10 Fun & Frugal Christmas Activities

Around here we are all about fun and all about frugal. They go well together, don't they? I'm always on the lookout for activities that can be made quickly with items we already have on hand. Here are 10 of my favorite Fun & Frugal Christmas Activities.

from left to right: #7, #5, #3 and #1

1. Felt Rudolph, Rudolph Game: Made with felt scraps and handprints. The antlers can be updated each year with new handprints or reused from the year before. Fun for ages 2-4. Cost: less than .50

2. Felt Gingerbread Dress-Up Doll: Created with one sheet of brown felt and felt scraps. This has been played with at our house multiple times over the past two years. I only made one Gingerbread body, but making 2 could double the fun! Fun for ages 2-8. Cost: less than .50

3. DIY Cardboard Toy Gingerbread House from Inner Child Fun: Made out of a cereal/cardboard box and velcro. Such a brilliant idea I had to make it for Sweet P as soon as I saw it. Fun for ages
3-8ish. Cost: .75 for the velcro, I had cardboard on hand

4. Candy Cane Bath Paint from Bath Activities for Kids: A holiday twist on a bathtime favorite! Adding peppermint extract to bath paint adds a whole new sensory experience! Cost: depends on whether or not you own any of the items previously. Peppermint extract: less than $4 (can be used for various activities and baking), shaving cream: $1 at DollarTree

5. Gingerbread Play Dough from The Imagination Tree: Smells AMAZING and takes less than 5 minutes to make. Great for pretend play. Cost: free, if you have everything on hand. Cream of tartar: less than $4 (will make several batches of play dough)

6. Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands: 24 Days of Ornament making while talking to your children about the birth of Christ. Cost: $7.99 for the eBook + supplies (can be modified to use what you have on hand)

7. Craft Stick Ornaments from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas: So many different ways to create ornaments using craft sticks! Make them for your own tree or make some for a friend(s)! Cost: Crafts sticks: $2.49, Glue: .50, Paint: $3-10 depending on the brand (can be used for MANY more projects)

8. Lid Ornaments: Use jingle bells, pompoms, tinsel, sequins, stickers or other small bits of holiday materials to create ornaments using a lid and glue. Lids of jars work best (my mom just so happens to have a can opener that leaves smooth edges around the can lid. Cost: free if you own glue and holiday materials, Glue: .50, Holiday bits: $1-3

9. Kid-Friendly Felt Christmas Tree by I Can Teach My Child: It's no surprise I love this because it's made out of FELT! Decorate the tree over and over and over again. Cost: depends on materials on hand, Felt by the yard: $2.50-$5 + cost of scraps

10. Holiday Mail for Heroes: Such a simple activity that allows children (and you!) to thank those who serve our country. Cost: free if you own holiday cards, Cards: $1-3

What Fun & Frugal Activities are part of your Christmas?

Find more ideas on my Christmas Pinterest board.

**This post contains affiliate links.

Our Thankful Tree

Last year we hung a turkey in our kitchen and filled him with feathers of thanks throughout the month of November. We had such a great time counting our blessings with that turkey last year and he ended up looking pretty darn cool.

We wanted to do something different this year so I asked Sweet P what she wanted to put up instead of a turkey.

Sweet P: "A cat."
Me: "Umm."
(pause)
Me: "How about a tree?"
Sweet P: "Yeah! A tree!"
Me: "We can do thankful leaves! And you can color them!" (because I could not think of anything we could add to a cat!)
Sweet P (upon hearing the words "you can color them"): "OK!"

I suppose we could have done whiskers or something, but I totally wasn't expecting cat. I wasn't expecting tree either, but hey. So our Thankful Tree came about. I found a leaf template online, arranged it in Word and printed it out. She colored 2 sheets and used water colors on the others (those are my favs!). I cut out the branches and she helped me assemble it with a glue stick.

Each day (at breakfast, lunch OR dinner), we each say something for which we are thankful (and sometimes we answer for Sprout).

Beary gets mentioned pretty much every day and each day I remind her that Beary's name is already on the tree, and she picks something/someone else.

My favorite moment from the tree was one morning when I asked what she was thankful for and she said, "Mama!" I told her I was thankful for her too, and then she added, "And Sprout!" I know I should have just written both on a leaf and been done with it, but I said, "Do you want to pick one for today and we can do the other tomorrow? Do you want to do mommy or Sprout today?" And much to my surprise and delight, she didn't pick me. She picked her brother.

Do you have a thankful tree, turkey or other blessing counter?

Making Memories: Apple Orchard

Camp Sunny Patch: Olympic Torch Obstacle Course

We had a blast giving Amy's Olympic Torch Game from Camp Sunny Patch Session 8 a little flare of our own! Download printable instructions for the original version here. 

You can view my entire post on the Melissa & Doug blog today! 

