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Make these crafts at home with the kids

Looking for more ideas?

Pick up a few parenting magazines like Family Fun or Parents.

Some suggested craft ideas from those magazines have been reprinted below.

Turning Turkey Pinwheels

From Parents Magazine

You’ll need:

Construction paper

Two-sided scrapbooking paper

Straight pins

Straws

Googly eyes

For starters, make a turkey body and face out of construction paper and glue on googly eyes. Slide a red bead onto a straight pin and stick it through the top of the turkey’s beak. Next, cut an 8 1/2″ square out of two-sided paper. Fold it diagonally one way, then the other, then open it. Cut slits in the paper from each corner almost to the center along the diagonal lines. Fold each corner into the center, overlapping the points, then poke the turkey straight pin through the center. Slide three beads onto the pin, then poke it through the top of a straw. Bend the end of the pin and tape it down.

Dino-Mite Dinosaur Ornaments

From Family Fun Magazine

You’ll need:

Several plastic dinosaur toys

Tacky glue

1/4-inch screw eyes

Fine glitter, any color

Waxed paper

String

Twist the screw eyes into the dinosaurs where you’d like to attach the string. Paint the bodies of the toys with the tacky glue, then sprinkle on the glitter until the dinosaur is fully covered. Set it on wax paper to dry. Tie the string in a loop through the eye, then hang on the Christmas tree.

Clothespin Menorah

From Family Fun Magazine

You’ll need:

An empty spaghetti box

Blue and silver paint

Peg-style clothespins

Craft knife

Aluminum foil

Yellow pipe cleaners

Tape the empty spaghetti box shot and paint it with the silver color. It may need more than one coat to be opaque. Paint nine clothespins with the blue color, and make one darker than the rest for the shammash. With a craft knife, cut nine “x” shapes into the top of the box.

Loosely wrap each of the clothespins in a 1 inch-by-6 inch piece of foil and secure it with tape. Place the pins in the box and allow the foil to sit on the surface. To create the flames of the monorah, wrap half of a yellow pipe cleaner around the top of each pin.

Mini Snow Globes

From Family Fun Magazine

You’ll need:

Clear plastic shot glasses

Card stock paper

Pinking shears

Glue dots

Plastic figurines, your choice

Epsom salts

Metallic pipe cleaners

Tacky glue

String (optional)

Button (optional)

Trace the opening of the shot glasses onto the card stock. Use the shears to cut a circle slightly larger than the one you have drawn.

Affix your chosen figure to the center of the circle with a glue dot, then add 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts to the shot glass.

Line the rim of the cup with the tacky glue, then attach the base and figure and allow to dry. Then, attach a metallic pipe cleaner around the bottom of the shot glass for decoration.

To make the snowglobe into an ornament, thread string through a button, then glue it into place.

Muffin Pan Advent Calendar

From Family Fun Magazine

You’ll need:

A mini-muffin pan

24 little gifts, like small toys or bite sized candies, notes or activity suggestions

A 12-by-24 inch adhesive magnet sheet

A glue stick

Patterned paper

1-inch circular paper punch

Hammer (optional)

Nail (optional)

Block of wood (optional)

Ribbon or string (optional)

Cut 24 2 1/4 inch-wide circles from the magnet sheet. Use the adhesive side to stick them to patterned paper, the cut them out. Using the punch, make 24 circles and number them one to 24. Attach them to the magnetic circles using a glue stick. Fill each part of the muffin pan with a small toy, a candy, a fun note or a suggestion for an activity, like watching a movie, for the child to open during Advent.

If you’d like to hang the calendar up on the wall, place one of the rims against a block of wood and punch two holes into it with the hammer and nail. Thread a ribbon or string through the halls to hang it.

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