Weekend Fun: Happy Reindeer
Reindeer are given magical qualities that include flying through the air to land on rooftops in the story poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, who lived in New York City in the early 19th century. You can find an 1863 edition of the poem as an eBook on Project Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17382/17382-h/17382-h.htm
Charge up your iPad, make some hot chocolate, and settle in for a family “read” night, beginning with this famous poem and moving on to anything you’d like! Remember that all ages from babies to Adults can join the Library’s Winter Reading Program. Details and registration are on the Library’s website.
Extend the fun with a craft!
How to Make a Paper Reindeer
What you need:
8 1/2 x 11 inch paper
scissors
glue
markers, colored pencils, paint, or crayons
What you do:
- Place the 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper in “landscape” orientation and fold it in half from left to right. TIP: If you pick up one of the reindeer kits at the Children’s Desk in the Main Library, we’ve done that for you.
- With the fold at your left, cut a square out of the bottom center, leaving about 1/2″ on either side of it. TIP: Save these scraps.
- Cut out a rectangle at the top right (about 3 inches from the top, cut across from right to left but don’t go all the way – stop about a half inch from the fold – and then cut upwards to the edge.)
- Open the fold and fold the neck down and out so that it forms the reindeer’s head. TIP: Make yours look like the photo.
- Take one of the scraps you saved and cut out two triangles for the reindeer’s ears.
- Glue the triangles in place inside the back of the head so that they stick up like ears.
- Cut another triangle out of the white scrap to form the reindeer’s tail.
- Use markers, crayons, pencils, or paint to draw the face and decorate the body – if reindeer can be magical, then yours can have any decorations you wish!
- Take a very small piece of glittery pipe cleaner (chenille stem) and bend it to look like the photo.
- Glue the pipe cleaner on top of the reindeer’s head for antlers.
Make a whole team of reindeer and set up some scenes for them – a snowy North Pole or even a rooftop!
Remember to join the Snow Much Fun Winter Reading Program via our website!
