Christmas Market (Gatineau)

7 Indoor Snowball Games & Activities These snowball games will keep my kids active and engaged (indoors!) for quite a while.  Here is our list of snowball games, but you and your little ones could probably think of many more! Snowball Fight Game: This one is obvious, right?  You may as well do this one first because your kids are dying to throw these things at each other anyway.  We have a few ground rules at our house such as always aim below the chest (no head shots).   On Target:  Print out or draw a target that can be taped up on a door, wall or window.  Have the kids throw the snowballs to try to hit the target.  How many times can they do it?  Throw a little learning into the mix for younger children by having them count out loud or have one child draw tally marks on a chalkboard while another is throwing.   Bucket Toss:  Pretty much the same thing, only have them toss the snowballs into a bucket or bowl.  You can use masking tape or painter’s tape on the floor to mark off a line a few feet away.  See who can make the shot from all the way across the room!   Stack ‘em Up: Try to make a snowball tower.  You can mention a few engineering principles, like a pyramid shape with a wide base will probably work best.  The kids can use a ruler to measure their creations once they’re done.   Knock ‘em down: Build a pyramid out of light-weight plastic cups, then roll or toss the snowballs to knock them all down.  Bonus points if your kids can do it with just one snowball.   Relay Race:  Grab a couple of wooden spoons and have a good ‘ol relay race.  This is just like an egg race, but uses the snowballs instead.  And if these snowballs fall on the floor, there’s no mess to clean up!   Pile On:  Have the kids pile as many snowballs as they can onto an overturned Frisbee or plastic plate.  How many can they load up?  And can they carry it across the room without losing any? How to make the snow balls:  Pick up several sets of white stockings from your local dollar store.  Then, you’ll need some scraps of batting and a pair of scissors.     Cut of a good-sized piece of batting and stuff it in the toe of a sock almost all the way to the heel.     Then, hold the toe of the sock in one hand and with the other pull the open end of the sock so that the stocking is stretched as much as possible.     Keep pulling and wrap the cuff part of the sock around the stuffed part of the sock. Then, fold the cuff back over on itself so that the stocking will stay folded into a ball. This is what it looks like on one side of the snowball.     A whole flock of snowballs made in less than 5 minutes!      Grab the snowballs and let the snowball fight begin! How to Make Fluffy DIY Indoor Snowballs 1. Cut a notch of on short side of your cardboard. The notch should be about an inch wide and a couple inches deep. 2. Wrap yarn around the cardboard over the notched end. The number of times will depend on the thickness of your yarn. Our thick and fussy baby yarn needed to be wrapped about 55 times for the right end result, although if we’d wrapped more yarn the snowballs would have been even more dense which is great. Cut the end once you’ve wrapped your yarn around the cardboard enough. 3. Cut a length of yarn from the main roll to use as a tie, about 8 inches or so should work just fine. Using the notched area of your cardboard wrap the string around the center of the bunch of yarn a few times cinching it down into an hourglass shape. Make sure to cinch it tightly and tie a knot. 4. Once your tie is in place slide the looped yarn from your cardboard. Once it’s off it will look a little like a bow. 5. Cut through the looped yarn on both ends. Cut down the center of the loops as best as you can. Cutting the looped ends will give you a rough pom pom or ball shape. 6. After the loops are all cut down the center fluff the ball a bit to help set the yarn in place and then trim the ends to give your snowball a nice evenly round shape.  

The “ugly” sweater project you guys have all been waiting for is here!!! And we went TROPICAL! I’m all about unconventional Holiday traditions, so wrapping a palm tree in Christmas lights seemed right up my alley. Plus, this post gave me an excuse to bust out my pineapple drink cups again. Ha! You can make this sweater in less than an hour, so I expect to see all of you wearing and gifting tropical palm tree sweaters to all of your friends soon! SweaterGreen and brown yarnSize J crochet hookTapestry needleFelt in pink, lilac, orange, yellow, brown, blue, and greenBrown embroidery threadHot glue gun   1. To make the palm trees, we followed this crochet pattern. Double the stitches for the larger palm tree. If you don’t want to crochet the palm trees, cut palm leaves out of green felt and a trunk out of brown felt. 2. To make the Christmas lights, cut teardrop shapes out of different colors of felt. Put a brown felt cap on the top of them. Hot glue all of the lights together on a string of brown embroidery thread. 3. Using pink felt, cut out a silhouette of a flamingo. Add brown felt legs and a small felt santa hat. Hot glue everything together. 4. To assemble the sweater, use fabric glue to attach felt “sand” pieces to the bottom of the sweater. With a tapestry needle, sew the crochet pieces onto the sweater. If you’re using felt for the palm trees, glue them on with fabric glue. 5. Glue the flamingo in place. Drape the Christmas lights over the palm tree trunks and glue them in place. We also placed a string of lights around the neck of the sweater, so glue that in place if you want that addition as well. Allow everything to dry for 24 hours before wearing.  

For our next activity, uglier = better. Go all out and make the ugliest Christmas sweater you can imagine! Just grab some glitter, tinsel, a couple of cheap ornaments, and some glue to Frankenstein together some fashion-backwards goodness. We’ll give you guys some pics as inspiration along with some how-tos! Stick some candy and decorations onto a sweater and voila: a wonderfully ugly work of art has been created. You can also rummage through your closets to find some tacky, vintage gold! --------------- Pour notre prochaine activité, plus moche = meilleur. Faites le plus laid des chandails de Noël que vous pouvez imaginer! Prenez des paillettes, des guirlandes, quelques ornements et de la colle pour créer quelque chose de vraiment hideux. Nous vous donnerons quelques photos pour vous inspirer, ainsi que des conseils pratiques! Collez des bonbons et des décorations sur un pull et voilà: une œuvre d'art merveilleusement laide a été créée. Vous pouvez aussi fouiller dans vos placards pour trouver de l'or ancien et de mauvais goût!   This activity is part our 12 Days of Christmas Collection, tied to our brand new giveaway! Learn more HERE. / Cette activité fait partie de notre collection des 12 jours de Noël, liée à notre nouveau concours! Pour en savoir plus, cliquez ICI.