Rudolph Treat Cup

While making Frosty the snowman treat cups as Mia's teacher gifts, I came up with this idea for reindeer treat cups to fill with home-made goodies and give to Logan's Early On teachers. This is a great way to use some of the tin cans that are taking up so much space in our recycling area, and they look pretty cute, too, especially with his little hand prints for antlers. Note: If using a hot glue gun, which I recommend, keep out of reach of children. Otherwise, you can substitute tacky glue so that older kids can do this project themselves.


Materials:

• tin can
• brown paint
• paint brush
• newspaper
• something to hold paint
• pen
• scissors
• yellow felt (or craft foam)
• red felt
• 2 googly eyes
• red pom pom
• black dimensional paint (or marker)
• gold sequins
• hot glue gun (or tacky glue)

Directions:     

1. If using a hot glue gun, first plug it in to warm up.
2. Cover work surface with newspaper. Pour some brown paint onto a Styrofoam tray (or whatever you are using to hold paint), and coat the outside of a clean, dry tin can with paint. Tip: Foam paint brushes work well for this. Set can aside so paint can dry.
3. On yellow felt, trace both of your child's hand with pen. Cut out the hand prints. Tip: If you don't have felt on hand, you can substitute craft foam.
4. Decide which part of the can will be Rudolph's face. I suggest avoiding seams. Once paint is dry, use hot glue (or tacky glue if you prefer) to adhere on hand print on the each side of your can to make Rudolph's antlers.
5. Finish Rudolph's face by hot gluing two googly eyes onto the can. Below the eyes, glue on the red pop pom nose. Draw a mouth with black dimensional ("puffy") paint (or use a black marker).
6. Cut a strip of red felt long enough to fit around the tin can. I cut ours about 3/4" wide. Glue near the bottom to make harness. Lastly, glue gold sequins around the felt to look like jingle bells. Tip: To make it look more finished, be sure the overlap of the felt is at the back of the reindeer.
7. Make sure that all glue is dry before moving or filling your Rudolph treat cup. Give as a gift or use as a decoration.

P.S. Don't forget to check out my book review and giveaway for Green Grandma's Vinegar Fridays. Giveaway ends Wednesday, December 14, 2011, so you still have time! This book has many amazing tips for cleaning just about everything including pet messes and crayon marks from the walls. There is something for everyone, so be sure to like Green Grandma's Facebook page and let her know I sent you.

Turkey Collage with Dried Beans

While searching for Thanksgiving crafts that we hadn't done yet, I came across this cute variation on a hand print turkey and decided it was perfect entertainment for my little turkeys.

Materials:

• paper plate
• marker
• dried beans or pasta
• white glue (optional)

Directions:

1. Trace your child's hand onto a paper plate. If desired, add a beak, wattle, and legs to the turkey. Older kids can do this step themselves.
2. Give your child some dried beans or pasta. We used kidney beans, navy beans, black beans, pinto beans, split peas, and spiral pasta. Popcorn kernels are another option. I put each kind of bean into its own bowl, but you could mix them all together if you prefer. 
3. Kids can either decorate their turkey and glue down their design to make it permanent, or they can arrange and re-arrange the turkey as many times as they want, skipping the glue.

Turkey Snack Plate

{Mia, age 4, was in a bit of a hurry when she made this.}

Here is a quick, simple idea for keeping the kids occupied while making your Thanksgiving meal. Trace your child's hand onto a paper plate, and add a beak, wattle, and legs if desired. Then give him or her some snacks to arrange into a turkey shape before "gobbling" them up. We used Rice Chex, Honey Nut Cheerios, peanuts, and pretzels, and candy corn, but you could also try dried fruit (raisins, Craisins, etc.), other nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, M & M's, popcorn, or whatever else you have in your pantry. Happy Turkey Day!

"Season's Eatings!" Turkey Card

Here is something you can do with all those outdated spices in your pantry. I found this idea for a spice-covered hand print turkey, and decided to expand it into a Thanksgiving greeting card. Please note that this is not an edible craft, although your kitchen will smell quite lovely when you are done.

