Scratch and Sniff Ornaments

As I expected, my little girls have loved smelling the stickers in The Sweet Smell of Christmas book. I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid. I thought it would be a great idea to mix the scratch-and-sniff idea along with our Names of Jesus advent chain study. So I gathered supplies so that we could make our own scratch-and-sniff Names of Jesus ornaments to put on our tree. I thought this would be a wonderful way to remember all the names of  Jesus we have learned during this month while also being a keepsake.

Supplies:
Names of Jesus ornaments printables from Bible Story Printables
Various flavor packets of Kool-Aid
small containers
paintbrushes
scissors
ribbon

 

Mix each packet of Kool-Aid with 2 TBS of water and stir. Print out your ornaments on cardstock or watercolor paper.

All of my kids---ages 13-3yrs. old enjoyed this project. The Kool-Aid paint works just like watercolors. 

The kids took their time and even experimented with mixing colors. After the pages were dry, we cut them out and tied string through the top to hang on the tree.

They turned out beautifully! When we scratched them, we could get a faint smell. So it doesn't work as well as the scratch-and-sniff stickers, but it was sure fun to paint with Kool-Aid!

What is Christmas?

Today's book is What is Christmas? by Michelle Medlock Adams. I picked up this board book as a way to discuss various Christmas traditions with my young children.

Summary: Using rhyming patterns and colorful illustrations, this book shares various Christmas traditions such as putting up a Christmas tree, seeing Christmas plays, Santa Claus--but are those what Christmas is about? At the end the author shares that all these traditions are fun but Christmas is about the birth of God's only Son.

This is a cute, little book suitable for toddlers and preschoolers. It allows parents to talk discuss with their children the various traditions and that those things are fine, but the real reason we celebrate is because of Jesus.

After we read it, I printed out the shape cut-and-paste Nativity Sheet from 2 Teaching Mommies. She had so much fun doing this activity. We hung it up in the front room for all to see.

This book went perfectly with Why Do We Call it Christmas? DVD from What's In the Bible.You can see a sneak peek below.




I can't believe there's only 8 more days until Christmas! I am enjoying reading these special Christmas books with my kids each day. Which books have been your favorite?

The Donkey's Christmas Song

Today's book is The Donkey's Christmas Song by Nancy Tafuri.

Summary: A shy, little donkey is afraid that his bray is too loud and will scare the little babe in the manger. All the other animals welcome the little one with their song. Finally the babe looks at the donkey. The donkey lets out his loud song and the baby laughs.

This is a cute rhyming book perfect for toddlers-K. The simple illustrations capture children's attention along with the rhyming text. Each animal makes their "song", which children enjoy saying too (the cow moo's, the dove coo's, etc.)

After reading the story, my little girls went to their Nativity set and had all the animals greet baby Jesus with their song.

I was reminded of one of my favorite childhood Christmas movies while reading this book-- Nestor, the Long-Eared Donkey.

This movie told about Christ's birth in such a simple way, and Nestor always made me a little teary-eyed. I was captivated by the story, the emotion-- and there is just something about the Arthur Rankin Jr. animation that fascinated me as a kid. Do you remember these movies? Please tell me I'm not the only one that old--lol! :) I have this on my to-do list for this Christmas season-- watch Nestor with my kids.

What has been your favorite Christmas book so far this season?

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is another family favorite. This picture book has a message applicable to all ages. When I read this to my children, all of them ages 3-13 were engaged with the story.

Summary: Mr. Gloomy Toomey as the children called him, was a sad, grouchy man. He was however, the best woodcarver in the valley. A widow hires him to recreate a special manager scene and also asks if her son can watch him carve the set. Creating this creche starts a process of healing for Mr. Toomey. A heartwarming story of healing, kindness and peace that Jesus brings to hurting hearts.
 
There are so many things to talk about after reading this story. The illustrations and the storyline are wonderful. One of the discussions we had while reading this was talking about virtues. The topic came up after reading,

"“Do you every stop talking?” asked the woodcarver… “

And the widow tells her son that the woodcarver has the virtue of silence. In what instances is silence a virtue? What other virtues are displayed in this story? (kindness, patience, being attentive). At this point I realized that our We Choose Virtue Cards would come in handy. I pulled them out and we went over what being kind, patient, and attentive meant.

