Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 16 – Family Time

This is what our Friday looks like.. cuddling up on the couch and watching christmas movies with my favorite people. Does it get any better?💏👪👬

For our day 16 of our christmas calendar countdown – cuddle.snuggle.watching and play time with family😍  

Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 15 – Santa’s Face Paper Plate Craft

Christmas is such a fun time of the year for crafting! We’ve already had so much fun with the Christmas crafts we’ve made thus far, but I’ve really been looking forward to making a Santa Craft with my kids.

For our day 15 of our Christmas Calendar Countdown – we made Santa’s Face using a paper plate and construction paper.

            This one so simple and adorable!  Since it is also winter break for Angelo,  we’ve invited his friend/classmate/busmate to come over our house for playdate.Keith was so excited to start the activity.   

The kids had a blast making thier Santa and I know I’m a little biased, but I think also Keith enjoyed our craft.

   Their Santa’s Craft turned out adorable mask.  

Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 14 – Christmas Treats for kids

We are just 12 days away from Christmas!  I don’t know about you, but it just doesn’t seem real yet. 

And speaking of holiday, tomorrow is the last day of Angelo for this term. With that being said he needs to bring food to share with his classmates. And what is christmas party without a sweet, right?!

There’s just something magical about baking and making treats with kids during the holidays.

For our day 14 of our christmas calendar countdown – we baked christmas treats.

 There’s nothing the kids will love more than a good cookie! My kids love cookies too and so I was thinking how I should come up with a cookie option both Angelo and his classmates would enjoy.   We decided to bake M&M cookies because they are colourful and super cute.And of course who doesn’t love M&M chocolates?! Next time I think I’ll make these cookies mini size with mini chocolate chips. Double cute!

To make them look pretty, and exciting, and unbelievably tasty.Each M&M cookie is packed using sandwich bag, in which I cut it into half. To make the kids mouth water in anticipation of consuming this delicious cookie favor, I sealed it with a cute Santa’s bag topper.  

Now I can say that these babies are my new holiday favorite treats.  

Christmas Calendar Countdown- Day 12 -Do you want to build a Snowman

It’s getting a little chilly outside, and ’tis the season for our favorite winter activity. Unfortunately, there isn’t any snow here in UAE, so the #cerradokids have never had the pleasure of building their own versions of Frosty (or Olaf, whichever you prefer).

To satisfy their desire to partake in the winter tradition of snowman fun, I decided to put together a Snowman Building Workshop with softest homemade playdough. 

For our day 12 0f Christmas Calendar Countdown – We build a Snowman and we watched Frosty the Snowman..  

Setting Up the Snowman Playdough Activity

After we made the playdough, I gathered materials that could be used to decorate our snowmen.   We used googly eyes in my crafting supplies. I also found some ribbon that I cut into small strips to use as scarves.  And of course our snowmen would need arms, so I went down hunting for twigs in the vacant lot near our building and added our findings to the supplies.  The kids had a blast making their snowmen at the snowman workshop!  
  I’m sure we’ll be doing this christmas winter activity many more times in the future!   

Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 11 – Eat.Drink and Be Happy

Hello Friends!  

Hope you are all staying warm! It is absolutely cold here. Brrr!  
 
Because we have been cooped up inside during the long weekend, my boys are starting to go a little stir crazy.So we treat them with their favorite nuggets and fries. 😝😝😝

They were too excited and happy na! Simple happiness!

For Day 11 of our Christmas Calendar Countdown – Dinner at Mc Donald’s

  

Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 8 – Lego STEAM Challenge

I love all things Christmas and am always excited to do a bit of decorating the house.

This year I decided to add a LEGO Christmas Scene to our christmas calendar countdown.

For our day 8 of christmas calendar countdown we did LEGO STEAM Challenge.

 If you are looking for an easy to make LEGO Christmas activity, I suggest to include this in your list. I asked Angelo to make something Christmas-y and this is what he came up with. A LEGO Christmas tree and little LEGO gifts with LEGO Mixels Santa.

 Happy LEGO building! Have a terrific holiday with your family.

Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 10 – Bake Rainbow Muffins

Christmas season  of course will not be complete without a mother-children baking session. 

For day 10 of Christmas Calendar Countdown we made Rainbow Muffins.   Today my kids thought I was the coolest mom ever. Why? We want to enjoy ourselves. So we don’t aim to have everything perfect activity. We aim to enjoy our time together.  All of these activities are just our way to bond as a family at this time of a year. We don’t want to get stressed and frustrated.  Making Rainbow Muffins for Christmas is such a fun and rewarding experience. It’s a great activity to do with the kids so grab those aprons and start baking. 

 

Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 7 – Gingerbread Man Craft

Christmas activities are my favorite! The excitement that Christmas creates in children is palpable and I love to use that excitement to fuel learning!

For our day 7 of our Christmas Calendar Countdown – we made gingerbread man.  My kids love this gingerbread man art activity! It’s a fun Christmas collage craft that is open-ended and all about the process.   

I loved seeing their creativity come out. They were super excited to make their gingerbread man. 

Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 6 – MAKE-A-LEGO-PLAYDOUGH-GINGERBREAD-HOUSE

Festive holiday play to keep kids busy and happy! 

Here’s a fun twist on the classic gingerbread house using two things our kids love: LEGO’s and playdough! 

For our day 6 of Christmas Calendar Countdown- Playdough + Lego = LEGO Playdough Gingerbread House.

Brick by brick, kids can build their own little house. The best part is tearing it down and you can still mesmerized with their creation.  

Here’s how to make your Lego Playdough Gingerbread House:

First, I print out the gingerbread house template and cut out the cardboard pieces. I used glue gun to assemble the gingerbread house. 

Then, add mounds of playdough onto the house.  We used our homemade glittery playdough from yesterday.  

Next, continue adding the bricks until all sides are fully filled.

Finally, when they are done we added Lego figures and our Paper Plate Christmas Tree to complete the set- up.  

Aren’t these adorable? They’re a fun activity to do with your kids. 

Christmas Calendar Countdown – Day 5 – Sparkly.Shimmering.Squishy Playdough Fun

December may just be the busiest month of the year!To make sure that all of our activities stays stress free, I keep things simple, change activities often, and use engaging printable activities like Christmas Playdough Mats.

Searching for kids activity ideas for our christmas calendar countdown days ahead of us, I decided to give homemade glittery play dough a try. I looked for a no-cook playdough recipe and this one caught my eye. I have been pulling one out at a time and setting up different invitations to create.

For our day 5 of our Christmas Calendar Countdown – It’s a Sparkly.Shimmering.Squishy Playdough Fun Afternoon.

 The sparkles really make it look like something extra special and the kids were so excited to play with it.  I set the Christmas playdough mats, which includes fun activities like Making Santa’s beard, making Rudolph’s antlers, decorating a Christmas tree, a wreath, making a snowman,decorating ornaments and presents.   

These are great for practising fine motor skills or just simply letting their creativity go wild.

 So many fun ways to engage with play dough this holiday season! So grab the free printables online and enjoy!