We had such a blast with this and I can't wait to set it up again in the future. Need more Olympic ideas? Here are a few other activities we've done so far!

• 3 Olympic Ring Activities
• Recycled Medals
• Edible Olympic Rings
• Soccer Jersey Match & Dress-Up Dolls 
• Outdoor Olympic Arena
• Olympic Family Fitness & Kids Bloggers Go Olympics Blog Hop

FTC Disclosure: I'll be compensated by Melissa & Doug for my participation as a Camp Sunny Patch Honor Counselor. All personal opinions and/or views regarding Melissa & Doug are my own and may differ from other users of Melissa & Doug products. 

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Olympic Family Fitness

For the past few weeks we've been talking about the Olympics non-stop. We've made medals, rings, an outdoor arena, a torch and created an obstacle course (look for that post coming soon), but we haven't talked much about what goes into being an Olympian. My theme for Kids Bloggers Go Olympics is Health/Fitness and the Olympics was a great way to explain those to Sweet P.

While thumbing through our copy of My First Encyclopedia, I found a page about Sports that included the Olympic Games. I set it aside and gathered a few other things we'd need for our Family Fitness activity.

In December I won a giveaway for Family Time Fitness' PE curriculum, but we haven't used any of it yet. I thought this would be the perfect way to introduce her to fitness and the importance of exercise.

The whole family went up to her room (which has a pretty big space for jumping/moving around). Sweet P and I sat on her bed (the Farmer and Sprout took the floor) and read the excerpt from the encyclopedia about the games and a portion about healthy eating. We'd also eaten the Olympic rings that day so I talked about how each of the things she ate provided vitamins, nutrients and minerals to help her grow healthy bones and strong muscles.

I asked, "And do you know who has strong muscles? Olympians!"

And then we flexed our muscles. Don't forget your intimidating face!

I explained that Olympic athletes have to work really hard and exercise almost every day to get to the Olympics. And while we aren't training for the Olympics, we can still exercise and increase our cardiovascular fitness (I'm sure my 3 year old really knew what that meant!).

After reading, we turned on some music (This Land is Your Land) and started the fitness lesson. The lesson included a warm-up, activity and cool-down. We modified it a great deal for our 3 year old's attention span, but I think she got a big kick out of all of us doing arm circles and leg lifts!

We bear crawled, frog jumped and then made a river with two ribbon belts to jump over. I talked about the importance of cooling down at the end as we stretched our legs and then she played with the river for another 15 minutes. The entire lesson probably took 15 minutes from start to finish.

We had such a fun time and we can't wait to do the next lesson! I'm all about teaching your child that exercise is fun!

Thanks so much to Inspiration Laboratories for passing the torch to me! I'm passing the torch to Living at the Whiteheads Zoo!

Join the Kids Bloggers Go Olympics Blog Hop and link up YOUR Olympic activities! 

Wordless Wednesday: Colorado Farm

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25 {Free} Summer Activities

1. Tour a fire station. Call ahead to arrange a tour for you and your family or a group of friends. Tours generally include a tour of firefighter facilities, explanation of tools on the firetruck, test page (to hear what they hear when a call comes in) and photo ops! (Our friend Amy set this up for us and it was so neat!)

2. Go to story time at your local library. Some require registration, but ours is simply a drop-in story time welcome to the entire community. Activities usually include a few books, songs, bean bags and bubbles!

3. Run in the sprinkler. Need to water the grass? Run through it while you do! Moms: don't forget to join the fun!

4. Visit Bass Pro Shop for free summer activities, such as fishing, archery, wildlife exploration and bird watching workshops. They also offer free crafts!

5. Make popsicles. Our homemade ones taste 100% better than store bought. If you don't have popsicle molds, make them in an ice cube tray with a toothpick as the stick.

6. Play with chalk. The possibilities are ENDLESS! Make a giant board game, town, road, hopscotch, counting game or simply draw.

7. Go to a Farmer's Market. Check out your local farmer's market or visit one while traveling. The Des Moines Downtown Farmer's Market has free live music and kids' activities as well.

8. Host a messy playdate! Most of the items can be made with stuff you already have in your pantry!

9. Create a bubble bucket. Fill a bucket or tub with water and bubbles, add a few utensils or toys and watch the fun! (pic at the top).

10. Mini Olympics! Swim, run, bike, do gymnastics, or play soccer, basketball or volleyball as a family. Do one activity per day or lump several in one day for your own mini Olympics. Make homemade ribbons for the winner in each category.

11. Go the Des Moines Art Festival (or find a local one!). The Des Moines Art Fest has free kids' activities, live music and tons of great art!

12. Explore ice. Use paint or food coloring for colored ice for a fun time in the baby pool. Or freeze plastic toys in ice and explore all the different ways to free the toy from the ice (melting, hammering, salt).

