Fun & Cool Stuff for you to do!

Snowflakes

Our third Christmas art project is what I call Georgia snowflakes. In southwest Georgia where we live it snows maybe one day a year. So the rest of the time we have to make our own snow. I like to make all different sizes and tape them to the window on my back door as a part of my Christmas decorations. You can do the same thing.

All you need is white paper, the lighter weight the better, and a pair of scissors.

Fold the paper according to the instructions in the diagram. First fold it in half. Then fold it in quarters. X marks the corner you use to fold it into a triangle. Fold side B to line up with side A. Fold line C to line up with side AB. Turn the paper over so you can see the lowest corner. Cut out a design with your scissors.


	God Sparks This is the page where we have some fun while we use our imagination to think creatively. We have only one rule. You must never color inside the lines! This is an outside-the-lines kind of website!




	Photos this month were taken by big sister Jessica.

Christmas Jokes

Silly jokes are good for getting us loosened up so our brains won’t be so up tight that it only thinks of things we’ve already thought of. What fun is that? We need to let our brains laugh and get all those old cobwebs cleaned out so it can start sparking new ideas.

What did Adam say the day before Christmas?
It’s Christmas, Eve.

What is the name of Santa Claus’ dog?
Santa Paws.

How many presents can Santa Claus fit into his empty sack?
Only one because after that it isn’t empty anymore.

What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Frosted flakes!

What do you call an old snowman?
Water!

What’s white and goes up?
A confused snowflake!

Where do snowmen go to dance?
A snow ball!

I know, those were too silly. You can do much better. Maybe you could send me your favorite silly jokes and we could put them here on the webpage.

Christian mixes in one cup of crunchy peanut butter.

Jacob makes sure every single one of that cup of sweetened chocolate chips gets in the pot.

After the chocolate and peanut butter melt together Taylor measures the Rice Krispies to add.

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:
1 cup sweetened chololate chips
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup Rice Krispies

1. Place the chocolate chips and the peanut butter into a small bowl and melt it in the microwave or place in a small pan and melt over low heat on the top of the stove, stirring to mix well.

2. Stir in the Rice Krispies.

3. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper that has been placed on a cookie sheet.

4. Place in the refrigerator to harden.

Hints:
You can use brown rice sweetened carob chips instead of sweetened chocolate chips.
You can use either smooth or crunchy peanut butter.
You can use almond butter instead of peanut butter.
You can add nuts or even dried bits of fruit like raisins or cranberries.

The boys drop the candy onto waxed paper. Then they put it into the refrigerator to harden.

Jacob thinks the best part about cooking is licking the pan!

Yum-m-m!

ART PROJECT

Last month we did a little print method art project. We did leaf rubbings. To create a print you must have something with a raised surface in order to make the design. Leaves have veins and stems that make imprints when you rub crayons acoss paper with leaves underneath. In December we are going to have fun making Christmas prints.

The first project is going to be Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. You can put Rudolph on the front of a tee shirt or on a tea towel or a pillow. Christian, Jacob and Taylor put their reindeer on stiff placemats that can be hung up like pictures.

For this art project you will need either acrylic paint or water soluable printers ink. We decided to use both. We used brown acrylic paint for Rudolph's face and blue printers ink for his antlers. If you use paint you can use a paint brush to paint the surface of the thing you want to print. If you use ink you will need a brayer (roller) and something to roll it out on. I like to use an old acrylic cutting board and foam meat trays. They can be washed and used over and over.

Jacob discovers that getting your foot painted can tickle.

Three feet printed on placemats.

Taylor gets help in pressing his hand down evenly in the ink to make the antlers on his reindeer.

After the paint and ink dried the boys glued wiggly eyes and a red pom-pom nose on their reindeer to make Rudolph. Later they will write "Merry Christmas" with fabric paint on the picture and pin a ribbon on to hang it by.


	The Birds' Christmas Tree (see pictures below) 1. Even the birds like to have special treats at Christmas and their very own Christmas Tree. The first step to making a birds' Christmas tree is to cut an orange in half and eat the orange out, leaving the shell. Jacob is doing a very good job! 2. Christian pokes two little holes opposite each other in the orange rind. 3. Christian tied little ribbons onto the orange rinds to make little baskets. 4. Jacob and Christian filled the baskets with bird seed. 5. Then they tied ribbons to pine cones. 6. Nana helped Jacob put peanut butter all over his pine cone. Christian didn't need any help. He did a good job covering his pine cone with peanut butter. 7. The boys poured birdseed onto a plastic bag and rolled the peanut butter covered pine cones in the birdseed so that they were very well covered.


	8. If you can't find a tree a bush will do! The boys are pleased with their Birds' Christmas Tree and can't wait to see what kind of birds will show up to enjoy their Christmas treats.

Christmas Card Prints

Christmas cards are easy to print and so much more personal than the ones you buy in the store.

To make the printing blocks you will first need to draw some simple Christmas shapes. Our shapes are a Christmas tree, a dove, a Christmas star, and a stocking. After drawing the shapes you want then to trace them onto a piece of foam. You can use plastic foam meat trays or foam sheets you buy at the craft store. You can also use cardboard or foam-like textured kitchen sheets that your mom uses to clean with. Anything that you can cut out and glue and that will make a raised surface will work. Our print blocks are glued onto pieces of wood blocks left over from a building project but you can use cardboard or anything that is stiff and that you can glue the shape onto. We glued a shape onto each side.

After the glue dries you are set to print. You will need water-soluable printers ink, a brayer (roller) and meat trays to use for the ink. You will also need good paper to print on. Taylor, Christian and Jacob are using scraps of art paper that have been cut and folded like a card. One edge of the paper was cut with scissors that make a fancy scalloped edge.

Jacob printed a green Christmas tree and now wants to make a star. Christian is rolling out red ink to make a stocking print on his next card.
Taylor insists on having a black Christmas stocking!
Taylor needed a little help from Nana in pressing his block down to make a good impression.
These boys are pretty pleased with their Christmas projects. They've set them on the table to dry.






	Christian concentrates on his scissors work. Taylor creates his first snowflake! Five snowflakes on the window and it's like a pretty winter wonderland already.


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