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B started preschool this year. He loves it. He talks about it all week and lists all his friends in his class (with the exact same inflection every time. It’s precious).
This week was their Christmas parties. He’s in two different classes, one for each day of the week he goes, so that means TWO parties. And, of course, this mama was in charge of both of them.
In the toddler class, it’s a party all the time. Holiday parties though just consist of a snack and activity. I decided to make Snowmen on a Stick for snack and ribbon streamers to dance around with as their activity.
Unfortunately, B has been sick all week and didn’t get to enjoy either of his parties, but by all reports his friends thoroughly enjoyed the fun.
Snowmen on a Stick
Ingredients/Materials:
-Lollipop/cakepop sticks (one per snack)
-Wooden skewer (one total)
-Banana
-Mini chocolate chips
-A carrot
-Pretzel sticks (one per snack; gluten free for us)
Procedure:
1. Ours started with sanitizing everything extra thoroughly….even beyond my typical over-“particular” protocol. Since B wasn’t feeling well and I only wanted to share Christmas cheer, not croup, with my little friends.
2. Slice the banana in 1/2″ segments. You will need 3 segments for each snack.
3. Use the wooden skewer to poke a pilot hole through the banana slice lengthwise.
4. Then thread 3 banana segments on each skewer.
5. Add 5 mini chocolate chips to each snowman (2 for the eyes and 3 for the buttons).
6. Slice a sliver of carrot into small triangles for the nose.
7. Cut each pretzel stick in half and insert as arms.
Healthy and festive. 🙂 I did let B try his first chocolate chip after I finished making the snacks. “Chocolate” has definitely been added to his vocabulary and has been asked for often. Luckily he doesn’t know that it comes in a size bigger than a mini chip, quantity greater than one, or a frequency of greater than once a day.
Ribbon streamers
I saw something similar to these at library story time the one time we went last year. I filed it in the memory bank as a fun idea for a rainy day. When I made my sample one, B ran and spun around with it for the rest of the morning. I immediately chalked it up as a win.
Materials:
-Clear shower rings (one per streamer set)
-Ribbon (5 yards per streamer set; in varying colors)
Procedure:
1. Cut ribbon to one yard lengths.
2. Thread ribbon through shower ring. Halfway knot the ribbon with a balloon knot (no that’s the the official name….I’m not a Boy Scout….I don’t know my knots). A “balloon knot” is like you would tie a balloon.
3. Repeat until you have five-ish ribbons on each ring. Mix and match colors and finishes of ribbon
4. Burn the end of the ribbon to keep from unraveling.
5. Turn on some music and let your toddler frolic with joy.