Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

MATERIALS
applesauce (store bought, not homemade)
cinnamon (bulk)
white glue
wax paper
rolling pin
cookie cutters
one drinking straw
ribbon, rafia, etc. for hanging

WHAT YOU DO
You want a one-to-one ration of applesauce to cinnamon.  1/4 cup to 1/2 cup each should be fine.  Measure out the cinnamon and applesauce for your tot, then let him pour it into a mixing bowl.  Let him stir and then finish off the mixing for him.  Add a bit of white glue (up to a tablespoon).

Lay out a sheet of wax paper sprinkled with cinnamon so your "dough" doesn't stick.  Cover rolling pin with cinnamon also and help your child roll out the dough into a thin, flat sheet.  If the dough seems too wet, just add more cinnamon.  Let your toddler cut out shapes with cookie cutters then use a straw to poke a hole at the top where you will hang with ribbon.  You can also use a template and trace around that - try tracing your child's hand!

Dry in a 200 degree oven for two hours (turning once) or let air dry for 24-48 hours.

Hang with a festive ribbon!  Try decorating some with clear sparkle sugars (I used red because that's what we had but the clear/white ones would look SO much better!).  You can also add them to your potpourri dish, they smell SO yummy!

Fun Crayons for Little Hands

I got this idea from my friend Steph over at Mada's Place.  Following Steph's directions, I was able to reuse my broken and dulled crayons from my younger years. And now have a very fun stocking stuffer for my busy body tot!  This will make coloring so fun for him and the crayons will be easier for his small hands to grab than those teeny tiny Crayolas.  I also was able to find boxes of crayons in the dollar bin at Michaels.  They're princess crayons, but after peeling off the labels and melting them down, they are now sports and underwater animals!

MATERIALS
Clean, empty soup cans
Crayons
Candy Molds (such as Wilton)
Big pot of boiling water

WHAT YOU DO
Peel off the wrappers of your crayons and break them into smaller pieces.  Separate by color into each of your soup cans.  Place the cans into your boiling water (water should be high enough to be above the crayons) and allow the crayon to melt.  This won't take very long.

Once the wax is melted, carefully pour it into your molds (or you can use a plastic spoon to spoon it into the mold).  Allow the wax to set a bit and then transfer to mold to your freezer or refrigerator.  Once the wax is cooled, it pops right out of the molds!

This may not be a project to do with your tot, but they will sure have fun coloring with these cool, new crayons!

Find free, printable coloring pages here:
Sesame Street
sproutonline.com
Disney