I also found some wooden animals in my craft stash. We read the descriptions in the book again and talked about how hard it might be to create figures out of wood. For a fun activity, have your children try to recreate the animals using clay or PlayDough based on the descriptions in the story.

The First Christmas

Today's book is The First Christmas by John Wilkie illustrated by Jodie McCallum. This is an iPad app book by PicPocket Books.

Summary: Written from the perspective of Mary's donkey, the rhyming text tells about Christ's birth. It starts on the journey Mary and Joseph had to take to Bethlehem and ends with the visit from the Magi.

This is the first book I've downloaded from PicPocket Books. I loved that it told the story of the birth of Jesus and I thought the illustrations were adorable. We have another book that is illustrated by Jodie McCallum (which we will be sharing later.)

The book is narrated by a young girl, and while she reads, the word she is saying turns to red. I like this feature for it helps beginning readers "read" along with the story. If you touch the animals in the story you can hear them make noises.

 

For a book extension activity, I pulled out the Nativity cards I printed from 1+1+1=1 last year. Once again we read the story and then matched our little people animals to the cards. My 3yr. old and 5 yr. old had fun trying to teach my 1 yr. old the animal sounds.

The Berenstain Bears Trim the Tree

Today's Book is The Berenstain Bears Trim the Tree by Mike and Jan Berenstain. We read this book on our iPad but you can also purchase a traditional copy.

Summary: A cute lift-the-flap book perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. The Berenstain Bears work together to decorate their Christmas tree.

The traditional book and the Trim the Tree iPad app from Oceanhouse Media both have lift-the-flap features! What I like about the ipad app is that it has three different modes to choose: Read to Me, Read it Myself, and Auto Play. For my little girls, I use this like a listening center. They can listen to the book on their own--which they did multiple times.

To promote reading in young children, individual words are highlighted as the story is read and words zoom up when pictures are touched. You can see in the picture above that she just lifted the flap to reveal a kitten, and when she touched the kitten, the word appeared. The narrator also says the word name too.

Since the book was all about Christmas tree decorations, I thought it would be a perfect time to work on our tradition of decorating wooden photo ornaments. Each child does one each year to hang on our tree. I usually have my younger kids use markers to decorate the ornaments since they usually create less of a mess this way and have more control over where the color goes.

I love looking at the photo ornaments each year, seeing how each child has grown up in just a year's time.

Do you have any Christmas ornament traditions?

Click to see more Christmas books

Christmas in the Manger

I just think the illustrations in Christmas in the Manger are too cute! This sturdy and cute board book is perfect for babies through preschool and was our book of the day.

Summary: The simple, rhyming text and cute illustrations are a perfect way to share the Christmas story with very young children. First the animal are introduced, then the shepherds, wise men, Mary and Jesus.

I don't plan on doing crafts for every single book we read this season, but if I have an idea, I go with it. I was inspired by the illustrations in this book and had so much fun coming up with a craft. The characters were simple yet cute. So I looked around my house and found some simple objects to use for our craft.

"I am the baby
asleep in the hay,
and I am the reason
for Christmas Day."
~Nola Buck

Isn't this the cutest Bottle Cap Baby Jesus? I have complete step-by-step instructions over at The Homeschool Village today. :)

Today is the last day of our group 5 Days of Christmas series. I hope you have had some time to visit all the blogs and see their awesome Christmas posts!  Well we would love to see your favorite Christmas craft, activity, or other Christmas-related post too! Pick your favorite one, add a link back here so others know where to join in, and share!


Please stop by and visiting my other 5 Days of Christmas friends!

A Slob Comes Clean - Getting Your Home Company Ready
Feels Like Home - Christmas Traditions
Somewhat Crunchy - Christmas with Dairy Allergies
Spell Outloud - Children's Books
Mama's Learning Corner - Children's Crafts
Many Little Blessings - Edible Gifts
Sunflower Schoolhouse - Decorations
An Oregon Cottage - Christmas Cookies
Catholic Icing - Wishing Jesus Happy Birthday
The Traveling Praters - Traveling
The Homeschool Classroom - Gifts Kids Can Make
Mama's Laundry Talk - Laundry Gifts

*P.S. Even though this is the end of the 5 Day series, I will continue to "try" to post a book a day during the month of December! I've also added a Christmas Book page to help keep everything organized.