{Spice Hand Print Turkey by Mia, Age 4}

{Another Spice Turkey by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• white construction paper
• pencil
• newspaper (optional)
• white glue
• paint brush
• tray/plate to hold glue
• spices
• orange or yellow crayon
• black marker
• egg carton* (optional)

Directions:

1. Fold a piece of paper in half.
2. Trace your child's hand onto one side of the paper.
3. Draw a beak and wattle onto the thumb for the turkey's head.
4. If desired, cover work surface with newspaper to make clean-up easier. Pour a small amount of white glue onto a tray or plate and have your child "paint" it onto the entire turkey using a small paintbrush.
5. Let your child decorate the turkey with various spices. We used black peppercorns for eyes. Other spices included cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, apple pie spice, parsley, oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, and mustard. (I know that last one isn't really related to Thanksgiving, but I thought it would provide another color.) *Tip: I found that putting small amounts of each spice into a different section of an egg carton minimized the mess.
6. Gently shake off excess spices, and allow glue to dry.
7. Have your child add legs and feet to the turkey using an orange or yellow crayon. (Colored pencil or marker would work as well.)
8. Personalize your card and send "Season's Eatings!" to a loved one.

A Hand Print Tree for Fall

{Fall Hand Print Tree by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper
  
• brown crayon
• Bingo markers
• green crayon
• newspaper 
  
  

Directions:

1. Trace around your child's hand and forearm using a brown crayon.
2. Color in tree trunk and limbs with brown crayon. Mia also drew some extra branches.
3. Protect your work surface by placing newspaper under your paper. Add leaves using Bingo markers in fall colors. Mia chose to use green, red, orange, and purple, all of which we bought at Dollar Tree. (Okay, when I came up with this craft idea I envisioned a fuller tree, but Mia decided that most of the leaves were falling, so that is why they are all down the sides of the tree.)
4. As a finishing touch, draw some grass at the bottom of the paper with a green crayon. Add fallen leaves to the grass, if desired.

Hand Print/Foot Print Flower Painting

{Flower by Mia, Age 3}

We've seen the first few flowers of spring poking through the ground and it made me think of a spring flower painting Mia and I did last year around this time. With adult help, this craft would work for practically any age. It's easy to do, but can get a bit messy if you're not prepared to clean up as you go.

Materials:

• paper (We used pink.)
• green paint
• another color of paint 
• paint brush (foam worked well)
• newspaper to protect work surface (optional)
• paper towels, wash cloths, baby wipes, etc.

Directions:

1. Cover child's hand with paint and press onto the center of the top part of the paper. Clean off child's hand.
2. Cover bottom of child's left foot with green paint and press onto the paper underneath and to the left of the hand print flower. (We found that doing this on the floor and having the child stand on the paper was easiest.) Clean off child's foot.
3. Repeat step 2 with the right foot. 
4. Using a paint brush, add a green stem to connect the flower with the leaves.
5. Once the paint is dry, display your flower craft.

Note: We used acrylic paint, which dries fast but stains clothing, so be sure to cover clothing or wear some you don't care about ruining if using acrylic paints.

Wearable Reindeer Antlers

Last year Mia and I made plain reindeer antlers. This year we added a reindeer face to them after I was inspired by this website. I have made a couple of changes that I think made this craft perfect for Mia.

Reindeer Antlers by Mia, Age 3 1/2

Materials:

• brown construction paper
• clear tape
• glue (I like Aleene's Tacky Glue)
• 2 craft sticks
• pencil
• red crayon (colored pencil/marker)
• 2 googly eyes
• pom pom
• paper trimmer (or scissors)

Directions:

1. Using a paper trimmer (or scissors) cut brown construction paper into two strips about 3 inches wide. Wrap paper around child's head to get an approximate measure and then tape the strips together.
2. On brown construction paper (or another color if you wish), trace child's right hand twice and cut out hand prints. Do the same with child's left hand.
3. Glue both right hand prints together on either side of a craft stick. Repeat with left hand prints. (This will give the antlers more support, and using double-sided hand prints helps conceal the craft stick.) Glue craft sticks inside of the paper head band on opposite sides. Use some extra tape to help secure the craft sticks.
4. If desired, add a face to your reindeer antlers head band by using two googly eyes, a pom pom nose (Mia chose pink, but you might want to use red for Rudolph's nose), and a mouth (Mia used a red crayon.)
5. Once all glue is dry, wear your reindeer antlers.

Hand Print Christmas Tree Craft

Here is a project Mia and I did last year when she was 2 1/2. This craft is one that older kids can do independently, but younger children will need a lot of help if they aren't very good at tracing or cutting neatly. I do not remember the source where I found the idea originally, but here is one example that includes a template with printable ornaments for you to add to the tree, if you wish.

Materials:

• green construction paper
• brown construction paper
• yellow construction paper
• pencil
• scissors
• glue
• pom poms (or sequins, beads, buttons, etc.)

