Books and Giggles
Winter kids activities & crafts
Planning Advent calendar ideas with activities or treats for every slot can be a big task. Over the past few years, I’ve developed a system that works well for our family. I’ve turned it into a free printable organizer. It will help you plan fun yet easy activities for any Advent calendar. When Liam was…
When you have an active child who needs to move, practicing sight words can be challenging. Santa Claus can help! This activity for kinesthetic learners is a fun way to motivate kids at Christmas time. My son, Liam, needed extra motivation to work on sight words. He isn’t the type of kid who will sit…
If your toddler or young preschooler loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, I have a fun, educational toddler Christmas activity for you. It will help them learn about numbers and one-to-one correspondence. It will also introduce them to Christmas and winter themes. (Books and Giggles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program,…
Sometime you need a simple, quick holiday craft for kids. This candy cane ornament is just that. It’s a step up from the traditional twisted candy cane pipe cleaner craft, but not much harder to do. These decorations could also be used as a topper on a wrapped gift. If your child enjoys this little…
Open-ended toys make great gifts! They often can outlast other toys with more bells and whistles. You can’t always tell on Christmas day which toys will be the winners. Sometimes the toys that allow open-ended play are what get played with the most over the long haul. Toys that only do one thing can get boring quickly. That’s because kids…
I’m excited to share another children’s story and craft combo with you. This gingerbread house craft is made with popsicle sticks and decorated with easy-to-find embellishments. Yes, you can leave it up the entire holiday season. You can even save it to put up year after year. And, to make this gingerbread house craft more meaningful, I’ve found…
This cookie cutter ornament is pretty and durable – so you can pull them out again years from now and remember when little hands made them. To make it extra engaging now, I’m also suggesting a picture book to go with the craft. This morning I went shopping near the mall and ran into a whole lot of Christmas….
A book exchange party is a fun activity for a kids at the holidays. You can do one as part of a classroom holiday celebration, with a scout troop, or for a play group. You can even throw a book exchange party at home just for friends. I love the unwritten message of giving books…
My day was all planned out. Before lunch, we were going to run out to the toy store and pick up something for a birthday party that afternoon. I’d forgotten to order anything online, and my gift closet was pretty much empty. It all would’ve worked out fine, except I suddenly realized I hadn’t picked up…