Snowmen Winter Craft

Our first week in the new year and we are welcoming snow and

wintery weather.  Here's a warm and fun snowmen building activity the 

girls and I enjoyed, and it does not require any glue.  We used Model Magic, 

which air dries the same day and the results are adorable!

You will need:

White Crayola Model Magic to build the snowmen

Orange Crayola Model Magic for the nose

Color felt for the scarf

Pipe cleaners and matching color pom poms to make earmuffs 
(roll the ends of pipe cleaner around pom poms to form the ear pieces)
Twigs for the arms

Black beans for the eyes and buttons

It's as easy as it looks. Have fun making snowmen!

Happy Holidays with a Magic Greeting!

Season's greetings friends!  Do you make your own holiday card?

Every year, I make a special card for the children's publishing editors.

It's great fun, but a lot of work hand crafting twenty cards.

For now, I'm keeping this year's card under wrap, 

but here's my "magic" card from last year.

After creating my preschool shapes book, Away We Go!, 

I was inspired to design letters using shapes.

When you pull the insert, a special greeting appears.

Here it is!  Each image represents the letter.

Try to guess what they are before reading the answers below.

Warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

W - Winter

A - Angel

R - Reindeer

M - Mouse

E - Elf

S - Snowman

T - Tree

W - Wreath

I - Icicle

S - Star

H - House

E - Egg Nog

S - Santa

Chocolate Pretzel Turkeys!

Gobble Gobble!

Every holiday, I try to make a fun food craft with the kids. 

What do you think of my silly chocolate pretzel turkey? 

This treat is easy to make and a nice mini-sized sweet and salty snack.

You'll need orange, yellow, and red Wilton's chocolate candy melts,

mini pretzels, malted Whopper balls cut in half, and chocolate chips.

Melt the colored chocolates and fill in the pretzel spaces. 

Use a halved Whopper for the body and a chocolate chip for the head.

Place them on the melted chocolate, adding a drop to attach the head.

With a toothpick, decorate the eyes, feet, and wattle

using the remaining melted chocolates.

Enjoy making the chocolate pretzel turkeys!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family.

Happy Halloween!

Costumes are made and the desserts are done.

All I have left to do is carve the jack-o-lantern and let the fun begin.

Have a safe and wonderful Halloween!

Books and Smiles for Haiti #2

The books are coming in!  Thank you to our generous children's book

community for sending the amazing books for Books and Smiles for Haiti.

Please drop me an email if you would like to join us in sharing 

your wonderful stories with the children of Haiti.

Thank you author/illustrator Salina Yoon for sending thirty 

of your plushie, sparkly, novelty titles for the youngest readers.

Thank you author Danna Smith for the wonderful picture books.

Thank you author Uma Krishnaswami for your beautiful stories.

Thank you Ronnie Ann Herman of Herman Agency 

for this great collection of titles.

Thank you author Alison Formento for sending your fun counting books.

Thank you Nanci Moklak for the wonderful selection of books.

More books are on the way, and we are thankful for the generous donations.

Join our Facebook group page to stay updated.

You may also like: Books and Smiles for Haiti!

Celebrating with Fire Trucks!

Finally, a boy themed party!  I really enjoyed making these cupcakes for 

my twin newphews' birthday; A nice change from the usual fairies,

princesses and mermaid themes my girls prefer.

The fire trucks were piped using melted chocolate wafers.

I suggest piping each color one at a time, since chocolate cools quickly.

Pipe first with red, then brown, and finish with yellow.

Our parties are never complete without my daughter's usual book-card!

Can you tell this birthday boy enjoyed his fire truck?  Yum!

You may also like: Surprise Mermaid Party and

Despicable Me "Just Because Party"

A Round-Up of Fun Shapes Activities!

I love seeing creative, clever ways for kids to explore shapes.

This Reading Mama has nicely tied-in fun learning 

with shape pictures and writing.

Swing by her amazing blog and check out the activities and details.

Over at Creative Connections for Kids, this wonderful blogger 

rounded-up a great collection of playful shape ideas.  

I enjoyed discovering new ways to introduce shapes. 

Visit Creative Connections for Kids for the many 

play-and-learn shape ideas shared by creative bloggers.

How cute is this little fella?  I was tickled with the adorable 

pictures and sweet write-up by The Eyes of a Boy.  

I'm so thankful for our wonderful children's community and their 

kind efforts to spread the love and enrich our youngest readers.

Many thanks to the lovely bloggers for checking out Away We Go! and 

sharing their wonderful creative ideas!

You may also like: Away We Go! Shapes and Transportation Activities
and Away We Go! Activities by Toddler Approved!