Directions:

1. Take a brown sheet of construction paper (We actually used black since we didn't have brown) and fold it like a "hot dog" (the long way). With the paper still folded, draw half a triangle with the top point meeting on the fold and leaving about an inch or two at the bottom of the paper. Draw a line for the base of the triangle and then down to make half a rectangle. Cut out your tree shape.
2. Trace child's hand several times onto green construction paper and then cut out the hand prints. We used two different shades because that is what we had, and I think it gives the tree some added dimension. We used 14 hand prints for our tree, but you may need more or less depending upon the size of your child's hand and the size of paper you use for the tree. (Tip: Instead of tracing Mia's hand over and over, I traced it once, cut out the hand print, and then used it as a template. This time-saver is especially helpful if your child is young and has a short attention span!)
3. Arrange hand print cut outs on top of the tree shape. When you are happy with the arrangement, glue them down. I like the fingers pointing outward to look like branches. (Tip: Make sure to put glue on the side with pencil marks so it looks neater.)
4. Draw a star on yellow construction paper, cut it out, and then glue it on top of the tree.
5. Decorate your tree as desired. We used pom poms for ornaments, but you could use sequins, buttons, beads, or similar items. Make sure that all glue is dry before displaying your hand print Christmas tree.

Hand Print Santa Claus

Here is a project Mia and I did last year, when she was 2 1/2. I don't remember where I found the idea originally but here is one example I found online. Another cute idea is found here.

Materials Needed: 

• green construction paper (or any color)
• pink construction paper
• white paint
• paint brush
• red pom pom
• 2 googly eyes
• red craft foam (or paper or felt)
• red crayon (marker or colored pencil)
• cotton ball (or white pom poms)
• scissors
• glue

Directions:

1. Cover child's palm with white paint. Foam brushes work well for this. We used washable paint, and it looks somewhat transparent. Acrylic paint may look better.
2. On green construction paper (or any color) press child's hand down to make a hand print. We used 1/2 sheet of paper since Mia's hand was small. Allow paint to dry.
3. Cut a circle out of pink construction paper. Ours was about 2 inches in diameter. Then, cut away about 1/3 of the circle, curving it slightly. Glue onto the paper above the white hand print to make Santa's face. (You could use another color of paper if you don't want a pink Santa.)
4. Glue on 2 googly eyes.
5. Glue on a red pom pom to make the nose.
6. Using a red crayon, colored pencil, or marker, draw a small mouth in the white beard, leaving a small section of white above it to be the mustache part of Santa's beard.
7. Cut a hat from red craft foam, felt, or paper and glue on top of Santa's head. Ours is curved, but you could make a simple triangle if you prefer.
8. Take a cotton ball and gently pull it apart, making a small ball to glue at the tip of Santa's hat and some fluffy trim to glue down on the brim of the hat. You could also use white pom poms.
9. Allow all glue to dry and then display your hand print Santa or give it as a gift. Grandparents love kid-created stuff!

Fall Hand Print Wreath

Here is another craft I did last year with Mia, who was 2 1/2 at the time. Once again, it is something that I did most of the work on. Of course, older kids can do this more independently. And it is always cute to have hand prints of your kids at various ages.

Materials:

• scissors
• glue
• pencil
• paper plate
• crayon (marker or colored pencil)
• red construction paper
• orange construction paper
• yellow construction paper
• ribbon (or yarn)

Optional Materials:

• rubber stamps
• markers (or ink pads)
• acorns, leaves, pine cones, etc.
• foam scrapbooking adhesives

Directions:

1. Cut out the center of a paper plate.
2. Color the paper plate. We used a green crayon, but fall colors would look nice.
3. Trace child's hand or hands onto red, orange, and yellow construction paper. Cut out hand prints. We used four of each color to make our wreath, but this will vary depending on the size of the hand prints. Arrange hand prints as desired and glue down onto the plate. (Tip: Instead of tracing each hand repeatedly, you can trace each hand once, cut out hand prints, and then use them as templates for tracing the other hand prints. I recommend this method since it requires children to sit still for shorter periods of time!)
4. Cut a length of ribbon (or yarn) and adhere to the back of the plate for hanging. We used foam adhesives, but you could also use glue or tape.
5. Decorate the front of your hand print wreath. We used fall-themed rubber stamps, colored with markers in place of ink. (Tip: If you use more than one color marker per stamp, it helps to apply all of your colors and then to "huff" on the stamp before stamping onto the paper. This moistens any of the ink that may have dried slightly while you were applying other colors.) You could also try gluing on real acorns, leaves, pine cones, or other natural items. We also added a ribbon bow to the front of our wreath.
6. Allow everything to dry completely before hanging your wreath.

