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Field Trip – Bay Area Glass Institute

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FM06_VeggieUseWebToday we’re heading to San Jose, CA to visit the Bay Area Glass Institute. The Bay area is blessed with a number of places people who love glass can go to learn more about glass. They offer classes in all aspects of glass working as well as studio rental time. There’s a gallery and a gift shop. They have events and lectures series offerings such as Third Thursdays. All of this sounds like loads of fun. I’m kind of jealous that we don’t have something similar in Los Angeles. Might have to do something about that…

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So if you’re interested in venturing up California to the San Jose area or you already live up there take a tour of the Bay Area Glass Institute and pick me up a trinket from the gift store.

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Printable Houses to Use as Christmas Decorations

I guess this isn’t exclusively a kid’s craft or learning activity (though cutting and folding are great for developing fine motor skills!) but I think kids would love having some of these printable holiday houses around the house or classroom to play with in the holiday season. Because they’re made of paper, they’re inexpensive to make, and while there is assembly involved the results are well worth the work.

If you have a cutting machine you can use the cut files from Delia Creates to make making your own paper village that much easier. She actually cut out all her buildings in different colors of card stock and used them to decorate a wreath, but you could also put them on the mantle or on a low table for kids to play with. Make a whole small world scene complete with fake snow, little characters and other elements, and kids are sure to start making their own stories to go with the setup.

This set of houses is printed and cut out using a craft knife. It’s meant to be an advent calendar, with each of the buildings numbered and you can stick a treat inside. But you could also just play with the buildings! You can get a free download of four buildings from Little House on the Corner, or head to the post to see where you can buy the whole set.

The Mavelo website isn’t in English, but their printable gingerbread house template is super cute to use as a gift box or to play with. If you need the instructions the website is in Polish but Google Translate seems to do a pretty good job.

Bora Illustrates has an adorable little house to print, cut and assemble featuring a cat, bird and gingerbread person. You could probably print it in black and white and have your kiddo color it, too.