Snow

Well, the weather forecasters tell me that snow is on the way--at this point I wonder if they're just trying to make me (temporarily) feel better, or if they really do think it's going to snow.  I sure hope it does.  I mean, what's the point of it being cold if there isn't going to be any snow to play in?

In the meantime, the Camp Scarlet kids and I have taken matters into our own hands with snow themed projects the past couple of weeks.

 This one is from my good pal Valerie over at Frugal Family Fun Blog. Just use double-sided tape to make a snowflake shape and stick small pieces of aluminum foil to it. I found it was easiest to cut strips of aluminum foil and then let the kids tear squares from that (rather than just giving them a sheet of aluminum foil).

This one is also from Valerie.  It didn't turn out quite how I had imagined it, but it was fun.  See, the problem was, the salt covered up the eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons...oh well.

{Oops--I didn't get a picture...just imagine a snowman, drawn with crayon on blue paper, covered with salt}

This one you've seen.  I traced a few round objects in a snowman shape to give the kids a guide for placing their cotton ball snow.  We found that it works better to pull the cotton balls out a bit--makes the finished man a little flatter, which makes it easier to glue other stuff on.  The kids added "gem" eyes and mouth, button buttons, pipe cleaner nose, and a felt scarf and hat.

 I got this recipe from Family Circle's December issue, but it doesn't really matter. Just take any round cookie and decorate like a snowman face--so great for developing those fine motor skills. I was planning to make these when the other half of our nephews were visiting, but based on some half-muttered overheard comments, I decided to skip it (by the way...I can hear you). Their loss--the cookies were delicious and cute. And on a side note, this was my first time ever working with royal icing. Totally easy and non-intimidating :) I can see now why bakers like it for certain projects, including gingerbread houses.

Oh, we also made some new snowflakes for our window :)