1-2-3 Come Do Some Winter Craftivities With Me

PTL  things are FINALLY back to normal in my little cyber-world.  Few things have the capicity to incapacitate me, as much as computer problems.  I'm such a control freak that when something happens that is out of my control, it is way beyond frustrating. Anyone relate? 

We now have a brand new server and everything seems to have transferred well.  Sorry if you experienced broken links and error messages while I was swinging from the ceiling pulling my hair out.  I'm all better now, and can't wait to share lots of new stuff that I played around with, to keep my sanity, while experiencing insane glitches.

This is a potpourri of winter-themed "stuff."  My new personal favorite I call My Shapely Snowflakes.  I was watching the overhead at church Sunday; they had a lovely snowflake posted on the message.  The center was of all things a hexagon!  That's a "toughy" shape that I'm always on the look out for fun things to do with it. 

Beside the Pentagon and a few nuts and bolts, it's hard to give children an example.  My husband thinks I should shut off my creative enthusiasm every now and then, especially at church, but I was so excited to design My Shapely Snowflakes I sketched a note to myself. 

You can make a set to use as flashcards, a bulletin board, interesting assessment, or independent matching center.  I've also included a spinner, so students can play a game. Click on the My Shapely Snowflakes link to grab it. 

One of my Y5 standards was that students could recognize and spell their names.  Although my kiddo's accomplished this by the end of September, they always enjoyed any activity that involved their names.  

With that in mind, I designed this wintry alphabet snowman.  You can give your students the option to spell their name, so they have a sweet sign to decorate their bedroom door with, or have them think of a winter word they'd like to spell out like: peace, love, joy, snow, winter or even welcome.  Hang them in the hallway with the caption: "_________________'s Kinders Are Simply Brrrr-illiant!"

There are 4 different sets of alphabet cards to choose from.  You can also print, laminate, trim and use for a variety of games.  A 3-page list of ideas is included in the packet. This is the one I made for my grandson.  Click on the link to view/download the Snowman Alphabet craftivity.

If you're tossing in some poetry to cover a variety of genres, have your students make an acrostic poem.  Students of all ages enjoy making them, and they are a nice way for children to review letters and words that begin with those letters.  I've made a template for a snowman, winter, and frozen word acrostic.  Click on the link to check out The Snowman Acrostic craftivity.

I know many of you are out there searching the web for quick, easy and inexpensive ideas for your kiddo's to make as a gift, or for you to give to them.  How about a pin? The snowman tea light is not my original idea.  I found it all over Pinterest as a magnet and decided to diddle around with one as a pin.

As a child I LOVED my Santa, Rudolph and Snowman (pull-the-string and light-up-the-nose) pins you could buy at the "dime" store.  Anyone else remember those? 

I used E6000 to glue on the pin back, wiggle eyes and bow; added the mouth with a permanent Sharpie, and cut off the finger of a black glove to make the hat.  Yes it stretches that much!  Roll the end up, so they don't look frayed and add a dot of glue to keep it rolled.

The Dollar Store sells these gloves in all sorts of colors.  I think red or green would have looked nicer, but I had black around the house so tada! (2 pair makes 20 inexpensive pins/magnets.)  You can also buy a pack of tea lights there too.  Make sure you position the hat so that you don't cover the light switch.

Finally, another sweet gift is the Christmas Tree Lights bookmark made out of finger prints. "You light up my life with your love, so I left some finger prints to brighten yours."  Baby Kaiden and I made this sample; my daughter loved it. 

This is included in the Bright Student packet, which also has several games, + 2-sets of alphabet cards.  Click on the link to view/download the Christmas Lights craftivity.

Thanks for visiting today.  I try to design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for more FREEBIES hot off  Diane's sketch pad.  Feel free to PIN away.

"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” - John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley: In Search of America