For this activity we made Handprint Santa cards. I first saw this idea on the FamilyFun website. My mom just subscribed to this magazine for me and I'm so excited. I had a subscription several years ago and let it expire. So it will be fun to look forward to again. And now since the boys are older, we will probably try even more of the activities than before.
My youngest son, in particular, enjoys having his hands (or feet) painted. We made a really cute Halloween wreath in October with the boys' hand and footprints. So now whenever I say I'm going to paint his hand, he is totally all over it. We also made some really cute handprint trees recently in my Montessori preschool class. To see how we did it, click here.
Here my little boy is getting ready to use his fingertip to paint pom-poms and trim on the Santa hat.
This is my older son's hand covered with paint.
And here he is pressing it onto the card. I can't believe his hands will be so big soon that they will hardly fit onto a card this size!! WAHHH!!! He's growing up too fast, but I love seeing him grow and change with every age. I remember when I was little asking my mom fairly often whether or not she wished I was still a baby. I think I realized somehow that older children come with annoying challenges, and I was always afraid she would prefer me as a baby over me at my current childhood age. I also remember that she always answered me in the same way. She would say something like, "Every age has its' joys and I have loved being your mom at every age." Now that I am a mom, I agree. I am sometimes wistful for those cuddly baby days, but I also really love seeing my boys grow and change.
Here are a few of our finished cards. Each boy painted 3 cards. I think both of these are my older son's cards. We will give these cards to our family members who spend Christmas day here at our home with us.
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4 comments:
Yes...my children's interest in Advent activities have also diminished. They have a countdown calendar with a piece of chocolate for each day and even their interest in that has gone down. I think it's all just overload sometimes! Maybe next year you could put out 12 empty stockings and fill them with the various activities you do throughout the month. The kids could write down the activity and maybe a bit about the experience. It would be really fun to read the following year and remember the previous season. Also, there isn't the pressure to do something everyday. When you have time, you can create and fill!
I am definitely leaning towards that type of an idea for next year, having only about 12 planned activities. I like your idea of having them write about it. I am thinking of making a Shutterfly book with photos from all we did this Christmas and giving it to them at the beginning of Advent next year. That would be a nice tradition, I think. My kids are losing interest in their chocolate calendar too!! How funny!
How cute is this card!!!!!
oh so cute!! What a neat idea!
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