Elf on the Shelf Thoughts?

We have an Elf on the Shelf in our house. He is Mr. Elf. He comes after Thanksgiving to visit until Christmas Eve. When he arrives, he has some kind of family gift, like matching pajamas that we can all wear for a holiday photo op. (Yes, the kids are more likely to wear the matching jammies if they come from Mr. Elf, not Mommy.)

On December 12, Mr. Elf also delivers the twelve days of Christmas gifts. 12 presents under the tree. (Spoiler alert: they are all books. Always. Every year.)

The 12 days of Christmas serve a few purposes. We get new books! We get excited about these new books and read them A LOT!

Also, the kids get practice opening gifts. They are still little and need some practice before actual Christmas or we might be unwrapping gifts for days. So, we practice and learn some techniques.

To summarize, Mr. Elf is just a fun visitor from the North Pole. Bringing some early gifts and hiding around the house. He is not watching for Santa - he is just a friend from the North Pole who needs to go back on Christmas Eve to help Santa.

In my classroom, I had an elf one year. Again, the elf delivered some new books to the room and caused some chaos. It was fun to find him each day and naming him was a little graphing lesson. He did not become part of my classroom management system - he was just for fun. *I should add that 100% of my students that year celebrated Christmas and believed in Santa. Also, we researched holidays around the world, so we were exposed to all kinds of winter celebrations, not just Christmas.

I think the elf on the shelf is fun! It absolutely should not become a management tool you whip out to scare kids into being good around the crazy holidays. So, when you are thinking about using an elf in your classroom or home, be really mindful about HOW you are introducing it and HOW you are using it.

Handprint Art: BEST DAD HANDS DOWN!

Check out this easy to use printable for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents' Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, Nurses Appreciate Week, Principals, and Birthdays!

Recently, I decided to keep one frame ready to go in our house for these handprint art holiday gifts. Now, we switch out the most recent piece of artwork, so whatever is hanging is from that year. We still save the old handprints and cards and cutesie handmade things, but they are not ALL on display because that would just get crazy!

How to Use:

Simply use ink pads or paint to add your child's handprints to the templates provided! Afterwards, you can have children sign their name at the bottom. This is a memorable keepsake that can be framed or used as a card for special occasions.

What's Included?

There are 30 pages available. Plenty of black and white options for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents' Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, Nurses Appreciate Week, Principals, and Birthdays!. Names include:

- Mom

- Mommy

- Dad

- Daddy

- Grandma

- Grandpa

- Teacher

- Principal

- Nurse

Click here for the printable!

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays from this little Santa reindeer!

Enjoy this special time of the year with the people you love.

That's all! :)

A Christmas Tradition for Your Kids!

Yep! That's my Christmas tree skirt!

I saw this on Instagram (I don't remember who!) and thought I would give it a go!

My kids are 3 and 1, so we are starting a bit late, but better late than never.

Each child chose a paint color. We put their handprint on the underside of the Christmas tree skirt, along with their first initial and the year. We will add to it every Christmas season as they grow older and be able to see those sweet little handprints get bigger. 

It took me less than 5 minutes to get the handprints, and it will last a lifetime.

And how is your Christmas wrapping going?

I am a type A person with zero skill when it comes to wrapping gifts.

Well, maybe I could be better at it but I really don't make an effort. The challenge is that I want to wrap gifts the second they get delivered and then put them in a box ready to go to relatives and kiddos. So, although my husband would certainly wrap the presents like a store clerk, I cannot wait, and I wrap them like a fool.

It doesn't help that the gift above is a crockpot and I had major issues getting the paper to fit around it. And then I ran out of paper. And then...I gave up.

Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

By the way, the gift above is a crockpot from Target, through the Hearth and Home line. It is so pretty, black and cream colored. And it is a "dip pot" as I call it - we have a smaller one for mostly dips but not as pretty as this. I totally recommend it!

Holiday Gifts for Families: Handprint Calendars!

If you are looking for a great holiday gift, not completely focused on Christmas, look no further. I have used this Handprint Calendar from Teaching with Mel D for YEARS! (She updates it each year) I used it with my second graders, third graders, and fourth graders....and now I use it with my toddlers as grandparent gifts!

There are a few options for some of the months (ie: You CAN do a Santa for December, if you want!). There is also an Australia spelling version, which is a cool little bonus.

In the classroom, I would sort the calendar by color. So, if I needed a light blue for the snowman pages and the snowflake pages, I would have a little assembly line - call over 5 kids, paint everyone's hands, handprint one kid at a time for both of the pages that need that color, and send them to the sink right after to wash up. The trickiest pages are when you need multiple colors, so I saved those for last!

I never lost instructional time to get this project done - I always did it during recess or when I let the kids eat lunch in the classroom as a treat. Which is why I started this project EARLY. Like Thanksgiving time early.

I also made sure to get some Sharpies for drawing faces and some googly eyes. Not for every page, but the googly eyes really do add something special to the pages with little critters!

Oh and the actual calendar pages with dates come color or black and white. I typically printed color because I let my students color in as much as I could, but they never had time to finish the entire calendar, so it made sense to print those pages in color so the coloring part would focus on the pictures near the handprints.

So, check out some of our examples from this year. These are my kids (ages 3 and 1), which is why there are two handprints on some pages. Instead of alternating, I just squeezed two handprints on the pages where I could fit them. It actually looks very cute! I'm impressed with our work! :)