Crafty Corner ~ Christmas Time!

Jesus is the Light of the World Candle Craft by
Confessions Of A Homeschooler


Paper Plate Angels by
Ramblings Of A Crazy Woman
Nativity Craft by
Confessions Of A Homeschooler

Peppermint Scrub
by No Time For Flashcards


Santa craft from
Confessions Of A Homeschooler

Christmas Advent Chain by
Ramblings of a Crazy Woman


Handprint Reindeer by
Tired, Need Sleep

Candy Cane Craft:
Ramblings of a Crazy Woman
Family Christmas Stocking Craft:

Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Paint with a Christmas Tree Craft

Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Fun Felt Christmas Tree by
Confessions Of A Homeschooler

Craft Stick Wreath:
Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Pom-Pom Christmas Tree Ornament:
Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Preschool Wreath Craft:
Our Crafts-n-Things

Other fun Winter Craft Ideas:
All Kids Network Winter Crafts
Family Fun Christmas Crafts
Kaboose Christmas Crafts

Do you have a tot-friendly Christmas or winter craft on your blog? Read here first and then email me (EricaAtTotallyTots@gmail (dot) com) so I can add it here! If you feature crafts on your blog often, be sure to let me know in the email so I can add you to the "search" list for future posts!

~Welcome to Erica, one of our new team members! She will be officially introduced soon, but she jumped right in and helped us out with this post for December! Be sure to click her name tag to visit her awesome personal blog!!

Once Upon a Book ~ A Star for Jesus

A Star for Jesus

by Crystal Bowman

Summary: A little girl looks into the sky at a bright Christmas star, and thinks about the first Christmas in this beautiful book die cut into the shape of a star.

Daily Activities

{click on the craft title for full directions}

Supplies needed: salt, flour, water, star cookie cutter, paint, clothespins, posterboard, cinnamon, sugar and tortillas.

Dec 7: Salt Dough Stars

Dec 8: Clothespin Star game

Make a poster board star and have you LO clip a clothespin on each point.

Dec 9: Count the Star

Make a poster board star. Have your LO count the points and write the number and also the number word in the center of the star.

Dec 10: I'm a Star Ornament

Make a poster board star. Have your LO decorate it and put their picture in the middle of the star.

Dec 11: Cinnamon and Sugar Stars

Use a cookie cutter to cut out stars then follow the directions to make cinnamon sugar stars.

Bible Memory

December’s Bible Verse: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

This weeks part for LO's to memorize: ‘for there is born to you this day in the city of David’

Song Time

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Christmas

Sung to: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

Twinkle, twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the manger so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Guiding the wisemen on their way,

To where Baby Jesus lay.

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage! For the December activity schedule, please click here.

In My Heart ~Ii Psalm 142:2

Verses are from: Songs for Saplings: ABCs
(You can get it here, or here)

Find the PDF files to download here!

See our Raising Rock Stars posts here!

See our intro post about teaching Bible memory verses to tots here.

Book Basket: December & January

At the end of each month we want to give you a 'heads up' of the books that will be used in the two upcoming months for several of our features: Little Books for Little Cooks, Now I Know My ABC's, and Once Upon a Book. These lists are to help you out so you can be looking for the books at your library, digging through your stacks in search of them, or order those 'must haves'!

Little Books for Little Cooks is a new feature that we will be adding in January. We'll be featuring a fun book to read with your little one and then a cooking {or kitchen creation} to go along with the book. Just another way for you to have fun together with your little ones!

Here are the books that we are planning to use during the months of December and January:


Little Books for Little Cooks



Now I Know My ABC's



Once Upon a Book

Now I Know My ABC’s ~ D is for Dinosaur

It's time for some fun alphabet crafts!! We hope you enjoy these! If you are new, you can visit our ABC webpage to find links to any other letters we have done!

Ten Terrible Dinosaurs

by Paul Stickland

Summary:Countdown from 10 to 1 as you read about 10 dinosaurs standing in a line that begin to push and shove each other and leave the line one by one. This is a great way to introduce the concept of subtraction to your little ones.

What You'll Need

• Green foam sheet or construction paper {I used two different colors}
• Scissors
• Pen {to trace letter}
• Googly eyes
• Glue

To Make the Dinosaur

1. Trace and cut an uppercase 'D' out of the foam sheet or construction paper. I used a foam sheet that was about 4" x 5" in size.
2. Using the extra foam, cut out several triangles for the dinosaurs back.
3. Cut out four rectangles to use as 'legs', an oval for his head, a neck and a tail.
4. Glue the legs, tail and neck onto the back of the letter 'D'.
5. Flip the dinosaur over and add his head, scales and eye.

