DIY Magnetic Number Board

Addie has been doing her magnetic letter board really well, so I thought I would change things up on her a little bit and make a number one as well. So simple!! Excel- type numbers, one in each cell; you can color coordinate the numbers to the number magnets, then print. Then just add stickers to each box according to the number. A counting and letter identification activity in one. Of course if you want to make it last, I would laminate it then add four little magnets to each corner and you have another great learning activity. The great thing about this is that you can tailor it to your child. Use the stickers that they like most or even better have then make the board with you and add the stickers themselves.

Must Be Santa

We took a little vacation to grandma's house and are now trying to get back into the swing of things. Christmas is now just around the corner and we are excited about doing all kinds of Christmas crafts, books and songs. Below are two of the crafts we've done so far at our Mommy's-R-Us group.

The Christmas Bell: It counts down the days until Christmas. We attached bells at the top and a fun little poem and then added all of the chain links. Addie chose the colored paper and I taped them together.

 Paper Plate Santa: Addie chose a nose (fuzzy ball), two wiggle eyes, rosey cheeks, and a hat. Then we stretched the cotton balls out and glued them on the santa hat and face. Stretching cottonballs is a great fine motor activity for kids; they have to move slowly and need to keep moving their hands to find different places to pull the cotton ball. If they just pull it into little pieces, that okay too.

We also decided that field trips were getting to be a little difficult now that the cold weather is here, so we came up with cooking activities for Fridays. We'll have to come up with a better name but for now it is what it is. This past Friday we made smoothies. We talked about the different kinds of fruit we were putting into the blender. We talked about loud and quiet; the blender was loud. I don't think there was a drop of smoothie left, plus the moms got to enjoy a delicious smoothie drink too.

At home Addie and I have been keeping busy with a song and felt board pieces, "Must Be Santa" by Rafi. Addie puts up the pieces during the song and when she is finished she's created a Santa scene.

Lastly, I found a DIY Christmas book on Pinterest, The Very Hungry Reindeer. Yes, it's very similar to Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but his books are so great that why wouldn't you make all kinds of them. The language is repetitive so many kids can "read" the story. Addie enjoys putting the pieces on and saying, "But he was still hungry." So cute!