Baking is one of my absolute favorite things to do. It has been many years since I have been able to make a multitude of treats for the holidays.  This years’ baking went so quickly, with so many helpers it gets done quite fast.  I used to go all out and make so many treats, it just wasn’t healthy.  I know that when my children eat the sugar cutout cookies covered in artificial food dye frosting that there are going to be repercussions, sometimes out of control loudness, sometimes just a meltdown from having too much.  Whatever the reason, this year, I tried not to do so many things, kept it scaled back for my own sanity.

I laughed because I would mix up my batch of cookies and by the time I baked them, I realized that what I was making was enough for everyone to have a sampling and put out a small plate.  There wasn’t enough to put away for treats to have for Christmas, let alone give any away.  I had to do double for most of these recipes to have adequate amounts.

Saltine cracker candy

This is super easy to make and tastes wonderful with its sweet and salty flavor it makes a great addition to our cookie plates.  Click here for recipe.

Peanut butter balls

This recipe takes me back to my childhood days.  I remember having one of these at a church get together that I had went to with a friend when I was little.  I never had them again until I was married.  Now they are on the annual cookie making list for the holidays.  Very simple to make and tastes so creamy and smooth.  Click here for recipe.

Taste like Gramma’s sugar cookies

 

 

These cookies remind me of the simplicity of the holidays.  They taste like something that I had as a child everytime I would go to grandma’s house. These are nice and fluffy, not flat like a cut out cookie.  Click here for the recipe.

Candy coated popcorn

 

This recipe we make quite often in our home.  We like to do this annually while we are decorating the tree.  Serve with some homemade hot chocolate.  Click her for recipe.

Cut out cookies and Gingerbread men cut out cookies

 

This is always a messy task to take on, especially with lots of little ones.  I know that my little ones will not remember the mess it made, only the fun that they had.  These are a definite on our cookie list for the holidays.  Click here for recipe.

Chocolate dipped pretzels

This is something we usually do a few times per year.  It is quick and easy and tastes great.

We usually individually dip the pretzels into the chocolate, but to save time, we just set our pretzels out onto parchment paper and drizzle melted caramel and melted chocolate over the pretzels.  We added some sprinkles and mini candies.

 

This is our large family cookies for the Christmas season.  As a busy mother, I focused on making one type per day.  That way it didn’t get overwhelming when I couldn’t do a whole lot on certain days.  It is important and helpful to mix up your cookie batches the night before.  Then cut out on another day.  You can even freeze those cookies until you are ready to frost them.  It is no fun to clean up three times in a day.  Just do it one step at a time, make life easier.

 

As I have shared yesterday, I like to make as many gifts for my children as I can.  With smaller children I think it is very easy to come up with some great inexpensive presents.  These are a few of the items that my 3 preschool age children will be receiving.

Memory match game

I think that my children will enjoy trying to do the memory match game that I remember playing as a child.  This is made from some flat round discs, pictures, and Mod Podge.

My children enjoy Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, so I went online and copied some clip art from a Google Search.  I made sure to resize all the images to fit onto my 1 1/2 inch circles.  Make sure that you have 2 of every image.

I then cut out the images and used Mod Podge to glue them onto the wooden discs.  I bought them at Hobby Lobby.  Be sure to do a couple of coats over top of the pictures.

 

There you have a simple plain and not so plain memory match game for preschoolers.

 

 Magnet sets

I have always made these sets for my preschool aged children.  They love to play with them and they are great to take in the car.

What I did was a search on some background images to use with my magnetic people. Daniel Tiger was one of our top lists this year as well as construction trucks. I then resized them and printed them out onto paper.

I got out my favorite new craft item this year, Mod Podge.  I did many craft things with this stuff, I made photo collages, picture tiles, and these sets.

I then smeared the Mod Podge onto my cookie sheet (I got them at the Dollar store) and applied it to the front of the paper.  I did a few coats to make sure that it was secured.

I then printed out characters for Daniel Tiger and Construction trucks for the other one.  I had a stack of magnets that I have been saving, you know those free ones that you probably will just throw away, well I have been saving them, knowing I would do this one day.  If not, get some magnetic sheets at the store–you can print directly onto them.

I then used my Mod Podge to cover the pictures onto the magnet sheets.  I applied a few coats, let them dry and then cut them out.

Here is what our results were.  Daniel Tiger for one of them and….

Construction zone for the other one.

Reminds me of Colorforms that I used to have as a child, but much sturdier.

Baby doll set

We have a young toddler in the home that loves baby dolls.  We purchased a doll, brand new from Goodwill, got a cute blanket, and a sturdy basket from there as well and came up with this.

 

I bought the rubber ducks from the Dollar store along with the mini baby powder and baby washcloths.

Madelyn our young preschooler, loves to carry all of her things around with her.  Around here if you leave a toy behind, it is a free for all for the next child to take.  She has learned young, to keep all her items in a bag or basket so that they won’t get taken:)

She is also a HUGE fan of Skippy and Dave.  Don’t know who they are?  Check out our post on them and view their videos here.  They were an entertainer that came to our area and Madelyn fell in love.  When most children want Daniel Tiger or Barney, Skippy and Dave are her absolute favorite.  She even prays for them in her daily prayers.  Childhood faith, so sweet.

We ordered her the DVD’s and  know she will be ecstatic to receive these on Christmas morning.

Wooden peg people

This is another inexpensive gift idea that I made for the younger children.  One of them is into princesses.  She doesn’t watch the Disney Princesses, so I did not have to make them exactly like those, she just thinks anything pink, frilly, and sparkly is a pretty princess.  

For this set of dolls, I had found a small wooden dollhouse at Goodwill–can you tell it is my favorite store?  I bought some tulle in pretty girly colors and plan on decorating the house with that.  I will then set her dolls inside of the house for her to play with.

Fun wooden pegs for a girl.

Daniel Tiger is a show my children enjoy watching.  I created some of the characters from the show.

I used clear coat to cover these in hopes of preserving them.  My husband said that they make a food grade clear coat that would be safe for little ones, that like to put everything in their mouths.  Can you believe we don’t have one of those right now?

Now I am not a perfect artists, but I showed them to a small child, to see if they even knew who they were and they knew exactly who all the characters were.  So even though they might not be perfect artistically, they passed in my childrens’ eyes:)

 

The last set I made were Charlie Brown.  What I am going to do with these last 2 sets, Charlie Brown and Daniel Tiger is have my husband make them a wooden car to put their people in.  He will not be able to get to that until the end of the week, due to so any orders right now.  So I will not have a photo yet.  I will add it later.  This is the inspiration for what it is we are going to make for these sets.

Here is a link to the above photos blog

We are going to paint it to look like Trolley from the show.  The Charlie Brown ones we will probably just make a red car as that child’s favorite is Lightning McQueen.

Each one of these children are going to receive the mouse in a tin that I made last week.

Two of these preschoolers, that are girls, will receive the hair bows that I made last week as well.

There you have it plain and not so plain homemade gifts for preschoolers.