{25 Days of Christmas: Day 7}

Our book today was J is for Jesus by Crystal Bowman.

Christopher got this book last year as a gift from our church nursery and we were very excited to use it this year in our Christmas countdown!

Our activity for the day was candy cane sensory tubes. I found the idea at Teach Preschool and knew that I would have no problem persuading Tim to eat some candy for me. This year I made two for Christopher to explore; one had green water and vegetable oil and the other was filled with red water and marbles or "snowballs." If I would have been really on top of it I would have had red or green electrical tape, but I'll settle for the black :)

Another fun activity, that we didn't get to do this year, was to make Candy Cane Playdough... how fun!

In case you are just joining us, here is the post with all the Christmas books.

{25 Days of Christmas: Day 6}

Our book for the day was What is Christmas? by Michelle Medlock Adams.

For our activity today I made a sensory box with our Fisher-Price Nativity.

I put Christopher's Fisher-Price Nativity, and scraps of paper from the books we've opened the past few days (gotta be green,right?), into a Sterilite container and mixed it all together. Then I let him go through it and find all of the pieces to his nativity. He carefully sorted out each scrap of paper before he touched the people/animals and was excited to talk about all the people in his nativity and what sound all the animals make.

Another great idea is using one of these (#1,#2) printable nativities. Print/cut/laminate and attach magnets; perfect for the fridge and to keep little one's busy while you are trying to cook!

In case you are just joining us, here is the post with all the Christmas books.

{25 Days of Christmas: Day 5}

Our book for today was Dear Santa by Rod Campbell.

We got Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell for Christopher's first birthday and it is still a big hit! He loves to lift all the flaps and read along so I knew he would love this version as well.

Our activity for today was to write a letter to Santa. As Christopher gets older I'm hoping that Santa will write letters back but for this year we are keeping it simple. I also loved the idea of having a letter writing party like Uncommon Designs and am hoping to do something like that next year.

"Dear Santa..."

Thinking about what else to put on his letter

Christopher's finished product and the "translated" version!

I also introduced Christopher to our Santa Mr. Potato Head and he has LOVED putting him together and taking him apart over and over again. I wasn't sure if he would be ready for it but it was, and still is, a huge hit!

Our Santa letterhead was found here.

In case you are just joining us, here is the post with all the Christmas books.

{25 Days of Christmas: Day 4}

Our book for today was I-Spy Little Christmas by Jean Marzollo.

 

Christopher likes the I-Spy board books and is getting good at being able to locate all the little items in the picture. I was excited when I saw this book at a Thrift Store, looking brand new, for 10 cents and knew I had to snatch it up!

Our activity for the day was supposed to be setting up Christopher's mini Christmas tree and then playing an I-Spy game with the ornaments. (More information on game found at The Activity Mom) I thought playing with his tree/ornaments would be the best idea just in case he took them off. 

We weren't able to complete this game yet due to travel so instead today we used stamps to make holiday gifts tags. I got the idea from A Day of Wonders and knew Christopher would have a good time.

Stamps and Stamp pad set from Dollar Tree

Stampin' away

So much fun!

I bought a stamp pad and some foam stamps at the dollar tree and let Christopher go to town on some white card stock. I then cut them out and am planning on using them as gift tags on the gifts with the wrapping paper he will make.

In case you are just joining us, here is the post with all the Christmas books.

{25 Days of Christmas: Day 3}

Our third book was 10 Trim-the-Tree'ers by Janet Schulman

 

During my last year of teaching I got the book 10 Trick-or-Treaters from the Scholastic flyer and thought it was adorable. When I found out there was a Christmas version I knew I wanted to check it out. In this book 10 little kids are decorating a tree and with them you count all the beautiful decorations 1-10.

Our activity for the day was coloring wrapping paper! I bought 2 yards of plain white butcher paper and let Christopher decorate it with crayons and stickers. Lately he has been loving stickers and asks for, "More stickies!" We both spent some time coloring, putting stickers on the paper and talking about what we're going to do with our giant picture. I'm hoping, since that's a lot of paper to decorate for a little man, that we can pull it out several times over the next few weeks to have it be nice and beautiful.

I have to color that spot, way over there!

It wasn't too long before he asked where the "stickies" were.

After we're finished decorating I'm going to use it to wrap one present for each person we're giving gifts too, that way they'll have special wrapping paper made just for them.

In case you are just joining us, here is the post with all the Christmas books.