Indoor Camping

     I do not like field trips. Never have, probably never will. I was a nervous and anxiuos child so going on a field trip was hard for me. I was hoping to out grow it, but sadly, as a teacher, I hate them even more. Too much worry and stress involved. What I do enjoy is creating a new environment within my classroom for the kids to explore. 

    During our summer program, I decided to give the kids a camping experience. I brought in a pop up beach tent, made a fake fire, put up a Christmas tree, and created fun activites to do.  I made the fire by laying toilet paper rolls in a circle. I then wrapped a touch light in yellow and orange tissue paper. I placed the light in the middle of the toilet paper rolls. The kids loved it. 

    First, we sat around the fire. I put marshmellows on the end of cake pop sticks and we pretended to roast marshmellows. We sang a few of our favorite songs and then I read a couple of stories to them.

  

     I created some activities and games for us to do next. We went fishing. Using small dowel rods, I added yarn and a paper clip to make the fishing rods. I tied a ribbon to various small prizes and placed them in a bowl. I then covered the bowl will blue plastic and surrounded it with construction paper for the grass. I made slits in the plastic for them to lower the hook into.

    I set up craft stations. The kids got to decorate a birdhouse and paint a bandana to wear. The picture below also shows a "Welcome Campers" banner along with some paper trees. 

    I made goody bags with items for them to make smores when they got home. These are easy to make. You just place a small Hershey bar, a marshmellow and a graham cracker in a ziplock bag.

    The best part of my class going camping was hearing them tell their parents about it. This is something that I am definetly going to do every summer. It was fun and easy to put together.

Christmas Stocking Posts

     Several years ago, I found myself in need of a place to hang my Christmas stockings. I asked my mother for any ideas and she told me that she had been looking at stocking hangers but hasn't found the right one.  Like all her previous projects, if my mom can't find something she needs, she makes it. My mother is a vary handy person. I often tell people that I don't have a "handy man," but I have a "handy mom." So off we went to the home improvement store. She bought a couple of 4x4x8 posts, 18x12x1 boards (for the base), screws (not sure which kind), and white paint.

    When attaching the base to the post, you will want to countersink the screws. The screws will then be inset in the wood and your post will be sturdy and not wobbly.

    After assembling the wood and painting them white, we were left with the task of putting a design on them. I had several Christmas window clings laying around so I decided to give it a try. I glued them on the posts and then sprayed a sealent over the tops of them. We then went to various stores to find a topper.

    My mom found a pepperment striped tree, and a glass lantern. She added some fairy lights to it and wrapped a piece of garland and a bow at the base. The post has snowmen, a Christmas tree, and Santa on it. 

    My stocking post has snowmen on it. I bought a silver lantern for the top and placed a snowman inside. I also included white fairy lights and blue snowflake lights. The battery packs for the string lights are velcroed to the back of the post. We used 4 screw hooks on each post to hold up to 4 stockings.

    After making the snowman one for my family, I decided to make one for my pets. I used dog and cat window clings. I found a jar at a craft store and placed a dog and cat ornament inside along with the fairy lights.

    These were so much fun to design and create. The cost wasn't too bad. Most of the money was spent on making the toppers. The wood for two stocking posts was around $30 dollars. My mother spent about $15 on her topper all together. I spent about $30 on the snowman one. The pet one only cost about $12. I am sure many people have made similar stocking posts, but we are very happy with the ones we made. I hope this article is helpful to anyone who wants to make one for themselves.

     

Christmas Scene Boxes

     I had this idea two years ago to make a Christmas scene in a tissue box. I made a few for my classroom and the kids just loved taking turns looking in them. Last year, my daughter brought home some left over cigar boxes from her art class. I used them to make a few more Chrsitmas scenes for my house. 

    This is a very easy and inexpensive project. I went to the Dollar Tree and found little figures and fake snow. I also picked up some battery operated string lights. I printed out a winter background and glued it in the back of the box. I wrapped the outside of the box with Christmas wrapping paper to hide the cigar box. I then placed the figures, snow, and lights inside. 

    These first two are the original ones I made for my classroom.  The outside looks rough but I have since made improvements on them. 

  

      I made this one to put in the window of my door. I used blue lights to give it more of a wintery feel. I wish I had a clearer picture of this one because it was my favorite. 

    

    These are the ones that I made for my home. The first box features carolers in front of a large tree. The box with the truck and deer on it opens up to reveal kids having a snowball fight.
 

    I had to redo my window box because it got smooshed in storage. This time, I placed it in a sturdier box that can close. 

