December Crafts and Activities

Christmas decorations--Pinecone people--use pinecone as body, acorn or chestnut or woodbead as the head and make arms from pipe cleaners, cloth them in fabric or paper scraps and glue them to flat rocks or stick them in modeling clay so they can stand.



Make an evergreen wreath--twist a hanger into a circle and use fine gauge wire to secure evergreen boughs (you can use the branches you trim from a Christmas tree) around the circle.



Decorate a tree for the birds--use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of old bread and then cover with peanut butter, fill scooped out orange halves with bird seed or suet.

December Events and Field Trips

Dec. 1, 10 a.m., West Center Street--Provo Christmas Parade
http://www.provo.org/index.php?module=ibcms&fxn=parks.Parade_main

Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m., Covey Center for the Arts, Messiah Sing-Along
http://www.provo.org/parks.messiah_sing_in.html

Dec. 3, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Provo City Library--Christmas Fiesta
http://www.provo.lib.ut.us/fiesta_navedena.html

Through December 31, 6-10 p.m.--Holiday Lights at Thanksgiving Point
http://www.thanksgivingpoint.com/entertainment/index.html#holidaylights

Through December 22, 5 and 7:30 p.m. departures--The Polar Express
http://www.hebervalleyrr.org/excursions/the_polar_express.htm

Through Jan 2, 2008--Christmas Lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake

Plays, musical performances, outdoor sports, and lots more on the Provo City Library website:
http://whattodoinprovo.pbwiki.com/Winter

Don't forget that Outdoors Unlimited http://outdoors.byu.edu// on campus has fairly inexpensive rentals for skis, snowboards, snowshoes and all your outdoor equipment.

November Events and Fieldtrips

Heber City's Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Fair, Heber City, Utah
November 6th thru the 11th - 2007
http://www.hebercitycowboypoetry.com/

Dart the Turkey Thanksgiving Celebration, Provo, UT
Nov. 15
http://www.provo.org/parks.events.html

Utah Chocolate Show, Salt Lake City, UT
November 16 - 17, 2007
http://www.utahchocolateshow.com/

Jewish Art and Food Festival, Salt Lake City, UT
November 10 - 11, 2007
http://www.slcjcc.org/

Do your kids love watching sports? Don't forget to check out BYU's sports schedules.
http://www.byucougars.com/

Or support your local high school and go to one of their games. You can talk to the youth in your ward to find out what sports they play and show up to cheer them on at one of their games. Or you can look up the high school's website and find a schedule there.

November Crafts and Activities

It's getting colder, but there are still plenty of nice days to get outdoors. And if its raining or just too cold, try one of the fun indoor activities or crafts.

Outdoors:

Make a weather vane and see where the wind is coming from. Use a an empty plastic container filled with sand or pebbles and then covered with a lid (or anything else that you will be able to securely stand a pencil in). Cut a triangle from a piece of cardboard--snip the point off to make a smaller triangle--this will be the head and tail of your weather vane. Make a slit in each end of a drinking straw and attach the cardboard shapes (slit these also to make it more steady). Push a pushpin through the center of the straw and into the eraser of the pencil and stand the pencil in your container. Mark North, east, south, and west and then use a compass or the sun to line up the directions.
Collect birds nest when all the leaves are gone--you can try to identify them with a bird identification guide that includes pictures of the nests.

Collect pinecones and acorns to decorate your thanksgiving table or for holiday crafts.

Rainy day ideas:

Turkey Hunt-- Have children draw or paste pictures of turkeys on a dozen or so index cards. Mom hides the cards around the room, then everyone goes hunting. The player who "bags" the most turkeys wins.

Make an indoor sand box--using uncooked rice, beans or wheat, fill a box or other flat container and give them sand toys, or measuring cups, bowls, utensils, and let them play. (You might want to lay out a sheet or tarp to make clean up a little easier).

Let them play with water and bubbles--in the sink (they can even help wash the dishes!) or the bathtub.

Festive Thanksgiving crafts--Beyond the handprint turkeys (although these are really fun too!):

Pinecone turkeys--use yellow pipe cleaners for legs and feet, glue tiny circles of felt for eyes and snip pieces of red felt for the wattles.

Leaf Turkeys-- Cut a turkey shape out of brown construction paper and then glue the turkey shapes onto white or yellow construction paper. Let toddlers add eyes with markers and then glue on leaves that they collected to make turkey tails.

Cut vegetable turkeys--you'll need a pear, two zucchini, a carrot, two whole cloves, and a handful of toothpicks. Slice the top off one zucchini for the head. Slice the rest into 1/4" pieces. Cut a 2" piece from the narrow end of he carrot. Slice the rest into 1/4 inch pieces. Sick the cloves into the head for eyes. Attach the head to the neck with half a toothpick (push the toothpick through the carrot or zucchini first, then the pear). Use the carrot and zucchini slices as feathers. Use two toothpicks for legs with a carrot slice on each for the feet. You may need a toothpick in the back to steady the turkey.