Paper Bag Turkey Project

My turkey has Logan's hand prints for wings.

I adapted this idea by using lunch size paper bags instead of grocery bags. In my opinion, this is better anyway, because the bags don't have writing on them and their smaller size means that you finish the project more quickly (which is a plus when you are doing crafts with young children)! Also, I think using lunch bags would lend itself more easily to group projects since you can simply buy a package of them instead of scrounging up grocery bags. I have also made a few other changes to the original project that allow for some fun variations in how you decorate your paper bag turkey.

Materials Needed:

Turkey by Mia, age 3 1/2 (includes Logan's foot prints for wings)

• brown lunch bag
• scissors
• glue
• crayons or markers in fall colors
• orange or yellow construction paper
• red construction paper 
• yarn, twist tie, or rubber band
• googly eyes 
• newspaper

Optional Materials:

• pencil (for tracing hands or feet)
• orange or yellow pipe cleaner 
• paint in fall colors
• paint brush
• newspaper (to cover work surface when painting)

Directions:

1. Starting at the top of a brown lunch bag, use crayons (or markers) in fall colors to fill in the top half of the bag. (I folded the bag in half to give us a visual of where to stop coloring.) Mia colored hers randomly, and I colored mine in vertical stripes about 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter.
2. Fill the bag half full with crumpled newspaper.
3. Twist the bag closed and secure with a length of yarn, a rubber band, or a twist tie. (The original directions said to use yarn. I found this to be the trickiest to work with, but it be a logical choice if you are doing this project with a group. Rubber bands and brown twist ties from bread bags worked nicely for this.)
4. Using scissors, cut strips from the top of the bag down to the yarn/rubber band/twist tie to form tail feathers. I followed the lines separating my different colored stripes. Mia just started cutting.
5. Glue on two googly eyes.
6. Cut a triangle from orange or yellow construction paper and glue down to make the beak.
7. Cut a kidney bean shape from red construction paper for the wattle. Glue down near the beak.

Optional Ideas:

Mia's painted turkey has pipe cleaner feet.

Paper Bag Turkey by Mia

• Create wings for the turkey by tracing a child's feet onto brown construction paper, cut out foot prints, and glue onto paper bag. I did this with Logan's foot prints.
• Another option for making wings is to trace a child's hands onto colored paper, cut out hand prints, and glue onto the bag. I used Logan's hand prints on brown paper and two more hand prints on orange paper. After cutting out the hand prints, I layered the orange on top of the brown and trimmed off the excess. Then I glued the orange pieces to the brown and glued the wings to the paper bag. (You could also glue the orange on top of the brown before trimming.)
• To make feet for the turkey, cut two squares out of yellow or orange construction paper. Then trim the paper so that it resembles a crown with three points. Glue to the bottom of the bag.
• Another option for making feet is to cut an orange or yellow pipe cleaner in half. Bend each half so that it has three toes and then glue to the bottom of the brown bag.
• If you don't have googly eyes, you can draw on eyes or make them from construction paper.
• The directions for the original project said to paint the tail feathers after cutting them. I found that this was too difficult for Mia, but it may be something that a school-age child can do. (It might also be easier if working with a grocery bag instead of a lunch bag, but I didn't try this.) I also tried having her paint the bag before cutting, but again this didn't work out too well. She didn't really know where to apply the paint and we had to wait for it to dry. (My opinion is that using crayons is best. It's less messy and you don't have to wait for paint to dry.)
• Another option for tail is to color or paint a paper plate and glue to the bag of a paper bag. To do this, I think you would need to fill the whole bag with crumpled newspaper and close it at the top. Or you could possibly separate the bag into two sections, one for the head and one for the body, and secure it both in the middle and at the top.
• Today (11/17/10) I saw a picture of a paper bag turkey in our local newspaper. It had a plastic spoon decorated as the head, with the handle of the spoon stuck into the front of the paper bag.

Hand Print and Foot Print Turkey

I got the idea for this craft from this website. The original directions say to use two foot prints to make the turkey's body. We used one and I think it looks fine, but you could use two for a really plump turkey.

