free printables and more snowflakes

I have a new set of printables — these are mini holiday cards and gift tags from my auggie project — find them here. I think these are good for class holiday cards (for a preschool or daycare class).

And, from goodideasforyou.com via pinterest — turn those snowflakes into ballerinas!

snowflakes for chinook

5-point paper stars are easy and you can let even young children cut shapes out of the sides. It's impossible to cut the shapes incorrectly — it will always look good as far as I can tell. Some of ours went terribly wrong and we thought they looked like masks (I didn't photograph them). If you use brightly coloured origami paper it will also add a little colour into early December. There is a really good tutorial diagrammed at howaboutorange. I quickly photographed the sequence here. This is a purple one, for Chinook.

materials: square paper, scissors

lay paper coloured side down, turn so it is a diamond and fold the bottom point to the top to make a triangle (pictured)

snowy cocoa

Here are two recipes for cocoa from Snowy & Chinook, one with solid chocolate, Melty Chinook Hot Chocolate, and and one with cocoa, Snowy's Cocoa. We like the cocoa for breakfast sometimes. Have it with some healthy breakfast gingerbread and it's perfect for a chilly morning.

Shadow Puppets

This is a good gloomy-day activity, especially when it's getting dark earlier: shadow puppets. There is a printable template here for these super-lovely polar bear and musk-ox puppets by Orange Moon Toys.

We're going to make them this afternoon, so I'll see if I can do a better image, but for now this is via Martha Stewart vis pinterest. You could do a version of the Donkey in the Lion's Skin (see below) by Aesop — the Muskox in the Polar Bear Skin?

If you prefer to buy some pre made puppets (no shame in that) then you can find some gorgeous ones here.

Also this week: Aesop's Fables as told by Mitsumasa Anno and non-stop nature walks.