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Russell’s Christmas Magic

December 1, 2014 by Emma Gadsby 3 Comments

When asked to participate in the  Christmas Read and Play Blog Hop, we couldn’t decide whether to do an activity based on Aliens Love Panta Claus or Russell’s Christmas Magic. So we did both! You can read about our Aliens Love Panta Claus Christmas Tree decorated in underpants here.

Last year, Adam’s favourite books were based on the Russell the Sheep series by Rob Scotton. Each night we would read either Russell the Sheep,  Go To Sleep or Russell and the Lost Treasure (all affiliate links). You can imagine Adam’s excitement when he  opened  Russell’s Christmas Magic (affiliate links) in his Christmas Eve Box.

When Santa’s sleigh crash lands into Russell the sheep’s tree they are both sure that Christmas will have to be cancelled. However, with a little bit of magic, Christmas is saved. Russell is rewarded with a special bauble which re-ignites the lanterns on his Christmas tree. I wanted to create our own Russell light show. When re-reading the story I remembered the  Recycled Halloween Decorations that Learning and Exploring Through Play created. However, I knew we wouldn’t use enough milk bottles in time so we adapted the activity into Light Up Sheep made with recycled plastic bottles.

Adventures of Adam Russells Christmas Magic

I found five recycled clear 2 litre plastic bottles and covered each of them with a strip of A4 white paper. I re-used the same sheep face template that came from our Sheep Shearing activity, which had originally been used as part of our Animal Balloon Herding activity. In the story the majority of the sheep are wearing red Santa hats so I made them from red card and white sticky labels.

Adventures of Adam Russell the Sheep light

In order for lights to go inside the plastic bottle I cut a hole in the back of each bottle.

Adventures of Adam reverse of the light up sheep

Russell is known for his very long stripy hat so he was created slightly differently. The hat was made from a green foam sheet and the stripes were added using strips of white sticky labels.

Adventures of Adam Russell the sheep bottle

Now it was time to add the Christmas lights. I used three boxes in total. Russell had a box to himself. I inserted the lights into the back of the plastic bottle, making sure they went right to the neck.

Adventures of Adam Russell the sheep light up bottle

All that was left was to turn off the living room lights and turn on the Christmas lights. We instantly had our own Light Up Sheep.

Adventures of Adam light up sheep

Adam was captivated by the lights. He kept bringing me the book and pointing to the end of the story where Russell’s tree is lit up. He loved it when I pressed a button and the lights changed to flashing. The sheep light up the whole room. We have decided to leave our light up sheep for the rest of the festive season as a Christmas decoration.

Adventures of Adam Russells Christmas Magic light up sheep

Equipment:

* Five plastic 2 litre bottles

* White paper

* Black and red card

* White labels

* Sellotape

* Green foam sheet

* Christmas lights – we used one box per pair of sheep and Russell had a box to himself.

Adventures of Adam Russell's Christmas Magic Light Up Sheep

 

read and play

Are you looking for Christmas Ornaments crafts to do with your children? Then take a look at Red Ted Art’s Christmas Ornaments ebook. Find 30 festive easy-to-do ideas all in one place. Click here to find out more.

red-ted-art-christmas-ornament-ebook
 You May Also Like:

Adventures of Adam Russell's Christmas Magic ornament
Day 22 – Russell’s Christmas Magic Kid Made Ornament
Adventures of Adam toddler sheep shearing
Sheep Shearing
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Sheep Window Art

Check out our other ways to play with….

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Adventures of Adam ways to play with books

Filed Under: Play Activities, Some time required, Supervision needed Tagged With: Book themed play, Christmas activity, DIY activities, Recycled materials

Previous Post: « Aliens Love Panta Claus Christmas Tree
Next Post: The Book Of Everyone Review »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carolyn Wilhelm says

    December 2, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    Perfect fun for children! These are adorable and the book is beautiful. Thank you for an idea easy to replicate.

    Reply
  2. Karen Bell says

    December 9, 2014 at 2:40 pm

    I love doing things inspired from books, this is a lovely idea and the sheep look great!
    Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids

    Reply
  3. Adventure Togs says

    December 15, 2014 at 8:24 pm

    What a fantastic way to bring the book to life. They look brilliant all lit up!
    #letkidsbekids

    Reply

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Emma and Adam

During a difficult pregnancy suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Emma vowed to make every day an adventure once she had recovered. Adventures of Adam is the outcome of completing a 100 day play challenge with Adam as part of that promise. Emma has a section dedicated to HG friendly play activities so that Mums can still be part of their children’s play whilst they are ill.

To learn more about Emma and Adam click here.

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