Turkey by Mia, age 3 1/2

Materials:

• scissors
• glue
• pencil
• red construction paper
• orange construction paper
• yellow construction paper
• brown construction paper
• googly eyes
• orange or yellow pipe cleaner (optional)

Directions:

1. Have child stand on brown construction paper and using a pencil, trace around his foot (or feet, if desired). Cut out foot print/s. (Older kids can do this themselves, but I did this for Mia.)
2. Trace both hands on red, orange, and yellow construction paper. Cut out hand prints. Save scraps.
3. Fan out hand prints as desired and glue to the back of the brown foot print, forming the tail.
4. Glue two googly eyes onto the top of the foot print.
5. Cut out a triangle from a scrap of orange or yellow and glue below the eyes to make the beak.
6. Cut out a kidney bean shape from a scrap of red paper and glue down to make the wattle.
7. If desired, you can cut scraps of yellow or orange paper to form feet. You could also cut a pipe cleaner in half, bend it to make toes leaving some straight section of pipe cleaner for the legs, and tape the straight parts to the back of the paper.

Multi-Generation Gobbler Craft

I have seen many hand print turkey crafts, but this one is especially neat because it gets the whole family involved, and what could be more appropriate for Thanksgiving? You could even begin a holiday tradition of doing this each year to record the kids' growth!

Materials Needed:

• glue
• scissors
• pencil
• red construction paper
• orange construction paper
• yellow construction paper
• brown construction paper
• wiggly eyes

 Directions:

1. Trace hands of each family member onto construction paper and cut them out, including Mom and Dad, if you wish. Save the scraps. (I traced the largest hand print--mine--on yellow, Mia's on orange, and Logan's on red. You can do them in any order you wish.)
2. Cut a pear shape out of brown construction paper for the head and body (If you prefer, cut out a circle for the body and a smaller circle/oval for the head.)
3. Using your scraps, cut out a yellow or orange triangle for the beak and a red kidney bean shape for the wattle.
4. Lay your largest paper hand print on a flat surface and then glue the next smaller one on top of it. Continuing gluing until all of the hand prints are layered to form the turkey's tail feathers.
5. Glue the brown body onto the smallest hand print.
6. Decorate the turkey's face by gluing on the beak, wattle, and two wiggly eyes. Allow to dry completely.

I found this craft idea on this website.

Hand Print and Foot Print Ghosts

Hand Print and Foot Print Ghosts by Mia, Age 3 1/2

Here is a very quick, very simple project for your little ghouls and goblins to make.

Materials Needed:

• white paper
• pencil
• black paint, crayon, colored pencil, or marker
• scissors

Directions:

1. Trace child's hand (or foot) onto white paper.
2. Cut out hand print (or foot print). 
3. Draw or paint eyes and mouth. (We used black dimensional paint.)

Note: Another option for this craft is to paint child's hand with white paint, press onto black construction paper, allow paint to dry, and then draw/paint on face.

Hand Print Bat Craft

The inspiration for this project comes from the Oriental Trading Co. catalog.

Materials Needed:

Hand Print Bat by Mia, Age 3 1/2

• black construction paper
• scissors
• glue
• wiggle eyes
• white craft foam (or construction paper)
• dimensional paint (optional)
• pencil

Directions:

1. Trace both hands onto black construction paper.
2. Cut out paper hand prints.
3. Cut the face/body of the bat from black construction paper. (Ours looks like an oval with pointy "cat" ears on top.)
4. Glue hand print cutouts to bat's body to form wings.
5. Glue wiggle eyes to bat's face.
6. Cut fangs from white craft foam.
7. Glue fangs to bat's face. (You could also use candy corn for a fun twist!) 
8. Draw a mouth. (We used red dimensional paint. You could use crayon, marker, or tempera paint in any color.)  

Easy Apple Tree Craft

The inspiration for this craft: http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/applecrafts/a/blappltree.htm

Materials Needed:

• large piece of paper 
• brown crayon
• green paint
• red paint

 Directions:

1. Trace child's hand (with fingers spread apart) and forearm all the way to elbow to make the tree trunk and branches. We used 12" x 12" paper for this.
2. Color the tree trunk brown. Mia used crayon, but colored pencil, marker, or paint would work, too.
3. Add the leaves. Mia painted them using green finger paint, but there are several ways you could do this: marker, crayon, colored pencil, painting with a brush. (See Variations for more ideas.)
4. Make apples by dipping finger into red paint (we used acrylic paint after the finger paint was dry) and then dotting it onto the leaves.

Variations: 

• You could make an autumn tree by painting the leaves with fall colors, by using foam stamps and paint to make the leaves, or by gluing on silk leaves or real leaves.

• You could create the apples by using foam stamps, by adding shaped buttons (or plain round buttons), or you could make the apples green or yellow for added variety.