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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Craft with Kids for New Years


Kids Crafts for New Year's


Help your child ring in the New Year by creating a New Year's-themed craft. Creating handmade New Year's crafts provide an opportunity for your child to learn about the holiday and have a hands-on part in the festivities.
Since many New Year's crafts can double as holiday decorations or party favors, plan to make your crafts a few days before your New Year's celebration.


One of the most recognizable celebratory New Year's events is the New Year's ball drop in Times Square, Manhattan, N.Y. While your child may be too young to stay up and watch the ball begin its descent at 11:59 p.m. on New Year's Eve, with a few simple craft supplies, your child can make a ball of her own to play with and "drop" before she heads to bed. The handcrafted New Year's ball is created by covering a foam ball in multicolored sequins. Depending on the age of your child, you can use craft glue or stick pins to affix the sequins to the ball. Foam balls come in a variety of sizes. If your child is younger, you may wish to use a smaller 2-inch foam ball since she likely won't have the patience or attention span to decorate a larger one. While younger children may randomly arrange the sequins, older children can create patterns with them. To complete the look of the ball, insert a pipe cleaner or chenille stem into the top of the ball a few inches to resemble the pole.
A New Year's Ball

New Year's Noisemaker

If you have ever been to a New Year's Eve party, you are likely familiar with the noisemakers and shakers that are used to welcome in the New Year. You and your child can recycle old ribbon spools to make your own New Year's noisemakers. Since the spools of ribbon have a hole in the center, when you cover one end with tape, you create a cylinder that can be filled with dried peas or beans. Once the cylinder is filled and the other hole is covered with tape, you can decorate your noisemaker. By painting your noisemaker with acrylic paint and adding embellishments like glitter, fake jewels and stickers, you can create a colorful noisemaker. You can even add ribbons to it. Once your decorated noisemaker is completely dry, you are ready to shake it and make some noise.

New Year's Hat

Wearing a party hat during New Year's celebrations is a tradition for many folks. Using a piece of heavyweight construction paper, your child can create and decorate his own party hat. Once the paper is rolled into a cone shape and glued or stapled together to hold its shape, it's ready to be decorated. Plastic jewels, foam cut-outs, stickers and glitter can be used to decorate the hat. You may need to assist your child with painting or drawing the year you are celebrating on his hat. Once the hat is dry, it is ready to be worn to your celebration.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Check out my news blog...

I started a news blog today...I love to read that news online and some articles really catch my eye...thought I would share..http://thenewsbuzz.blogspot.com/ 
I would love to hear your comments about the articles I post...give me your opinion  <S>

Wear a crown for New Years!!


These crowns are fun and easy to make, your kids will love making these with you!!
Start a new tradition for New Years!

New Year’s Eve is one tricky holiday to get the family involved with. Most of the long-standing traditions of the event portion of it revolve around activities not meant for kiddos, and generally the big project for this day is finding a baby sitter that doesn’t mind an extra late night.
But, around our house, the festivities are all about the kiddos and the there are some big plans for getting the party started in fun, kiddo sort of ways. That meant we needed to get our festive vibe on and start some new traditions. So, the tiny people and I set out to create some New Year’s Eve crowns for them to sport.
They were, happily, super easy.
Here’s what you need:
- Construction paper (the heavier the better)
- White glue and stick glue
- Beads, stickers, pompons, whatever you want to decorate the crowns with (make sure the things aren’t too heavy or they will make the crown lopsided and hard to wear).
- Glitter
- Scissors
Directions:
1. So, we took two pieces of 8X11 construction paper, turned them horizontally and drew an outline of a crown on one piece. Then, I put the two pieces together and cut the crown out so I had two identical pieces to work with.
2. Next, we smeared stick glue all over the crowns and covered them in glitter (messy, so make sure to put a cloth down). Decorating followed with lots of stickers, beads and other fun. You could make cut outs like a snowflake,do basically anything you want.
3. You can paste the two pieces together with white glue (don’t make the complete crown yet, just leave them flat) and let them dry for about an hour.
4. Finally, wrap the crown around your tiny person’s head for a perfect fit. Then, make the crown and glue the last ends together with white glue. Leave for at least another hour to make sure everything is dry.
There you have it.
Totally fun New Year’s Eve crowns to get the whole family involved ringing in the New Year.
Happy 2012!
http://www.ourbigearth.com

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Vote for the cutest baby!!

