Making Christmas play dough couldn't be any easier. Just follow the recipe from the play dough article from November of 2009. The white is simply made with no dyes. The red assortment was made with about 40 drops of red food coloring and 7 drops of yellow. And the green was made with about 20 drops of green and 7 drops of yellow, once again. Below, are some ideas for sculpted Christmas creations. The other colors utilized are the leftovers from the Fall collection of play dough. 
I decided to make an experimental decoration for the boys' room. This ornamental wall hanging is composed of brown suede, scraps of random fabric, embroidery floss, and a stick from outside. I was going to make some cute lizards or turtles on each end, but I decided it was enough work spelling out an eight-letter word. One can easily adapt this creation to any word or phrase or use any material or use a rope, wire, or rod instead....This a fun, universal project.
We decided to have a Hanukkah dinner so I compiled a few recipes and created a perfect feast for a family of five. Going clockwise, the menu included Golden and Red Beet Soup (though, I can't find any golden beets at my local grocery stores this time of year, and our local farmer's market runs only until the end of October...thus, it is more like Red Beet Soup), Apple Fritters (these were superb), Matzo Balls (these are like tasty dumplings), Potato Latkes (this, in addition to the apple fritters, is customary during Hanukkah because fried foods are an important element to celebrating the tradition), Beet Greens sauteed in butter (I had these leftover from the beets I utilized and I thought we definitely needed some greens in the meal), and Roased Turkey (well, I cheated a little here....I bought one of those fresh roasted turkey breasts from the store). Anyone can put together a beautiful Jewish meal for the family. It is a great way to learn about this unique custom to actually observe the wonderful holiday of Hanukkah. Food and family gathering are are key experiences in learning about other cultures. One can simply perform an internet search for Hanukkah recipes or find a recipe book at the local library or at a book store. Lynx and I will be making Sufganiyot (basically jelly doughnuts) in a couple days, even though Hanukkah is now officially over this year. We are drawing it out a little longer.
During these last 8 days of Hanukkah, we have accumulated a small collection of Menorah art work. The framed pieces displayed are mine, Jaguar's, and Lynx's simple portrayal of, of course, Menorahs. I originally drew my amatuer asymetrical version of a menorah and the boys eyed my drawing and simulated it the best they could. Actually, Jaguar looked at mine one time, and then he drew it completely off the top of his head after that. The art work on purple construction paper was Jaguar's memory of a menorah a couple days later. And the popsicle stick edition on top is my creation, one of which I was trying to get the kids to do, but they were busy playing at the time, so I let them.
December is full of holiday spirit. Not only Christmas falls in this month, but also Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a celebration we are just learning about. I have read a few Hanukkah books to Jaguar, began a small Hanukkah coloring book, and created a few activities, along with his older brother, Lynx.
Since we are on such a low budget, we just made a menorah out of leftover homemade autumn play dough, which actually looks quite like a submarine. We poked holes in it with birthday cake candles and Ta Da! We have been adding a candle and lighting it every night.
Both Lynx and Jaguar secretly made gifts for one another, and exchanged them the next morning. They each made picture frames, which was funny because they picked out almost identical features for each frame. This was very rewarding for each of them.
I drew and colored a menorah as an example for the boys, and then Lynx and Jaguar created their own. Good symetry and line activity.
There are other activities we plan on doing, so stay tuned for he next Hanukkah update.
Montessori "jobs" for kids, or learning activities, can be adapted to any holiday or theme. Christmas time is filled with many possibilities. Currently, our family is on an extremely tight budget with this less than satisfactory economy. So, I have come up with a few educational ideas from simply visiting my local dollar store. I have many more ideas than listed here, but here are a few that Jaguar, and Bobcat for that matter, have tried.
I bought a package of small drum ornaments and a package of large ones. He used them as building/stacking blocks. 
Jaguar also sorted the drums in categories, such as by color and by shape. Simple, but great for mind organization and the ability to discern differences and similarities.
We bought a package of Christmas erasers and utilized them for a simple matching game. Great math skill in the preschool years. 
We grabbed a package of foam Christmas trees and some Christmas-theme foam stickers. Jaguar meticulously decorated his Christmas tree. This is a great spacial activity because it helps promote an awareness of placement and design. 
We picked up a package of Disney Christmas stickers and stamps. Jaguar and Bobcat went to town with decorating their work. This stimulates creativity and imagination. 