A Christmas Prayer: Christmas Book

Today's book is A Christmas Prayer by Amy Parker. This is a Christmas book perfect for your littlest ones.

Summary: A little child talks about how every aspect of the nativity story is a gift from God.  From Gabriel to baby Jesus, they are each a precious Christmas gift to us from God.

The book has simple text with the repeating phrase, "Thank you, God, for __________ Your precious Christmas gift". My little ones were able to repeat that phrase after a couple of pages. I appreciated that this book allowed us to talk about how each of the characters in our nativity set were real and each were a gift from God that helped tell the story of the best gift of all-- Jesus.

After reading this book we pulled out our Nativity Sensory Box that we made last year. As the girls searched for the pieces, we reviewed what the book said about that person.

"Thank You, God, for Jesus,

Your one and only Son.

A Savior sent to save the world!

Yes, Christmas had begun!" 

~Amy Parker

Other posts in this series:

5 Days of Christmas Books: Day 1 - My Favorite Childhood Book
5 Days of Christmas Books: Day 2 - The Christmas Book Book
5 Days of Christmas Books Day 3 - The Song of the Stars
5 Days of Christmas Books Day 4 - Humphrey's First Christmas

Please stop by and visiting my other 5 Days of Christmas friends!

A Slob Comes Clean - Getting Your Home Company Ready
Feels Like Home - Christmas Traditions
Somewhat Crunchy - Christmas with Dairy Allergies
Spell Outloud - Children's Books
Mama's Learning Corner - Children's Crafts
Many Little Blessings - Edible Gifts
Sunflower Schoolhouse - Decorations
An Oregon Cottage - Christmas Cookies
Catholic Icing - Wishing Jesus Happy Birthday
The Traveling Praters - Traveling
The Homeschool Classroom - Gifts Kids Can Make
Mama's Laundry Talk - Laundry Gifts

Humphrey's First Christmas

I fell in love with Humphrey as soon as I saw his face on the cover of Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer. Something about his smile and eyes just drew me in. When I finally read the book, I was so glad I picked up this book for our Christmas book reading. This story shares the birth of Jesus through the eyes of a camel.

Summary: Upset that he's missing his blanket, Humphrey is determined to get it back. It's that blanket that keeps him warm--why should he be left out in the cold? The illustrations in this book are fantastic and help convey how Humphrey was feeling. In the end, did he really need that blanket?

This is another wonderful children's Christmas book. The illustrations are just as important as the words because they work together to tell the whole story.

After we read the story, I found my little girls with the Little People Nativity set reenacting the book. Every camel they see in decorations or books is now Humphrey. That makes me smile. :)

When I pre-read this book, I immediately knew what I wanted my older kids to do. I purchased a couple of fleece blanket sets on sale so that I could have the kids make some blankets to give away.

 

All three of my older kids worked on the project. Thanks to my mom (who knew you needed fabric scissors for this--lol!) we were able to complete two blankets to give away.

A perfect book activity that also gave my kids the opportunity to share with others.

Other posts in this series:

5 Days of Christmas Books: Day 1 - My Favorite Childhood Book
5 Days of Christmas Books: Day 2 - The Christmas Book Book
5 Days of Christmas Books Day 3 - The Song of the Stars

Please stop by and visiting my other 5 Days of Christmas friends!

A Slob Comes Clean - Getting Your Home Company Ready
Feels Like Home - Christmas Traditions
Somewhat Crunchy - Christmas with Dairy Allergies
Spell Outloud - Children's Books
Mama's Learning Corner - Children's Crafts
Many Little Blessings - Edible Gifts
Sunflower Schoolhouse - Decorations
An Oregon Cottage - Christmas Cookies
Catholic Icing - Wishing Jesus Happy Birthday
The Traveling Praters - Traveling
The Homeschool Classroom - Gifts Kids Can Make
Mama's Laundry Talk - Laundry Gifts