My nephew Joey!!! two days old


Baby present Joey needs your vote!



Baby present Joey's photo


vsign
Dear friends and family,

I just entered Baby present Joey in the Great American Photo Contest™. The photo with the most votes wins 2,500.00!

Please do me a favor and click on this link to vote!

I really appreciate it and so does
Baby present Joey!

Thank you,

Carmen

Rice Wreaths...Kid fun and friendly!!

I found this really cute craft to do with my girls, I thought maybe you would like to try....Its always fun to do crafts with are kids, especially during the holidays. These are too cute!!!






This is an easy craft you can do with your kids!
 rice wreath
Materials

•    Rice
•    Glue
•    Pasta (macaroni and bowtie)
•    Red and green food coloring
•    Small round wood peg/block or wine cork
•    Paperclip

Instructions
 
materials
Mix dried rice with green food coloring. Let dry. In a paper bowl, add green rice and white school glue. Mix with hands until it combines and then mold into a ball and flatten into a circle with your hands. Using a round wooden peg/block (or a wine cork) on parchment paper, punch a hole in the middle and remove.
 rice wreath
In another bowl, place dried pasta (bowtie and macaroni work best) and color them red and green. Squeeze glue from a plastic squeeze bottle to glue on pasta to decorate your wreath. When the wreath is still wet, insert a paperclip halfway in at the top to act as a hook. When the wreath is dry, you can take an ornament hook and loop it through the paperclip to hang the wreath on your tree.
By Tori Spelling
 http://www.torispelling.com

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Games to play at your Christmas Party!!


Ho-Ho-Ho and Merry Christmas! 'Tis the season to have a party and play some festive Christmas party games. 

Christmas Party Games

By: Sharon Mehl and Alecia Dixon
Decorations are easy when you have the children make snowflakes (no two are alike, just as each child is unique and special) and hang them from the ceiling.
For more Christmas activities, be sure to visit our main Christmas page. Don't forget to visit out our Christmas craftsChristmas recipesChristmas printablesChristmas gamesChristmas clip art and Christmas coloring pages.

Candy Cane Pass (relay race)

Supplies:
4 candy canes per team (have a few extras due to breakage)
How To Play: Player holds 4 candy canes between fingers and passes them down the line, teammate to teammate, without dropping.

Pass the Ornament

Supplies:
Straw for each child
Ornaments cut out of tissue paper (tree, bell, star, etc.)
How To Play: Pass the ornaments down the line, teammate to teammate, by inhaling and exhaling on the straw to hang on to or release the ornament. No hands!

Rudolph Dash

Supplies:
Vaseline
Cut circles out of red construction paper
How To Play: Have child put Vaseline on their nose and then put the red circles on their nose. Relay race to the finish with each new person adding their red nose. If nose falls, go back to bowl and add more Vaseline and reapply nose.

Santa Says

How To Play: Played similar to Simon Says. The player up is "Santa". Player will say "Santa says hop on one foot". The children will hop on one foot. Player will say "Stop". The children are to keep hopping on one foot until player says "Santa says stop". Repeat for additional activities such as take one baby step forward, step backwards, turn around, sit down. Sometimes Santa will say "Santa says" and sometimes he won't. It'­s a fun game to play with young children.

Book Exchange

Supplies:
Inexpensive book gift wrapped for each child
Book- The Gingerbread Man
How To Play: Children set in a circle, each one holding a wrapped book. A Room Mother reads The Gingerbread Man story. Every time the word "ran" is spoken you pass the book to the person on your right. Continue doing until the story is over. Whoever has the book on their lap at the end of the story is theirs to keep and open.

Fill the Christmas Stocking

Supplies:
Stocking, spoon and bowl for each team.
Wrapped candy.
How To Play: Divide into teams. Have children line up at one end of the room. At the other end, hang a Christmas stocking for each team. Place a bowl of candy and a spoon in front of each team. Each child takes a turn taking a candy from the bowl with the spoon. They then carry the candy on the spoon to the stocking and drop the candy in the stocking. Race back to the next person in line, give them the spoon. First team to fill the stocking wins!

Santa Santa

Supplies:
Santa sleigh
How To Play: Have children sit in a large circle and blindfold one child. Another child will be given the sleigh and must say:
Santa Santa, where'­s your sleigh
Someone'­s come and taken it away
Guess who Guess who?
The blindfolded child gets three guesses. The child who has the sleigh is next to be blindfolded.