Turkey sandwiches (no, not a way to use your thanksgiving leftovers--these are shaped like turkeys)--circles cut of bread for head on square bread (body) with bell peppers as tail feathers, bits for eyes, beak.

Thanksgiving placemat--give your kids old magazines and let them cut out pictures of what they are thankful for. Make a collage on a piece of construction paper and then laminate or cover with clear contact paper.

Or, make a thanksgiving can--put all the cut up pictures in a can and when you need a quiet conversation activity, have your child pull one out and talk about the item they are thankful for.

Songs

Let's Be Thankful

(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Let's be thankful for this day

For our friends and our play

Let's be thankful; let's be glad

For our food and the things we have

Let's give thanks for you and me

And our home and family.

The Turkey Strut

(tune: "The Hokey-Pokey)

You put your right wing in, you put your right wing out,

You put your right wing in and you shake it all aboutl

You do the turkey strut, and you turn yourself around,

That's what it's all about!

2. You put your left wing in. . .

3. You put your drumstick in. . .

4. You put your stuffing in. . .

5. You put your wattle in . . .

6. You put your tail feather in. . .

7. You put your turkey body in. . .

October Events and Fieldtrips

This can be a fun month to get out and do things. The weather is cooler, but there are still often days that are great for those outdoor activities, so take advantage of it while it lasts. Go hiking, play at a new park, collect leaves and pinecones, or check out one of these places:

Thanksgiving Point Gardens--these are only open until October 27th, so go see what's there before its too late! Of particular interest for anyone with kids would be the Children's Discovery Garden. They even have a link from their website for a self guided tour you can print out before you go so you'll be ready to talk about the various habitats and animals you'll see. It's aimed more for grade school ages, but you could certainly adapt the information to use with younger children as well.

Thanksgiving Point Farm --This does stay open through the winter, but it can get pretty cold and windy. They have lots of animals to see and even offer pony and wagon rides, which just sound like an autumn activity. And there are some great hands-on learning opportunities, including a chance to "milk a cow"--let your kids see where their milk is coming from. Bring along a lunch and some hot chocolate if its chilly and have fun learning about the farm animals with your kids.

Haunted house or corn maze--there are too many to list, but a few that are more family oriented and suitable for all ages are the Haunted Canyon in Provo Canyon (this is a spooky train ride--sounds fun!), Halloween Central at Thanksgiving Point, Halloween Cruise on the Provo River, and Pumpkinland at the Vineyard Garden Center in Orem.

For more ideas, check out the Provo Library website for links to festivals, events, sports and more.

October Crafts and Activities

Wizened apple faces--Peel and core a large apple, carve a little away to suggest eyes, nose, and a mouth. Then place the apple in a bowl filled with salt water or lemon juice for about 30 min. Dry the apple gently, spear it from below with a pencil and place in a long-necked jar. The apple will dry and shrink over the next few weeks and start to look like an old, weathered face. You can decorate the jar with fabric or paint to make clothing for you apple person.

Pressed Autumn Leaves--just find leaves that are not too dry and press them inside a heavy book (protect the pages by putting down paper on each side of the leaf.

Leaf Prints--use a sponge to cover one side of the leaf with ink or paint, lay the leaf where you'd like a print, cover with newspaper or a paper towel, firmly rub (you can use a rolling pin or your hand). You can decorate cards, wrapping paper, picture frames, etc. . .

More leaf fun: leaf rubbings, mapleleaf crown (just link the leaves putting their stems through a slit in the next leaf)

Corn necklace--soak kernels of Indian corn in water for a day or so, then use a needle and thread to string them.

Roast pumpkin seeds--clean, salt, bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring or shaking the pan a couple times. Remove when crisp and dry, before they turn brown.

Preschool at home

For those of you who attended the "Help for Mom" class, this is an overview of the class on doing your own preschool:

*Set aside a specific time each day.
*Have a set location for your "class"--ideas for location: linoleum piece painted with shapes for each child to sit on, carpet remnants in different shapes or colors for each child.
*Have a set routine--most kids thrive on routines and knowing what is coming up next (for example, start with 10 min. of show and tell, 10 mintues songs, 10 minutes learning stations, 10 min. lesson).
*Remember their attention span is very short--10 min. max! Keep things really simple and short
*Be flexible--some things will take way longer than you think, others they will be done with before you are done setting up--always have a couple back-up activities.
*Let the kids take their time learning and HAVE FUN with them--the most important thing at this age (and really, any age) is that they learn to love learning.

If anyone is interested in a GREAT starter reading program to contact Tracey Minaker--she has all the details.

And remember to use music--look at your local library for great compilations of kids CD's--there are songs to learn just about anything and its just fun to dance around and get silly.