Rosh Hashana Cards

This is a little out of order but it can't hurt to show what we did for Rosh Hashana. Originally I planned on buying plain cards and sending them out, but I realized that I could make it into an activity. Stamping with apples is not a new idea - I think every preschooler has done it at least once in school for Rosh Hashana! - but we still had a lot of fun. It was nice to send people a personalized card, but most of all I was so happy to have a way to entertain the boys for a few hours!

Paint is a child's dream, and my nightmare. For some reason I am very hesitant to use paint. I once did finger painting, a while ago, and in less than 5 minutes it was one big mess of colored mushed together, all over the place. I tried so hard to be clean- I taped down a plastic tablecloth, covered their clothing, and just gave them a little of each color on plastic plates. But somehow they needed complete baths afterwards - there was paint covering their hands and arms, on their sleeves, in their hair... and the whole thing took 10 minutes! Maybe that's where my fear of paint came from.

Now the boys are a little older, and  it wasn't "finger painting", so this time was more of a success. They did mush the colors together at the end, but at least we got some nice card.

A few tips: The apples need to be sliced perfectly smooth, otherwise you won't get complete prints (ours weren't perfect). Also, I used a plastic knife instead of a popsicle stick, because I didn't have any. The apples were too big and slippery for my boys' little hands to grasp.