Re-purpose old Christmas Cards

Brad says, "Why do our kids always have to be entertained?"
I say, "They are toddlers! Did you expect something different?!"
Actually, they play pretty well on their own or with each other when well-rested and not hungry.  But....since they are in daycare all week, and don't get enough sleep there, our evenings can be quite frantic.

I always say how great they do when they are directed in some way, whether it is an organized activity or not.  The only problem is that it takes effort, whether organized or not.

I'm going to post a few blogs about some of our little activities. Some are big. Some are small. Some were awesome. Some failed.   Some I could pull together on a weeknight after work. Others were done over weekends or Thanksgiving or Christmas Breaks from school.

Just about all of these activities or projects come from one of these blogs:
Chasing Cheerios
Play At Home Moms

Christmas Card Puzzles/Matching Game:
Great way to re-purpose.
We keep all of our photo cards but next year we'll start a new tradition of putting them out in a basket each year to flip through and watch the families grow and change.  This year, I took the regular, non-photo cards and cut the back off of them, then cut a small rectangle piece out.  Then I set all the cards out on the table and gave the boys pieces to try to match.  My kids may be a little young for this but they did okay.  After some guidance, Carter "got it" and could find the matching card but got very frustrated when he couldn't make it fit just right (but that's his personality!).  Nolan was more focused on getting the piece into a card spot whether it was the matching one or not.  We've played a few times and they get better each time.  Fewer cards and pieces to choose from helps!