  

 It's such a simple and easy project. I love watching my students just stare in wonder at them. I think that I will start saving boxes and let my students make one of these for themselves next Christmas.

  

 

Halloween Hallway

     I am not a big fan of Halloween. I am more of a Fall Festival person. I love hay rides, bon fires/ weenie roasts, and family friendly events. However, it's a big deal in my department. Coming up with creative ways to decorate while trying not to duplicate previous years is always a challenge.  This past Halloween was no different. 

    One of my new found talents is drawing and painting. I dabbled in the arts but never realized that I was some what good at it. The following are some ideas that I worked on. I am not including the areas that my co-workers decorated. I am only showing the ones that I did or that I helped with.

    We decided to call our hallway "Creepy Hallow." I made this poster on the back of bulletine board paper and then put a coat of Modge Podge on it. I do most of my projects on the back of our bulletine paper because I do not have any other paper available. I use what we have and hope for the best. 

    I then created a coffin with a 3D hand coming out of it. I cut out a coffin shape from the black bulletine board paper. Next, I searched for and printed out a wood grain image. I glued it to the coffin. Using a piece of cardboard, I traced out my hand and arm. After cutting it out, I wrapped toilet paper around it and taped the end behind the coffin.

    I made two posters last year that I got alot of compliments on, so I hung them back up this year. The first one depicts trick or treaters on Halloween night. The other one is a for farm fresh pumpkins. The leaves on it are fabric.

    It wouldn't be halloween without adding some corn stalks. These were very easy to make. I made most of them by rolling brown paper to make the stalk. Then I ripped strips of the same paper and taped them to the stalks. My co-worker had a corn cobb craft so I made several copies on the printer and placed them on the stalk as well. An easier way to make these is to use wrapping paper tubes. I did not have any available at the time so I had to make my own. I am saving any wrapping paper tubes to make more corn stalks next year. On a side note, wrapping paper tubes come in handy when you need to store your posters. I just roll them up and place in the tube. I then label the tube and place them in a wrapping paper conatiner.

    Last, but not least, I had to decorate my classroom doors. On the first door, I made a spider, pumpkin, ghost, and monster out of construction paper. The other  decorations on the door are crafts made by my students. The second door had over forty fall leaves that I cut out. The branches are actually 3D, as well as the swing. It's hard to see in the picture, but there is a glowing moon in the window of the door. I cut out a circle from cardboard. Then taped a string of battery operated lights to it. I wrapped it in yellow paper and adhered it to the inside of my window.

    I have no idea how we are going to decorate next year. I have feeling we will be exploring ideas as early as spring. 

Classic Christmas Decor!

     My absolute favorite holiday is Christmas. I love celebrating the birth of Jesus. I also love to decorate. The twinkling lights, a plethora of snowmen, nativity scenes, and fake snow bring me such joy. The great part about decorating is that, not only do I get to spruce up my house, but I also get to have fun at work.

    My co-workers and I decided to decorate our department in a classic Christmas movie theme. I drew out the characters and one of my co-workers helped me paint them. We probably put in almost seventy hours to get them all made. My other co-worker set them in a scene.  All the characters were drawn on the back of bulletine board paper. Once they were painted, I coated them in a layer of Modge Podge and added a touch of glitter to each one.

    The first one we made was "Frosty the Snowman." We addd more detail later (not shown in picture).

        The next one is "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss.

    The longest wall in our department is dedicated to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."

    We had some windows that we weren't sure what to do with, so we put the Heat Miser and Snow Miser on them.

    We had to include the famous leg lamp from "A Christmas Story." To make the lamp shade work, it had to be cut in half and then glued to a piece of cardboard. We then attached a battery operated light under the shade. 

    One of my co-workers designed our office door with Snoopy. She attached a plush snoopy to the dog house by using fishing line. The dog house is made from cardboard.

    I had a lot of fun making this last wall. I painted a tree and put real lights on it. I made the star by cutting out a star shape on cardboard. Then I taped a strand of battery operated lights onto it and wrapped the star in yellow tissue paper. Next, I printed out a star clipart and taped it to the front. I wrapped various sizes of cardboard in Christmas paper and taped them under the tree. After painting the fireplace, I used packing foam from our IT department to make the stonework and mantal.  I have since added lights to the fireplace.

    

    The last area we decorated was the playroom/therapy room. We set up four trees and added various clipart style images thoughtout the room. These are just a couple of them.

    Being on a budget can make it hard to decorate. However, with a little teamwork, we made a fun Christmas atmosphere that the kids love.