Red Advent Candles and Candy Canes

I went to buy the advent candles for this years wreath, and COULD NOT find the right colors. We were at a dollar store looking again one day, and could only find 4 red tapers and a white pillar for the center. I sighed and announced to the children that the red would have to do for this year and went to the till.  We were walking back to the car and my oldest son, 5, was tromping along in his  big winter boots, looking pretty aimless when he had a thought. "Mom" he said, it doesn't matter that the candles are all red.  They remind us of the stripes on Jesus back when he died for us, just like the candy cane story"
Isn't that something we should also remember at Christmas, that Jesus was born so he could die and be our Savior?
DS was talking about  a poem they learned in Sunday school

Look at a candy cane, what do you see?
Stripes that are RED like the BLOOD shed for me!
White for my Savior who's sinless and pure!
J is for JESUS, my Lord. That's for sure!
Turn it around and a staff you will see--
Jesus my SHEPHERD, is coming for me!
                       - Unkown


Maybe we will do red candles every year!

Leopawz has Friends!

 

Now everyone has a Pawz Puppet to play with!

Meet Paulina BunnyPawz, Dawgy BrownPawz and Elliott MoosePawz!

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.....

Every year I put it on my to do list to create a manger scene safe for little hands. We have a porcelain set under our tree that the children are good about being gentle with, but I would love to have one they can really play with. Well, I still haven't made one yet, but DD and I have enjoyed making this wire wrapped Mary and Joseph and baby together using this technique. We didn't make boots of clay and we used pipe cleaners and embroidery floss. And I couldn't find any plain wood beads, but I love these paper mache beads we found. DD is very proud of them, and at the moment they sit in their own little  stable we found at a thrift store.

I try hard not to focus on the commercialism of Christmas, and I love the idea of celebrating advent, to prepare our hearts to meet with God on a personal level as we celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25. Focus on the Family has a wonderful page about advent with readings and family based activities to do as we prepare for Christmas.
Whether you are a Christian believer or not, make sure you  take some time to ignor the hussel of the season and focus on the gifts of friendship, neighborliness, family and love this season.

Nature Play Mat.

I have a hard fast rule that I won't spend more than $10 out of pocket on a friends birthday gift.  DD has a dear, sweet friends Birthday to go to tomorrow and we just finished the gift.  I SWEAR I only spent $10....I just happened to add to it with some busy sewing fingers and my scrap bag and supplies on hand!

I made two more of my  little travel dolls, a picnic blanket and a play mat from discounted fabric at Walmart
:o( sadly, we too are loosing our fabric department ) and purchased a small set of doll house dishes and a draw string bag at the Dollar Store.  I also made a tiny frog for friends little brother to play along with. The joy of this mat, is that it is also a tied blanket quilt with batting in it, and a game!
(DD doesn't know it, but she's getting one of these for Christmas! )


When I can figure out a better way to link PDF's I intend to post all these as  patterns.  But for now, I hope you find it an inspiration in these pictures!

I purchased 1 m of green and 0.8m of blue soft suede velvet and 1 m of quilt batting.

I trimmed 3 inches off of the width of the blue fabric and cut the batting to fit.  I layed down the green and then the batting and then the blue and cut the green  2 inches larger all around than the blue to become the binding.

I had a handful of polyester felt squares and gold embroidery thread on hand.  The Flowers are silk flowers removed from the plastic stems and a yellow circle of felt was sewn into each one. Each lily pad and flower has a letter of the alphabet embroidered in the center, (The flowers are the vowels).  I sewed them onto the blue and then I folded the green up double over the blue and pinned into place. I sewd it by hand onto the blue and went around a second time, hand quilting through all layers.

Each lily pad used two strands of yarn to tie the quilt for the quilting. I frayed them to make them look like flowers.n On the back, they look like little "Forget- me- nots" where the dolls can have a picnic together on their picnic blanket

Nature Play Mat/ Blanket

Enjoy a picnic with your dolls on one side and a swim in the lake on the other.  Or wrap it around tight to keep warm on a cold day.  But this is not only a fun play mat and a blanket, but it is a game as well! On the pond, you will see each lily pad has a letter of the Alphabet.  The set of dolls or frogs become your playing pieces and the lily pads and flowers become your squares.

 

How to use the triangle die

Roll the triangle dice and then pick it up from the point on the top. Tip it over and look at the number that is on the flat bottom and that is the number of spaces you jump.

Games to Play

Depending how old you are, you can play the alphabet game in so many ways.

