Our little one is enjoying the new and exciting Christmas tray activities that have been arriving each day with the Blessing Buddies. Even during the holiday period, a flexible routine is essential for toddlers. While we break out of our usual day-to-day activities, I still try to make sure that my 2-year-old has some structure to her day and she enjoys doing her table activities after breakfast while her siblings work on their crafts and gifts throughout December.
This tinker tray of loose parts was a hit today as she used it to decorate the felt Christmas tree. After decorating our actual Christmas tree recently she understood exactly what this concept was all about. Of course they don’t all end up back in the tray quite the same way at the end!
Gingerbread men “cookies” to decorate plus a Christmas tree ice block sorting tray to use with the oversized tweezers or spoon. We will make gingerbread biscuits some time soon so this will make more sense to her after that experience.
While not too Christmassy, she loves these mini erasers so I have made them available for decorating the coloured rice Christmas tree, again with oversized tweezers to help with hand strength for pencil grip later on.
The Blessing Buddies have decided it’s too difficult to bring a new activity each day with so many nighttime commitments at the moment so for today’s blessing they set up a “What’s in the Box?” cupboard instead. They will add some new activities to it during December but it gives the children more time to play with and enjoy the special Christmas activities (plus it takes the pressure off me to remember to hide a new one each night!) The other children like to use some of the same activities for table time as well.
So “What’s in the Cupboard?”
- decorating the rice Christmas tree (photo above)
- a wooden nativity set
- tinker tray for decorating the felt Christmas tree (photo above)
- gingerbread man decorating (photo above)
- pipecleaner and bead threading
- toothpicks and beads for the foam Christmas tree
- a variety of stencils
- toothpick tree box
- do-a-dot pictures and dotter paint pens
- felt cookie decorating set
- jingle bells and magnetic tile construction
- felt and fabric paper chain making – half with velcro, half with press studs (snaps)
- laminated puzzle and activity pages (see number 2 on the craft list for links or my Christmas Pinterest page here for links to free printables on other sites.)
- pattern block puzzle pictures
The craft at the moment is hand-sewing designs onto plain red tea-towels from Ikea which we will use as gifts. Even our 4 year old is managing a decent running stitch.
Filed under: Celebrations, events & festivals (Christmas, birthdays etc.), Workjobs & Montessori activities for highchair, mat or table time(mathematics, language, practical life & others) | Tagged: Blessing Buddies, Christmas, highchair activities, home-made Montessori, loose parts, what's in the box? |
angathome 
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