Terrific Tot Sites ~ Little Fingers

Little Fingers is a website that develops software for children PreK up to 5th grade. While the company has a lot of software that you can purchase, they also have some fun games that you can play for free online.

** Note: Adobe Shockwave required to run online games. **

There are some cute games that are ‘samples’ or one from a series of games that Little Fingers offers. I played around in the Hat Shop first. You are shown some hats and then given a few other hats and asked to put them in the display. “Put the red hat under the purple hat, etc…” It’s a great game to help learn different directional words {above, below, left, right, and next to}.

Another fun game is the colors game. Children listen for the color word and then look for the fish that is that color to swim across the screen. When they see the right fish, they have to click on it and then are asked to find another fish.

There are several other games on the site that you might have fun playing with, so hop over and check it out. If your little one enjoys the games, you might be interested in the Game Parlor that you can download to use without needing an internet connection {$19.99}.

Hope you enjoy this Terrific Tot Site! To see more featured sites, click here!

Once Upon a Book ~ Jesus, Me and My Christmas Tree

Jesus, Me, and My Christmas Tree
by Crystal Bowman

Summary: Little ones can't wait to put up the Christmas tree -- a clear sign of exciting things to come. But what's the meaning of this holiday tradition? Learn the symbolic meaning of the Christmas tree, from lights and ornaments and the star on top to the blessing of presents underneath.

Daily Activities

{click on the craft title for full directions}

Supplies needed: green paint, white or cream construction paper, green construction paper, star stickers, sugar cones, green frosting, and sprinkles.

Dec 1: Christmas Tree Handprint craft

Dec 2 Christmas Tree Mobile

Dec 3: Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

Dec 4: Sugar Cone Christmas Tree

Bible Memory

December’s Bible Verse: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

This weeks part for LO's to memorize: ‘for there is born to you’

Song Time

The Lights on the Tree
Sung to: "The Wheels on the Bus"

The lights on the tree go blink, blink, blink,
Blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink.
The lights on the tree go blink, blink, blink
All Christmas Day.

Other Verses:

The presents at the house go rattle, rattle, rattle, etc.
The mom at the house goes bake, bake, bake, etc.
The dad at the house goes snore, snore, snore, etc.
The grandma at the house goes hug, hug, hug, etc.
The grandpa at the house goes kiss, kiss, kiss, etc.

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage! For the December activity schedule, please click here.

Changes for Totally Tots...

The masses have spoken and honestly your thoughts lined up with ours too so we will definitely be saying farewell to a few features here at Totally Tots...

Giggle Time, Meet, Did You Know, and Celebrating Your Tot.

These have been fun features but 3 of the 4 take a ton of time to do, and we feel the blog serves our readers best as a whole by putting our efforts into different areas. Thank you to all of you who submitted for these features and a great apology for those of you who had tots in for Meet that didn't get featured.

We have some new writers and some new features coming soon, with a complete reorganization going on behind the scenes! Our goal is to begin the new posting schedule in January, using December as a transition month. We will be gradually introducing you to new writers and features so stay tuned! I hope you enjoy the changes as they appear. December will be a month of blog under construction for us so please pardon our mess if you happen to pop in at a time we are moving things around!

**We will leave the archived posts up, but will be taking down our Meet featured buttons eventually as we reorganize. We will also be removing the header buttons from the right sidebar. You will always be able to locate old posts under the archives or labeled posts!

Treats 4 Your Tot

Here are some more cool giveaways for tots/moms of tots, check them out below and let us know if you win something we told you about!!!!

Danielle's Place ~ 1 Year...ends 11/27/09

HazelAid Jewelry...ends 12/6/09

Gaddy Nipper Crayons...ends 11/27/09

Mega Blocks Play n Go Table...ends 12/1/09

Strider Bike...ends 12/2/09

Leapfrog Text n Learn...ends 12/2/09

Play Doh Burger Builder...ends 12/2/09

Build a Bear Frosty...ends 12/1/09

Ergo...11/27/09

In My Heart ~ Thanksgiving

The Songs for Saplings CD has an awesome section of songs at the end of the cd focused around seasons and holidays. We will be featuring these during the appropriate times! We hope you enjoy this special Thanksgiving memory verse this week as you teach your precious tots about all we have to be thankful for!

Verses are from: Songs for Saplings: ABCs

(You can get it here, or here)

Find the PDF files to download here!

See our Raising Rock Stars posts here!

See our intro post about teaching Bible memory verses to tots here.