Reindeer on a Rug, similar to Elf on the Shelf!

Okay, so you have most likely heard of the oh so popular "Elf on the Shelf"?  It's a children's book that comes with a magical elf.  The elf watches the children and reports back to Santa.  He tells Santa if the children have been naughty or nice.  I thought that it looked like fun, and actually wanted to buy it a few years ago...until I saw that it cost $30.00.  Okay, so we are students and cheap....so I didn't buy it and life went on. ; )

Last week I was reading through some of my friends private blogs.  My dear friend Savannah had this awesome idea where she had bought a reindeer at dollar tree and wrote a poem similar to the one used with elf on the shelf.  

In the book it says that if children touch the elf then it will loose it's magical powers.  Savannah has 3 boys, and I have 2 of my own.  We didn't like the idea of our children not being able to touch the elf.....with this "Reindeer on the Rug" your little ones can touch the reindeer all they want!  No magical powers lost here! ; ) Anyways, I thought this was a BRILLIANT idea, and I'm so glad that Savannah was willing to share the words of her poem with us.

I've made a free printable for anyone wanting to save some money and join in on the fun!  All you will need to do is print this off and swing by dollar tree and pick up a little stuffed animal reindeer and you'll be ready to go.

My husband and I introduced "Reindeer on a Rug" to my 2 boys tonight and they loved it!  My boys have been excited to watch the movie "The Polar Express" all day long.  Right before the movie started they found the reindeer and the poem.  We introduced it to them, they seemed excited but were ready to watch the movie.  I'm excited for them to find the reindeer in the morning and maybe even come up with a name!

Our family is still young enough, we are are experimenting with family traditions.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

Great Idea from Grandma!

I don’t know why I have never thought to do this before, but it was a real winner while visiting Grandma.  We plan to save our containers from here on out! ; )

We liked stacking the containers to the ceiling and building pyramids!!  The best part was knocking them down! ; )

Homemade Musical Instruments

We made some fun musical instruments. We kept things pretty simple and have really enjoyed these homemade instruments!

We made a guitar with a shoe box and rubber bands.

We made a tambourine by tapping 2 paper plates together with popcorn kernels in the center. (It was a lot like a rattle and my little girl loved it!) You could also attach bells to the outside of the plate for a different sound.

We made a rainstick!

My little guy wanted a big one so we used the center from wrapping paper and stuck tons of toothpicks through it. (You could also use a paper towel center or toilet paper center)

This looked more like a weapon to me then a musical instrument :) We ended up cutting the toothpicks down and wrapping the tub with tape.

This is what the inside looked like.

We then filled it with popcorn kernels and tapped the edges closed.

We also had fun with drums! We just used a bunch of empty containers I had saved.

We also had lots of fun just singing songs and finding things around the house that made noise. My little boy loved making the sound of horse hoofs by clapping two bowels together...my little girl loved simply clapping! Our favorite was turning the radio on and dancing...both my little guy and girl loved spinning and I loved watching their fun moves!

Rainbow Art

We made this simple rainbow by coloring on cardboard and then cutting it out and gluing cotton balls to the bottom.