"Teacher's Pick" Crafted Ornaments - Take-Home for Kids

My eldest has had some super creative teachers over the years!  I'm reminded of this every time we put up our Christmas tree & pull out all of the crafted ornaments she's brought home.  These are a few of our favorites...

(The puzzle pieces were all from puzzles that were missing pieces - her teacher requested we send them in & we just happened to have a few "misfit" puzzles laying around!  There are three great ideas below for reusing or "upcycling" puzzle sets that might otherwise make it into the trash.)

Puzzle Piece Christmas Tree Ornament:

• puzzle pieces
• beads for ornaments (or mini pom poms, rhinestones, glitter glue, etc)
• tall tree-shapes cut out of green construction paper, green felt, etc) 
• green & brown paint & brushes (unless you have green-backed & brown-packed puzzle pieces)
• foil star
• ribbon for hanging
• glue

Puzzle Piece Candy Cane Ornament:

• puzzle pieces (these happened to be white-backed & red-backed but if you don't have these colors you'll need red & white paint & brushes)
• felt, card stock, etc (for mounting)
• ribbon for hanging (plus a jingle bell)
• glue

Laminated Photo Frame Ornament:

• class photo with each child's photo cut out
• paper for each frame
• glue
• yarn for hanging
• laminating machine (or laminating sheets)

Puzzle Piece Photo Frame Ornament: (I think this might be my personal fave ;) )

• puzzle pieces
• card stock or felt for mounting
• green paint & brush
• glue
• glitter
• ribbon, yarn, etc for hanging
• felt circles (for the ornament's back)

There ya have it!  Just goes to show how creative teachers can be with a tight budget & a normal craft stash!  :)

Enjoy!  Happy Crafting!  :)

Vegan Maple Hot Cocoa

With the first significant snow fall of the year comes something special... hot cocoa!  I like to have it thoroughly mixed & heated up by the time the kids come inside from playing in the snow.  Besides Christmas Eve, the only other time that I make hot cocoa is when the kids come inside from playing in the snow & are thoroughly chilled through so a warm cup of hot cocoa tastes extra good!  So it's a treat in our house, which makes it something special since it's not an "every day" thing.  ;)

Until this year, I'd used organic cane sugar to sweeten my hot cocoa.  That's fine, but it takes quite a bit of heat over quite a bit of time to melt the sugar crystals in the milk, & you have to stand there for quite a while whisking it so the cocoa doesn't burn over the higher heat setting.  And then one of my Facebook friends mentioned maple hot cocoa...  Brilliant!  Why didn't I think of that?  I'm always using real NH maple syrup to sweeten when I'm cooking & baking.  The maple syrup mixes instantly, plus it's a local product & healthier than sugar.  Win-win-win!

The only cocoa powder that I buy is organic & fair trade because, well, I believe farmers should get paid a fair price for their product, never mind the fact that being organic means it's better for the environment & better for my family.  However buying an 8 oz. container of organic fair trade cocoa is a bigger up-front cost than purchasing, say, those god-awful packets of premixed "hot cocoa" (I use quotes because there's so much extra unnecessary crap in them, they shouldn't be allowed to call themselves hot cocoa).  So I use both carob powder & organic fair trade cocoa powder in my hot cocoa recipe.  I find, on average, carob powder costs the same as organic fair trade cocoa, however, the package of carob powder is twice as big - 16 ounces of carob powder to 8 ounces of cocoa powder.  So I get more "bang for my buck" by using half carob powder & half cocoa powder, without sacrificing taste!  My kids aren't shy, they'd tell me if they didn't like it.  ;)  

Now I prefer organic rice milk over organic soy milk when making this hot cocoa.  I find soy milk taste quite soy-y, & that taste comes through quite a bit in the hot cocoa.  It's not a bad taste, in my opinion, I just prefer the more mild rice milk for hot cocoa.  

So here it is, my Vegan Maple Hot Cocoa recipe!

Mix the following ingredients in a sauce pan over medium-low heat, whisk until thoroughly mixed, & serve warm.  This makes two large mugs of hot cocoa, or three smaller ones.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups organic rice milk, organic soy milk, etc
• 1/4 cup local maple syrup (use 1/2 cup for more maple flavor)
• 3 tbsp carob powder
• 3 tbsp organic, fair trade cocoa powder

Enjoy!  :)

DIY Popsicle Stick Doll Kit

Christmas with more than one child can be tricky. Spend less on one child than the other, one child gets more gifts than the other, & someone is left feeling left out. Heaven forbid it's not completely fair & even! ;)

This year I was stuck in that predicament. Our daughter's total gifts cost more than our son's plus she's getting a few more than him. He's old enough to notice now & if he's unhappy, boy-oh-boy, you better take cover. ;) Not that I'd blame him, mind you. It's never fun to feel like some one else is getting special treatment! However, I am not one to run out & spend money on yet another toy he doesn't need just because it's gotta be fair.  

This led me to make some fun, easy, hands-on kits that he could do himself with minimal help. Most parents have a sizable & diverse array of craft supplies anyway. With a few dollar store purchases, I was able to put together some kits that encourage creative free play & utilize his imagination.

Here's the Popsicle Stick Doll Kit. 

Supplies: 

• Photo box (I had an empty one laying around), or a plastic shoe box with lid (dollar store), or an old cardboard shoe box covered with a brown paper grocery bag (they can decorate it)
• Dollar store baskets to fit inside (the long ones were 3 for $1, the fabric pieces are in a clean, empty tofu container, cut to size)
• Popsicle sticks (I used 20 extra wide ones) or old-fashioned wooden clothes pins
• Googly eyes & glue (or sharpie) 
• Fabric and/or felt pieces for clothes 
• Pipe cleaners, cut in half, for arms
• Lengths of yarn, ribbon, etc used to tie the clothes on (learning to tie a bow is a bonus!)

Here's a better look at the kit:

Nearly a year ago the kids each made a wooden doll with similar supplies. They had a blast! Not only making them but playing dolls with them later. They would have happily made more but all of the supplies weren't in one spot & I didn't have time to help them figure out which pieces of my fabric they could cut a piece out of. ;) Now it's all in one place & after Christmas he can use it whenever he wants to. And if his sister is nice I bet he'll let her make one too. ;)