In the meantime, Bobcat found the tinsel and decided to begin decorating the tree. I thought it was a brilliant idea on his part and it is a great practical life activity to engage in decorating the Christmas Tree with family.
There are many more activities to come within the realm of Christmas, but right now we are working on Hannukah. So, we will get back to Christmas after the eighth day of Hannukah, and then Kwanzaa thereafter. What a festive month December is!!! Have fun creating jobs for your young ones.
Getting organized can be done in many ways. There isn't just one right way to go about this. I have discovered the use of a binder (or binders) with dividers. There are just too many aspects of life for me to keep track of on my own, so I end up writing things down. The only problem with writing things down is that I often don't look at what I wrote. However, with a binder filled with all my schedules and lists and planners, I am sure to keep refering back to it again and again. 
My "Notebook" is a work in progress, but so far, I have included the following:
Family
• Personal Information for each child (Developmental Toys and materials, extra curricular activities…)
• Clothing Size Tracker
• Master Occassions (Birthdays, Anniversaries….)
• Gift Ideas List
• Birthday Party Ideas
• Recommended Websites
• Movies to Watch
• Books to Read
• Library Information
• Craft Queue and Progress
• Holiday Planner
School
• Weekly Planner for each child
• Reading List
• Summer Programs Information
Home
• Monthly Cleaning Schedule
• Home Inventory
• Home Improvement/Decorating Ideas
• Car Maintenance /Schedule
Meals
• Weekly Schedule
• Shopping List
Finance
• Spending Record
• Bills to Pay
• Credit Card List
There are so many other subjects and categories that are important to every individual life. This list is not a full reference list of what one should have in their “Notebook” if they so choose to start one, but it is a great start. I have yet to expand on mine listed here, but at least now I feel like I am much more in control of my life. :)
The kids were getting bored of the original setup of the living room shelf, which is to be expected. So, I decided to change it to the parallel of our theme (or one of them): Nutrition. We have tons of wooden and felted food, so I decided to decorate the shelves with yummy and nutritious food. In addition, Lynx's human body puzzle is placed in the mix, just in case Jaguar gets interested in our parts and bodily functions (he was today at Bobcat's doctor appointment). There is a healthy veggies and fruits ABC book atop the shelf. There is also a wooden vegetable puzzle down below. 
As I mentioned previously, I was going to be taking the food advertisement cut-outs to utilize them for a food pyramid. Jaguar took each of the cut-outs and decided what food group they each fell into, and then he pasted them in place. 
Jaguar took his Melissa & Doug pizza making set and sorted the toppings. There are 3: mushrooms, peppers, and pepperoni. He organized them into 3 bowls. Bobcat did this earlier in the day, but nto quite as thoroughly. 
This activity required Jaguar to sort felt food into the 5 main groups: Fruits, Veggies, Grains, Proteins, and Dairy. He enjoyed figuring it out. 
The last nutrition-related activity with Jaguar today was the traditional baking of bread. We made a banana walnut bread in the bread maker. It was really tasty, but not as tasty as it could be....I have yet to find a bread maker recipe that I personally recommend. Regardless of the outcome, the process was fun and enriching for Jaguar. :)
Baby
~Soft, cuddly animals or dolls, preferably made with a natural material.
~Stackable blocks or rings.
~Short tunnel for crawling practice.
~Soft baby rattle, preferably in an organic material (they are going to be chewing on it).
~Wooden cars or animals with wheels (great concept to learn at this stage).
~Nesting blocks, eggs, dolls, or bowls.
~Balls.
~Knit, crocheted, sewed, felted, or quilted item made especially for the baby in your life. 
Toddler
~Wooden Blocks.
~Sandbox.
~Dolls.
~Tricycle.
~ABC Blocks.
~Step Stool.
~Wooden puzzles.
~Hand and finger puppets.
~Dress-up clothing and accessories.
~Variety of shapes of larger wooden building blocks.
~Wooden cars and animals with wheels.
~Books with short sentences. These should be about how things really are in everyday life. It is better to introduce fantasy after age 3, according to Montessori.
~Play toys that simulate real life: Kitchen sets, strollers, tool sets, etc...
~Knit, crocheted, sewed, felted, or quilted item made especially for your little one. 
Age 3-6
~Child sized broom and dustpan and mop.