If you are just learning your letters,  roll the die and jump the number of squares. Name the letter you land on correctly! If you don’t name it correctly the first time, you miss a turn.

If you are learning your letter sounds,  roll the die and jump the number of squares. Name the letter and it’s sound.

 For example:  The Letter  (S) says “sssss”.

If you are wrong, you will miss a turn though. And remember, if you land on a vowel, it has two sounds.  If you get both sounds right you may take a second turn!

If you are reading, roll the die and jump the number of squares.  Name a word that starts with that letter. If you are spelling, spell that word correctly. If you are wrong you miss a turn. At your next turn, spell the word correctly before you move the dice to move on.

The first person in any game to reach the letter “Z” wins the game!

 Beanbag Toss Game

Decide how many tosses each person gets. Toss a doll, and which ever letter the doll lands on, follow the directions in one of the games above minus the die.

Make a point system if you wish:

1 point if you land in water but name a letter close by and follow directions,

2 points for landing on a lily pad and following directions

3 points for landing on a flower and following directions

Keep score on a chalkboard or paper, and at the end of the tosses, add up the score to see who has the most points

Cleaning Instructions.

Dolls and Frogs are made of Flannel and filled with rice. Wash surface with a damp cloth if needed

Mat/ Blanket is made of plush fabrics and should be surface wiped with a damp cloth, or immersed in a tub of luke-warm water and a mild detergent and hung to dry to be freshened. Do not iron.

Simple Play

Here is a repeat of my article for Novembers Frontier Gazette that I thought was worth saying over here as well!

Simple Play
The Christmas fliers have been out in abundance over the last two weeks, full of talking toys, computers and remote controlled cars. Even the doll houses have lights that works and sound cards that make the family talk! Wii and it's games of virtual imagination are big on the scene and what toddler wouldn't like a tractor with flashing lights and real motor sounds?

But what I long for as a mom is a house with home grown imagination and occasional moments of piece and quiet!
Mary and Laura had very simple play toys, made from the natural resources around them or toys that imitated adult responsibilities.

Here is a little list of toys and games that I find quiet, educational and fun for my children.

Wooden train set - we have a battery powered plastic set, but for children under 5, it is difficult to put together, trains crash as they run at different speeds depending on the battery power, and the pieces break when a parent accidentally steps on one hidden under the laundry.

Our wooden set though.....fits perfectly with any building block set, can be cheap or expensive (Thomas verses store brand) and can be put together in any order by any set of cute chubby fingers that is willing to try!
I always enjoy hearing the gentle "chugg chugg whoooo" from my littlest family member

Cloth Dolls - I get so tired of dressing Barbie for the umpteenth time, because her limbs are so stiff for DD to get her dressed. Rag dolls, Waldorf inspires dolls or cloth and wire dolls such as doll house dolls or the Pony club or Only hearts are "girl shape" inspired and easy for young fingers to dress on their own. One rag doll can become a baby, a sister or a best friend at play time, and can be as much fun as any barbie if given with a generous wardrobe. (Oh!! Look at this link!!)

Books - The window to the imagination, almost any kind will do! Finding books that are age appropriate and easy to read for the child is a good idea. But also having books that you can read as a family can inspire great moments together. Offer to read a new book to a child in your life!

Paper, Ribbons, Scissors and Glue- My childrens favorite Holiday gift is when Uncle B raids the dollar store paper and craft department. I personally avoid paint and markers, but I have no issues scrubbing up glue off my table! I have had some very interesting pictures, creatures and "items" created at our table from little ones imaginations without prompts or suggestions.

Just Like Mom: (or Dad!) - Let your children help with chores by providing miniatures of your tools, such as little aprons, small squirt bottles with vinegar and water, little dusters and mini cookie cutters. Let them use playdough when you're baking.
I am all for plastic work tools and hard hats as well, so they can be fixers like Dad.

Out door Fun- Today we had our first snow, and there are two snowmen in my yard! The sleds are out and the skates cleaned up, ready for the local rink. In the fall they made pretend camp fires from pruned scrub, pretended to be birds in nests with the leaf piles. And in the summer they spent hours throwing rocks in the lake and building sand castles and motes. And last spring the loved jumping in the puddles and planting and watering seeds in the garden. There is always lot's to do outside, even without buckets of toys. Head outside and explore and see what Mother nature has left for us to play with!

Toy Tip: Let the batteries wear out and don't replace them! If a toy can be "used" without the batteries, leave them out and let the children start using their own imaginations again.

Advent Calendar Videos

This will change to a new video everyday, Come back and watch up to Christmas!

Snow