Christmas Memory Game

Supplies:
18 items in box
How To Play: Show the items in the box to the children. Remove one or more items out of the box (without children seeing you). Have the children guess what items are missing. For older children put items on large tray or cookie sheet. Cover. Remove cover for 20-30 seconds and then remove tray from room. On your mark, the children are to write down as many items that they can remember from the tray before you yell, "STOP". Most correct answers wins.

Gift Unwrap Relay

Supplies:
Empty boxes wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper
How To Play: Divide the class into teams. Put a stack of presents at the end of each team's course. The first child in each team runs to the presents, unwraps one, and races back to the next person in line. First team finished unwrapping wins! Note: To make cleaning a little easier, parents may wish to adapt this game to where the child unwraps, throws away the paper, then runs back!

Word Find

Take a Christmas related word such as: Christmas, Poinsettia, Candy cane, etc. and find as many smaller words from it as possible before the timer runs out.
Example: Christmas
Words: sit, is, his, miss, rat, tar, this, math, chair, rim...
Example: Candy cane
Words: candy, cane, and, dance, day, nay, can, dye, an, any...

Christmas Twenty Questions

Teacher starts by choosing a Christmas related person, place, or thing. The teacher says, "I'm thinking of something". The children try to guess what it is by asking no more than twenty questions that can be answered "YES", "NO", or I DON'T KNOW". The student who guesses correctly is next up.
Clue
Teacher thinks of person, place, or thing. Teacher gives a clue. Begin at one end of the room and work your way around allowing each student to take a turn guessing until one student solves the case. The student who solves the case goes next.
Example: Frosty
Clue: I'm thinking of someone who wears a hat
Clue: He loves snow
Clue: He'll melt if it gets too warm outside
Clues should be age appropriate for the children playing.

Freeze

Supplies:
Christmas music
How To Play: Begin playing music. Everyone moves and dances until the music stops then they must "freeze" in whatever position they happen to be in.

Littlest Angel or Good Elf

How To Play: Challenge the children to do random acts of kindness for others for one day. Tell them that they are not to reveal that they have done these nice things and if someone should ask them, "did you make sisters bed"? they can reply, "Must have been a good elf".
This game helps children realize we don't always have to be recognized when we do something for someone else. If playing with preschoolers or kindergarteners, you may want to send a note home with them explaining how parents can help.

Feliz Navidad Party Ideas

Craft Activity/Supplies:
Write Feliz Navidad on miniature sombreros with green paint pens.
Make tiny chile peppers to hang on them for memento shelf.
Food and Decor: Cactus juice- Any green punch
Nachos- Chips & salsa
Layered Mexican dip
Flour tortillas rolled with cream cheese & salsa
Sapodillas (bought from local Mexican restaurant)
Burritos cut in half
Mexican blanket for tablecloth
Pinata for decoration
Lots of balloons
Tissue flowers
Poinsettias big holiday flower in Mexico

Three-Legged Stocking Race

Supplies:
Oversized stocking that will fit two feet
Tie
Tape to mark finish line
How To Play: Pair up kids. Have each pair put a leg in the oversized stocking and tie it at top so that it won't fall off. Make sure you have plenty of space. Put all the pairs at one end and mark a finish line at the other. On your mark the kids race to be the first pair over the line.

Pin The Nose On Frosty or Rudolph

Supplies:
Big Picture of Frosty or Rudolph
Red circle or orange carrot shape for each child, with adhesive on back and their name on the front
A blindfold
How To Play: Blindfold the player, spin 'em around and let them try to stick the nose where it's supposed to go. Give a prize for the player that gets the closest.

Christmas Scramble

Supplies:
Index cards
Paper bags.
How To Play: Choose a Christmas word such as: Christmas, Candy Cane, Santa Claus, Reindeer.... Write the letters of the word on individual index cards. Do this two times, making two sets. Put each set in a brown paper bag.
Divide children into teams. Give each team a bag. The first team to decipher what the word in the bag is wins. A variation of the game would be to divide into teams with the same number of children as there are letters in the word. Each child gets a letter and they must hold onto the card and stand in the proper order to spell the word for all to see.

