10 Religious Christmas Coloring Pages for Preschoolers

These are all free printables available at other websites.  Enjoy!

Holy Family in the Stable

Holy Family

Baby Jesus in Manger

We Three Kings

Nativity Scene

Jesse Tree Advent Calendar 

Joy to the World Angel

Precious Moments Nativity  

Silent Night Shepherd

Come All Ye Faithful  

Be sure to check out the 10 December Coloring Pages for Preschoolers too! 

Making Earrings out of "Thrifted" Necklaces (A Tutorial)

I recently had a very successful trip to the thrift store.  While I was there I picked up a few necklaces that I didn't really like, but I thought that the beads had potential to be something awesome.

I had some fishhook earring finding on hand from a recent craft store trip, so when I got home from "thrifting" I was able to take apart the necklaces and start working.  (I love being able to work on a project while my inspiration is still fresh!)

I'm sure everyone has their own method for putting together jewelry, but here's what I do:


1. Try to find an activity that will hold Catherine's attention for a least a few minutes.  (She's two-and-a-half and very much at the "Whatcha doing, Mama?" stage.)

2. Get my materials out.  I find it very helpful to make sure that I have everything that I will need before I begin.  Once the beading box is open on the table I really can't leave it unattended.

3. Remind Catherine that she can't play with Mommy's toys right now, but maybe when she's older.

4. Lay out all of the beads and findings that I will need.  This eliminates last second scrambling, and also ensures that you do, indeed, have all of the pieces that you thought you did.

5. Respond to toddler's adamant statement of "I older now." 

6. Put earring #1 together.  This is the easy part of the whole process!  Simply take your head pin and put your beads on.  Use rounded pliers to make a loop at the top of the pin for the actual earring.  Add the earring and then tighten the loop using regular pliers.  Easy peasy.

7. Get snack for toddler.  Again.  

8. Put earring #2 together.  Same as the first.

9. Pick up container of  1,000 seed beads Catherine was using as a Montessori type work.  Hey, it kept her entertained, what can I say?

10. Sit back contentedly  because I just made a cute pair of earrings and Catherine finally got bored and is playing with her toys.

All of the earrings featured on this page featured a "thrifted" element.

If you like these earrings keep on eye on my Facebook page because I'm going to be having some "flash sales" on these!  (UPDATE: This one is over, but there will be more in the future!)

I hope you liked this tutorial on how to make earrings out of thrifted necklaces.  
I'd love to have you follow me!

  
Rachel: The Philosopher's Wife

 I love sharing my projects!  Check me, and many other fabulous bloggers, out  at the following (and don't forget to check my Crafty Links page):
Cowgirl Up

Teaching Time for Toddlers Tuesday

With yesterday's holiday and a very busy day today, I am going to share a few of my favorite toddler themed e-cards.  Do you have a favorite?

Source 

Source

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This is a linky for anything toddler related.  I can't wait to see what you will share this week!  Feel free to link up multiple posts.

Teaching Time For Toddlers: Musical Instruments

The classic Little Tykes Xylophone.
While I love this as a toy our model does
have one major flaw: it is NOT in tune.
This does seem to be a common complaint.
Since Catherine isn't actually playing any songs
for now this is fine.

Catherine, like many--if not most--of her peers, loves music and making noise.  Her Daddy and I wish to encourage this love of music in every way we can.  We listen to a variety of music: children's, pop, classical, etc.  We dance to music.  We also have a variety of musical toys and instruments for Catherine to play.

This cube is awesome!  Each side is a button.
Each button is one piece of the orchestra.
(Well, one plays is the "orchestra".)
The child can add and subtract the different
instruments from the symphony. 

For her first birthday we gave her a toy piano and she received a set of bells.  This past Christmas she unwrapped a xylophone.  She also received a ukulele as a souvenir from Hawaii from her grandparents.  She has received many other awesome musical gifts including: a Mozart cube, rolling toys, DVDs, and so much more!  (Her family and friends are quite generous!)

What have you and your toddler(s) been doing?  Did you do anything new this week?  I'd love to read all about it!  Share anything toddler related here; it could be an activity, a craft, a learning experience, a field trip, potty training adventures, tips for mom and dad, etc.  If it is in any way toddler related please link it up!  I'd really appreciate if you'd link back to me somehow (text link or grab my button) but I won't hold it against you if you don't.  

This linky will be open all week.

Teaching Time for Toddlers

This week I would like to highlight a surprisingly great place to get learning tools and supplies for toddlers.

Your local Dollar Tree.

That's right, the place where everything's a dollar.

They have construction paper, writing paper, crayons, coloring books, flashcards, magnets, and more for, that's right, just a dollar.  The exact same stuff can cost up to four times as much at Wal-Mart and Target.  Maybe the crayons aren't Crayola or the paper isn't archival quality, but does your kid care?  Not a bit.  I was also quite pleasantly surprised by the number of pre-school and kindergarten geared workbooks at my local store.  Obviously, these workbooks are a bit too advanced for Catherine, but I loved that they had workbooks for math, reading, penmanship, and more!  I certainly see us picking them up in the future.

We did pick up a few things over the weekend--some new flashcards, magnetic numbers, and a Bible themed coloring book.

I would love to say thank you to all the people who linked up in the past!  I love everything that you've shared!


Now for this week's party!  What have you and your toddler(s) done lately?  Have you made anything?  Cooked something?  Do you have a tip or a story to share?  If it is toddler related, this is the place to link up!  I can't wait to see what you have.  I'd love if you'd grab the button from my sidebar and put it somewhere on your blog--but you don't have to.  

Teaching Time for Toddlers--Play-doh

Play-doh is a fantastic "toy".  It helps with fine motor skills, creativity, provides a new sensory experience, helps to develop small muscles in the hands that later help with writing, and can help with colors.  I must admit, I hadn't really thought about letting Catherine play with my Play-doh (yes, MINE) until recently when I began surfing the net for toddler activities.  I had thought that it was an older kid's activity, but I guess not!

Catherine was a little hesitant to even touch the Play-doh at first.  I showed her how to squish it and pinch it.  Eventually she became a little more curious and enjoyed putting it in and taking it out of the classic yellow container.  This is certainly an activity that we will be coming back to again.


The lovely folks over at Familylicious have compiled a list of thirty homemade playdough recipes that you should check out!


What are you doing with your toddler(s) this week?  Or what did you do last week?  Or even last year?  I'd love to see it!  Link up any toddler related post and check out what everyone else is up to.  (It would also be really cool if you'd put my button on your blog somewhere--it's over on the left!)




A Brief History of Play-doh

Picture Source

Play-doh (official site) was originally created in Cincinnati (my birthplace!) as a wallpaper cleaner.  Its secret non-toxic formula and no mess composition made it a perfect grade school modeling clay.  In 1956 it was sold in Washington, DC, at Woodward & Lothrop Department Store's toy section.  At that time it only came in one and a half pound jars, that often had rusty bottoms, of off-white.  By 1964 new colors had been introduced and it was in international markets.  In 1986 the iconic plastic containers replaced the cardboard and metal cans.  To date, more than 700 million pounds of Play-doh have been made.

National Play-doh Day is September 18th.

For more information check here or here.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Bead threading is a great activity for toddlers! (This is our set.)  Catherine can poke the string through the bead fairly easily but still struggles to pull it through.

(By the way, if you have a post about/with/regarding/etc your toddlers, feel free to link it up to my Teaching Time for Toddlers post!)