be absolutely adorable when they craft, so obviously, I take way too many photos :)

The first craft we did was a stamp craft to send to my parents!

 Thank heavens for washable products!

 

 Another day, using beads from my brother Thomas, the kids made necklaces for Eric's parents and 2 cousins.

But first, they had to sort all of the colors! They enjoyed the sorting more than the necklace making!

Don't worry, Adelynn doesn't feel left out. She joins in the fun!

 We also did a sticker/bead and glue craft to send to my grandparents - GP and Grammy

 

 Adelynn again, has fun! 

 

  

 

 We made some sweet turkeys (this project was selected by Aaron)! The kids helped roll the colors, chose the eyes for the face, and arranged the colors in the order they wanted so I could hot glue them all together.

 

 I also made them a big tree and a bunch of ornaments they could decorate. It's all out of felt so they can move the ornaments around however they wish! 

 They also took turns selecting tape for our washi-tape tree! 

 

 

 A&A also provided input on our front door decorations! Here are our packages, all ready to ship out! 

 

 You may notice in the above photo that there is a package for my Uncle Craig! The kids were concerned (rightly so) that he wouldn't have any Christmas decorations. So they made him some! 

  

 When Aaron realized we were going to glue the items on one at a time, he decided to put some beads back. Haha.

 

 We made trees and a very long string of beads for a tree or to go around a door frame.

We made maps to the North Pole!

 

We also painted! I had a bunch of wooden items I picked up in bulk at the thrift store a few years ago that I pulled out and prepped with a base coat. This was their favorite craft of all!

  

 Audrey was all about the blues and greens! 

 

 This kid ... his concentration faces kill me!

Audrey started painting on top of a snowman Aaron had already "finished." At first, Aaron was angry, but then he decided (on his own) that it could be a joint project and began to give input as to where Audrey should paint... So cute!

 

 Here are the completed products. But we didn't stop there! We still had the paper to paint!

 Audrey painted until every last drop of paint was gone (these were left-over paints from another project so there wasn't a ton to begin with...).

 Back in college, with my roommate, I made a rice snowman. The kids love playing with it, so I thought we should make more of them!

 

 The kids enjoyed filling their snowmen, selecting eyes, ribbon, and accessories! 

Audrey even got me to make her a ring when she found my clay flowers.

 They carry these guys around the house with them. It's pretty adorable!

 I decided to make some too so we could have a whole family! 

 My sister, Laura, sent me an idea to make a string of lights out of paper. The idea was a bit too complicated for my kids, so we simplified it.

 I'll be honest, that day, my kids were not very into the idea of crafting that day so there was a little push back. But in the end, it turned out nice.

 For a play date, I thought it'd be fun to make snakes/worms using pipe cleaners and cheerios with kix glued to the outside. I was impressed, my kids waited to eat until they finished their craft! 

Audrey would point and tell me where to put a drop of glue so she could add a kix.

 

 Here's Aaron and his friend, Bryce. Aaron decided a plain snake would be best :)

 

That's the majority of the crafts. The kids helped me decorate and create garlands for our windows, but perhaps I'll share that another time.