13. Watch a parade. Find out if your area (or one nearby) has a July 4th parade and head over for an hour of fun watching floats and marching bands.

14. Explore a new playground or nature reserve. It's even better if it's near a lake or body of water! Big Creek State Park in Polk City is our new favorite!

15. Collect trash. Head to a park or do it in your own neighborhood. Wear gloves and bring a garbage bag to collect any garbage or debris you see in nature.

16. Have a game night OUTSIDE! Bring your board games outdoors for a new twist on an old favorite.

17. Go on a scavenger hunt: I especially love this chalk scavenger hunt from NurtureStore!

18. Bake. Try a new cookie recipe or simply make a favorite. Eat the cookies outside on a blanket.

19. Make a bird feeder, then watch the birds.

20. Listen to a free outdoor concert. Check your local area for free concerts. Yankee Doodle Pops is a local favorite with fireworks at the end!

21. Make mud pies!

22. Sign up for your libary's Summer Reading Challenge to inspire your children to read more both alone and with you. Many have fun prizes after a certain number of hours spent reading.

23. DIY playdough! Involve your kids in the making of the playdough (supervised of course!). Try stove top and no-cook versions!

24. Play at a splash park! There are several in Des Moines that are free to the public. Try Ashby wading pool (free all the time) and the Ankeny splash park (free from 10-12pm on weekdays).

25. Create a special outdoor place to read. Find a nice piece of shade and take out blankets, pillows and piles of books. A tent would be great too! Read with and to your kids while breathing in the outdoors! (Don't have a backyard? Take blankets to a park!)

For summer fun ideas check out our 2012 Summer Bucket List and our Summer Fun board on Pinterest!

Family Bible Time: The Armor of God

A few weeks ago we began Family Bible Time on Sunday nights. We'd tried this previously, but didn't really have much structure. We don't really have much structure now, but the Farmer and I alternate on who comes up with the scripture and activity for the night. Our activities are simple and the verses are pretty short because Sweet P is at an age where she loses interest quickly if there aren't pictures to look at! 

Making the activity as applicable as possible helps her better understand what we read and actively participate in the Bible time. Here is what we did last weekend: 

The Reading:

The Armor of God: Ephesians 6:10-17

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The Activity:

While Sweet P and the Farmer went to the playground I gathered everything we'd need for the activity and made a shield. Here is what we used as our props:

Belt of Truth: a super cool belt I saved that resides in Sweet P's dress up box

Breastplate of Righteousness: her vest put on backward

Boots of Readiness: cowboy boots

Shield of Faith: a shield I made out of cardboard, paper, paint and some stickers

Helmet of Salvation: her bicycle helmet

Sword of the Spirit/Word of God: a Spanish Bible (because she loves it!)

The Farmer read the passage, pausing after each section while I helped Sweet P put on each item. We talked about each item and she thought it was pretty neat. It didn't stay on long though, she was ready to take it off after she finished looking at her Spanish Bible (this is the Farmer's, but Sweet P is really attached to it for some reason!).

Wordless Wednesday: Visit to the Duck Pond

The Farmer was holding her hand SO tight while she threw food to the ducks. She was all about just leaning over the edge to throw it!

On MLK Day we took a walk to the duck pond near our house. It was pretty darn cold (it snowed that night) and about a mile walk round trip (the Farmer carried Sweet P most of the way home). The pond looked amazing because it was all frozen except for the middle part. The ducks and geese were walking on the ice and waddled on over to see what we had for them. These birds are usually overfed during the warm months so it was nice for them to actually want what we had instead of snubbing their noses at our offering. 

Linking to:

Balloon Glow

This post is long overdue, especially since the Balloon Glow was oooh, 2 weeks ago.

Indianola has a hot air balloon festival every year in August, which is funny because I grew up in New Mexico and Albuquerque has a balloon fiesta every year in October. I once heard that the balloon fiesta in Albuq. stemmed from the one that began in Indianola, but I don't know how true that is.

The festival lasts a week and includes a balloon glow. It's held at dusk and involves the crowd counting to 3 to get the balloons to light up. It's pretty neat and Sweet P LOVED it this year. She kept saying "1, 2, 3 GLOW!!!!!"

Here is our night in pictures:

Snow Day

Not that we got a snow day, it was just finally warm enough for us to actually play in the snow. It'd been in the single digits or teens for a week or so until this week hit. And hurray for 30 degree weather!

Really?! Who says that?! Oh right, people who live in Iowa.

So we piled on our snow gear and played out in the backyard. There was a tiny hill where the Farmer has piled all of the snow from our drive so we all took turns going down on our disc sled. It was little, but oh so fun!

Her snow boots are too big so any time she bent over in the snow she'd get stuck and we'd have to help her out a bit.

The Farmer and I couldn't resist joining in the fun.