~Child sized kitchenware.
~Child sized gardening tools.
~Books that are a little more intesive. These books can be more imaginative now.
~Simple painting and building kits.
~Molding clay.
~Stencils and other drawing supplies.
~Connectable building sets.
~Art easel and other supplies.
~Wooden lacing dolls and animals.
~Practical life frames, such as lace tying, buttoning, zipping, etc...
~Age level games like checkers.
~Wooden train or car/street set.
~Marbles, jacks, jump rope.
~Again, knit, crocheted, sewed, felted, or quilted item made especially for your preschooler. This can be inspirational to their own interest in crafting.
~Materials for beginning knitting or sewing.
~Musical instruments.
~Dollhouse or treehouse.
~Bicycle.
~Fairly large letters for manipulation.
Age 6-9
~Knitting, sewing, quilting, looming kits and/or materials.
~Art activities.
~Basic pottery-making set.
~Musical instruments.
~Building construction sets.
~More coplex puzzles, like science or map selections
~Wooden puzzles that deal with fractions.
~Age appropriate science sets.
~Gardening/botany kits or supplies.
~Globe.
~More complex building sets.
~Sports equipment.
~More complex games, like chess.
~Archery set.
Age 9-12
~Stilts, unicycle, or a pogo stick.
~Trampoline.
~Sports equipment, like a snow board or stuff for volleyball or soccer.
~Chapter books, literature, poetry books.
~Sewing Machine.
~More compex crafts, like candle making.
~Craft supplies. For instance, yarn and accessories for the young knitter or lots of fabric for the experimental quilter.
~Wood working supplies (tools, materials, , accessories, books) for an aspiring woodworker.
~Musical instruments and a variety of music...or lessons.
~Architecture sets.
~Challenging, developmental games.
~Science and Nature sets.
~Journal or notbook for writing.
As the holiday season progresses, I get more and more into winter and the Christmas spirit. Winter weather inspires me to start knitting again. I have been more into sewing and completing other projects that generally have to do with making things for the boys. It seems like there are always times when the boys are awake and needing stimulation or at least my presence, so I can't often settle in my bedroom where my sewing station is. Also, if I am making a gift for one of the boys, they cannot be present. So, I am stuck not being able to accomplish many of the projects I set out to complete. This is where Christmas knitting comes in. I can knit little projects just about anywhere and at any time I am not busy doing my many other daily tasks. Here I have a queue of adorable, festive holiday decorations. I hope to enjoy it myself and inspire others to get crafty this coming season.
Knitted Ornaments
Mistle Toe
Holiday Lights
We are sort of working in conjunction with our Montessori preschool, by accident actually. Each month they pick a few themes to follow along with, and so do we. This particular month, I chose nutrition, Native Americans, autumn, and harvest. To coincide with our nutrition home school studies, Jaguar was challenged to place each of the grocery store advertisement cut-outs in the correct pile. Each pile represented a different food group, and amazingly he caught on to the differences pretty quickly. These are the piles he so proudly made. I was originally going to mount each of these on index cards, but I then thought we could make a food guide pyramid on poster board and then he could arrange these cut-outs in their proper food group, creating a visual collage of colorful healthiness. 
Jaguar also played a game of determining which food did not fit in with the other 3 in a given group. Below are a few of the arrangements he had to figure out. Once he figured out which food did not fit, I would have him explain to me what food groups each of them were in to double check his answer and reinforce his understanding of the variety and categorization of nutritious food. 
Play dough is one of the age old activities for young children. However, working with your hands to mold artwork is beneficial for any age and can bring a family together in a fun, often funny manner. Play dough can be easily made at home, where you know the ingredients are safe (in case your little ones munch a few pieces). In fact, there are several recipes that can be utilized, including edible picks that include peanut butter and honey. They are quite easy to find on an internet search. I chose to use a traditional recipe, as shown below. I made 5 different colors with food coloring to represent Autumn colors. We all had quite a bit of fun creating, cutting, rolling, molding, cookie cutting, mashing, building...Well my husband and I just molded a turkey and a couple of faces...The kids really did all the work.
Recipe for Play Dough
1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup salt
food coloring
Mix all ingredients (add food coloring last). Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan, let cool slightly, and knead until blended and smooth. Store in a plastic bag or airtight container when cooled.
Posts
All Comments
