Christmas Stockings-elf, boot, skate, ballet, etc.

My cousin made some cute cowboy boot stockings. I wanted a pattern to whip some up & I found a great pattern here at Family Fun. My kids wanted the elf & ballet slipper as soon as they saw them. I made the ice skate for me and a boot for my husband. Fun.

Wood Nativity Set - to make or buy

Make this simple wood nativity set that kids can play with without breaking. Directions and pattern can be found here at Under My Umbrella. I LOVE this. Made a set today. It took one hour to cut out all the pieces with a jig saw and sander to smooth. Still needs paint but the kids have been playing with it.

Squeeze Painting

To make easy clean painting projects for your kids add some finger paint, ketchup, mustard, or mud to a zipper sandwich bag filling it about 1/2 full. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag tightly. Can also tape the bag for extra protection. Flatten the bag on a table. Kids can push the goo around from the outside of the bag to make pictures.

Now that you have the idea come up with other creative ingredients for your squeeze painting.

Nativity Finger Puppets

When my daughter (3) broke my ceramic nativity after playing with them like dolls I decided to make finger puppets. I sewed a simple manger onto some felt. I made all the finger puppets out of felt. I just drew mine free hand. You need to have a space large enough for a finger to fit into. You should sew the outer edge of the puppet to withstand child's play. You can glue or sew your decorative felt pieces onto the finger puppet. Have fun.

update***found an inspiration page well after mine were created found here at Ucreat w/ Kids.

Paddle Boat Block Toy

To make an easy fun paddle boat toy you'll need:

1 scrap block of wood

2 long nails

elastic band/string

1 small thin chunk of wood

I pre-drilled my holes into one end of my block of wood to prevent splitting. Put your nails in far enough apart for the paddle to fit between with some room for the elastic to twist up. Tie your elastic around the nails and insert the small paddle wood and twist. To prevent the wood from soaking up water, paint the wood with a non water based paint. This boat goes slow but it goes. My kids had a great time playing with it in the tub.

Doll Scarf & Hat

Need to keep your dolls warm cause you live in arctic chill zone like me. Cute and Easy. See how here at dollarstorecrafts. I modified these simple directions and used a scrap piece of fleece.

Christmas Choir

Make this simple kids craft for the holidays. Family Fun had directions here.

Ribbon Dance Stick

Make a simple ribbon stick to dance and twirl by taking a 8"-12" length of dowel with a screw eye (I used size 214 1/2) screwed in one end. Tie about 2 yards of thin ribbon to the screw eye & twirl away.