We've moved. Please click here to view our new blog.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Christmas Sensory and I Spy Ornaments

I LOVE how these turned out....but more importantly, my son LOVED the process of making them, which is saying a lot because in all honesty, he's not big on "art projects".  I have put these clear glass ornaments from Michaels in my cart on more than one occasion and I always end up taking them out....until the other day.  My son and I were reading the Christmas I Spy book and it inspired me to make these.  (We also made sensory ornaments).  LOTS OF PICS....

Things you need:
  • Ornaments from Michaels (they were on sale for 99 cents)
  • Decorative embellishments (also from Michaels)
  • Filler - We used colored Epsom Salt, poly-fil pellets, and fake snow (amongst other things)
  • Funnel
(The first step is to color the Epsom Salt.  All you do is add food coloring and mix with your hands.)
 The Invitation



 These are the decorative embellishments (from Michaels)



 Filling the first ornament with colored Epsom Salt



 Adding embellishments - for this one he added one or two of everything....except letters....true to form, he didn't TOUCH the letters at all during this activity.  LOL


 I SPY



 Moving it around and telling me "I spy....." (all of the things he sees).  He loved this!



 Another ornament - Epsom salt



 To this one he added ALL of the snowmen and snowflakes and told me it was his "snowy ornament"


 "Snowy Ornament"



 Checking it out



 Adding fake snow.  The snow didn't fall like the salt, so he used a pencil to poke it all down....quite a process and he was so focused!



 Adding bells and candy canes



 The last I SPY ornament was full of poly-fil pellets and the embellishments 




 checking out the ornament with poly-fil pellets and telling me the things he sees



I SPY ORNAMENTS



 Making sensory ornaments.  He chose cotton, dry garbanzo beans, bells, and acorns.  We had one ornament causality....the one with the bells broke while we were listening to the sounds....and that's ok.  He told me "Mommy, this one is broken" when he shook the ornament with cotton balls inside, which I thought was hilarious.  LOL  For the others he said, "its like there's music inside!"....and we talked about the sounds.










 "We need to put them downstairs for a little while."







**TIPS - Dont put anything too hard in the ornaments....they are fragile.  For those of you with curious little ones, you might want to glue on the tops.  These are too heavy for the tree...and they sell acrylic ones (mine are glass) at Michaels as well.**

- AK (MESE, MECD)

17 comments:

  1. love this idea, and love even more the idea of using them as a table centerpiece!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love this! And I love all of the beads he is wearing....looks just like my 3yo boy :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. April - He was going to put them in one of the ornaments but spotted the acorns, went with those, and decided to wear the beads instead. It was our bead adorning intermission. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love! Love! Love! Off to michaels!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm so excited to try these! Thanks once again for great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are beautiful. We will definitely be making them when my boys are older.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This are amazing! Very creative and a lot of fun. I may wait until next year since one of my boys has already knocked over the Christmas tree this year and broke some ornaments. I don't want to encourage them to get near the tree anymore this year. :) I am going to share on my FB page.

    Mommy Cameron | Raising the Cameron Clan

    ReplyDelete
  8. Can I ask you where you got that (plastic?) clear multi space tray in which the ornments lies?

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was going to ask the same question as Neptune, where did you get that tray?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mommy Cameron - You cant hang them on the tree...too heavy.

    Neptune and Jen-Jen - The container that the ornaments are in is the container they came in. The square compartment container that the decorative embellishments are in is a drawer organizer from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

    - AK

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow! Great idea! We will definitely try it out . Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am mad over this idea! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Something that might be a little more durable: at Christmas Coke makes a ball/ornament shaped bottle. I love using these as discovery bottles or sensory bottles. This year I did a couple of "I Spy" bottles out of them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love the twist of a this projects off of a I spy activity. Great for the holidays. I think that with my ever rambunctious 2 year old, we'd have to buy plastic ones. she's a bit too active. Fun activity.

    Veronica @ http://watchmeplaynlearn.blogspot.com/2011/12/d-for-dots.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank you so much for your great ideas helpful tips.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...