Winter Solstice Party

We held our annual Winter Solstice Party this week at the library. We thought that after the holidays might be a better time, and more people could join us.  This year we did a snowman theme. We had crafts, snacks, a game, and stories. The snack that I brought were baby carrots (noses), pretzel sticks (arms), and mini mint oreos (coal for eyes).

The first craft that we did were snowman masks.

Supplies needed:
paper plates
white cotton balls
black, orange, and red construction paper
elmers glue
popsicle sticks

I started by cutting out all the noses, eyes, and hats out of paper. I then cut the middle out of a paper plate for the base of the mask. Start by gluing the hat in place, that way you have a better idea where to put your cotton balls. Then start gluing the balls down. I used 9, and spread each out a little bit before gluing down. Then add the eyes, nose, and stick to the back!

 This next craft I saw on pinterest.com.
 Supplies needed:
 sheet of blue construction paper
 markers
 Elmers glue
 mini marshmallows

We started by "drawing" the snowman shape on the paper with the glue. The kids then had a blast picking out marshmallows from bowls, and gluing them to the shape. When the glue is all covered, let the kids use the markers to add the snowman's features like hat, eyes, nose, mouth, or arms. Let dry for a few hours!

 This game that we played was a BIG hit with all the kids and moms alike. Also spotted on pinterest, we made one to go with our wintery theme. All the supplies were found at Dollar Tree!
Supplies needed:
plastic bowls
 tissue paper (in whatever color theme you have, we used white with silver stars and silver)
 Elmers glue
 prizes (we found gold and silver beaded necklaces, and mini wedding bottles of bubbles)
 something to glue the bowls to, and let stand up (we covered a folding table with paper and glued them to the paper.)

 Start by laying out your tissue paper. Lay the bowls open side down on top of the tissue, leaving about an inch space between bowls. Place prizes on the inside of the bowls. Now, lift one bowl at a time, put a thin line of glue along the rim of the bowl, and carefully set back down over the prize onto the tissue paper. Let dry for a few hours. Trim off the tissue to however close to the bowl you wish, and let dry totally. Once finished drying, you can glue your bowls to whatever stand you choose. We used a table, but a sturdy cardboard box would works also. I had the kids line up from smallest to tallest. Each kids got to punch open a bowl and grab whatever prize was in there. (I put one of each prize in each bowl)

Books we read:
Perfect Soup by Lisa Moser
Snowmen all Year by Caralyn Buehner
The Snowman Band of Snowboggle Bend by Cheryl Hawkinson