Frosty Snowball Toss

Supplies:
Large cardboard with Frosty drawn on one side with a good size hole cut-out in belly or a few small holes for older kids
Marshmallows wrapped in plastic wrap and tied
Bucket to hold snowballs
Tape to mark distance line
How To Play: Place cardboard Frosty a little distance from a wall with a paper box lid on floor to catch snowballs. Mark your distance line according to age and skill of children. Line children up behind the line and place a bucket of marshmallows beside them. Give each child three tries to get their marshmallow snowball through the hole. Get all three snowballs in and earn a snowball reward.

Christmas Concentration

Supplies:
Colored butcher paper
Marker
Adhesive
Christmas trivia questions
Stocking
How To Play: On a large piece of colored butcher paper write out a message using words and symbols. Example: Have "ewe"rself a very "Mary" "Christ"mas ("pictures"). Cut into several odd shapes, turn over so words face the chalkboard.
In a stocking have Christmas trivia questions. Pull out a question. Read. Player that answers correctly may turn any piece of the puzzle over. First player or team to guess what's written wins. Guess incorrectly, lose a turn. Play over and over; it's lots of fun!

Blind Snowman Game

Supplies:
8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper
Pencil.
How To Play: Give everyone a piece of paper and a pencil. Explain to them that they will close their eyes and you will tell them what to draw. DON'T tell them they're drawing a snowman!
Draw 3 circles on top of each other. Each circle gets smaller from bottom to top. In the middle circle draw three buttons going vertically down the center. In the top circle draw two eyes, a carrot nose, and a mouth. Draw a hat on top of the smallest circle. Draw stick arms on both sides of the middle circle. Draw a broom in one stick hand. Open your eyes!
If playing with older children you might want to devise a point system, such as: 5 points for each circle that touches the other. Points for the hat touching the head, the eyes being in the top circle, etc.

Tongue Twisters

Supplies:
Silly Christmas Phrases
How To Play: Say each phrase three times as fast as you can. Let kids practice on their own or take volunteers to come up and try their best for all to hear. A candy can prize for anyone who tries.
Chocolate cocoa cravings cure colds 
Santa sings shining star songs 
Sally skis super slow 
Big bright bells banish boredom 
Grumpy Grinch goes grizzly gus 
Pretty packages perfectly packed 
Tip-top tiny tot toys 
Sally's striped stocking's stuffed slightly 
Santa's super souped sleigh swiftly slides sideways 
Cheery cute caroling Christmas critters 
Candy cane cookies keep kids coming

Snowball Dance

How to Play: Middle School dance or higher. All the girls stand on one side, the boys on the other. One girl and one boy are chosen to dance for a minute (or two), a signal is given and the girl and the boy choose new partners. This continues until everyone is dancing.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Dont forget the reason for the season!!


In the middle of the hussle and bussle of the holidays, Lets just not forget the reason for the season, Let us share the many blessin gs that we have in our family and share with others less fortunate.  Here are a few little things you can do to help a family in need.

I am also taking donations to help a family in need in my church if any one would like to donate, this family has been thru alot this year and they really need our love and support... Let's share in our blessings and give another family a good Christmas this year <S> If anyone is interested, please message me and I will give you the paypal information....


How to Help a Family in Need Celebrate Christmas

Take time this year to remember what the holiday season is all about. Help a family less fortunate than yours and discover the joy that comes from giving.
Instructions

Things You'll Need

  • Christmas Gifts
  • Coats
  • Christmas Tree Ornaments
  • Christmas Trees
  • Blankets
  • Canned Vegetables
  • Turkeys
    • 1
      Check with your church, temple or local civic groups like the Knights of Columbus, Elks or Lions Club to find families in need.
    • 2
      Prepare a gift basket with traditional foods, such as turkey, ham, stuffing, canned vegetables and soup so a family can have a holiday meal.
    • 3
      Donate canned goods and other foods to an organization that is collecting items from the community to give to families.
    • 4
      Buy gifts for the children who otherwise might not receive any. Remember not to give used toys as a holiday gift, since all children like to open something new.
    • 5
      Check with civic groups to find a holiday exchange program, in which you invite a family to come to your home and participate in your holiday festivities.
    • 6
      Collect warm blankets, coats, boots and other clothing that a family may need.
    • 7
      Buy necessities such as diapers, soap, cereal, shampoo and other things to offer to the family.
    • 8
      Contribute money to pay the electricity or heating bills for a month.
    • 9
      Buy a Christmas tree and ornaments for the family to help make their home more festive.


Read more: How to Help a Family in Need Celebrate Christmas | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_10131_help-family-need.html#ixzz1h1iKJSBf