13th Day: Christmas Crafts & Activities for a Two Year Old

    Our thirteenth day of twenty five was a fun day at home!  Our area was under a winter weather advisory (freezing rain turning to cumulative snow) so we had to cancel our plans on going to a children's party that featured a candy cane hunt by flashlight.  We decided that if we couldn't go to the party with crafts and candy canes we would just have to bring the party to us!

    We started our little party off with a foam sticker gingerbread house.  This was the perfect craft for Mads, as I've mentioned before, he's a huge lover of art and stickers so this was right up his alley.  He was so excited to get to put together the house and decorate it, he kept laughing and clapping with excitement.

Having fun working hard on his gingerbread house

The finished house!

So proud of his creation

    Marshall was very proud of his finished product and is still moving it from spot to spot trying to find the perfect spot to display his house.  This simple little set provided a good forty-five minutes of entertainment.  After we were done, we changed Marshall out of his play clothes and into his painting shirt for his ornament craft.

Painting his ornament with care

   

    The little wooden sailboat we picked up awhile back at the dollar tree, we always try to pick up little crafts from there from time to time.  If you couldn't tell already, I am truly my Grandma V's granddaughter with my appreciation of the dollar store!  The little boat has a ribbon attached to the back so we can hang it, we just tucked the ribbon behind so that wouldn't be painted as well.  Marsh had so much fun, and it was so impressive to watch him so purposefully make each stroke and pick out each color.  It was also a great learning activity- working on fine motor skills, colors (even though Mads can't talk, he does know and can point out colors), and cognitive ability.

    When Marsh finally decided that he was done with the boat ornament, Brad took him upstairs for bath time and pajamas.  While they were washing up, I took out a package of a dozen candy canes and hid them around the living room.  I turned off all the lights except for the Christmas tree and waited for Marshall to be done upstairs.  Brad gave Mads a flashlight and we told him to hunt for candy canes!

Hunting high and low for candy canes by flashlight

Rushing to his find by flashlight

    Marshall had so much fun that he went upstairs three times to allow Brad to re-hide the candy canes!  Marshall absolutely loved it and was so sad when it was time to put the candy canes away for bedtime.

    The thirteenth day was a day of celebrating despite the weather, which was probably for the best to have another day of recuperation for me.  Marshall was able to do a bunch of things that he very much enjoys in the comfort of home and all three activities combined cost lest than five dollars.  Hopefully the weather cooperates as we venture north for some holiday fun tomorrow!