WinterWonderland, Day 1

For the next week or so the weather forecast is 30 degrees with smog/haze. Fantastic. Horrible for playing outside, but great for the winter unit we are doing in school right now. My boys love doing crafts and it is a great way to break up the day when both you and your kids are starting to go a little crazy being cooped up in the house.

If you are a sucker for sales then do not go to Joann or Michael's right now. You will go home will way too much stuff. I know this from personal experience. In my opinion Michael's had a way better selection of Christmas items on sale (80% off). But Christmas items were not what I was after. It works in my favor that even though winter has just begun really, all winter/snow related crafts go on sale after Christmas as well. Now is the time to stock up if you too are cooped up.

So today begins a flurry of winter related crafts for you and your tots. The first is a classic, and despite all my ramblings about craft store sales, it requires no purchases. That's right, it is the cotton ball snowman.
I did this last year too and my boys love it. All you need is a piece of paper, glue, and a bag of cotton balls. What I do is lightly draw the outline of a snowman so you will have a guide to follow as you glue. Also, jumbo cotton balls may be too big (like mine) so you can easily tear them in half and roll gently in your hand to reform into ball form.
Once all the cotton balls are glued on, let your tot draw on the stick arms, and cut the nose and hat out of construction paper. Simple and classic. This is a great craft, even for toddlers. Mom just needs to pipe the glue onto the snowman and then let your little one stick on the cotton balls.
Please ignore the messy hair and shirtlessness. I'm sure I was still wearing my pajamas. You would get lazy too if you homeschooled :)