A fun way to donate books

Sorry for the extended blog vacation. We've been busy. I found this site a few days ago and it's pretty cool. If you have a book that you love but no longer need, you can release it out into the world (totally random donation). The site states BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. You can leave your book, kid-book or not on a park bench, doctor's office, anywhere. Only exceptions should be federal buildings and airports/planes. You can register your book and track its travels. Exciting. Bookcrossing.com

Mini Tree Skirt (kind of)

It snowed this week (rare in our part of the planet) so Little Dude and I made a snowflake place mat/ tree skirt, drank warm chocolate, and ate gingerbread to commemorate our special day. I just found one of many "how to cut a snowflake" sites, and started cutting. When you fold the paper, it's really hard for your toddler to cut, so this is the parent part. Then your tot can glue the snowflake to a paper backing.

We added glitter glue because it makes everything better. We also added contact paper on top and below for extra durability. I wrote a nice little message about our snow day on the back. It's one of those things that will bring me to tears when I take it out of our Christmas decorations each year.

Sight Word Ornament

I wish I would have taken better photos of this one. This is one of Little Dude's favorites. He plays with it every day. I would use words that you see often in your tot's books. Later, you can find the same words in the books with your tot. It's the craft that keeps on giving.

Materials:

construction paper, paper plate, brad, glitter glue, single hole punch, glue stick, scissors, and sticky note (tot uses it as a tab to turn the wheel)

Poofy snowman

We made this one with some constuction paper, glue, hole punch, and cotton. It was cool to see Little Dude using glue like a pro.

Favorite Christmas Book

This is Little Dude's favorite Christmas book. In the book, Christmas Magic (Michael Garland) a little girl watches in amazement as a snow woman and snow man come to life. She even gets to dance with them on a snowy moonlit night. The snowflakes seem to glow and float on the pages. Magic!

Old magnets - New

Something to do with old magnets. Have your tot glue wrapping paper on the top and decorate with pom poms, glitter glue, stickers, etc. Glue stick works better than real glue for this one. Cut out a hole for tot's photo. Good, messy fun.

Kids Music for Grown-ups too

I heard this on Kids Stuff today. Cool concept and the music is actually really good. I hope the Little Dude likes it as much as me. Check out Gustafer Yellowgold