I had intended this project as a fine motor activity with a holiday twist for Veronika, but big brother Travis immediately wanted in on the action, too, so it makes a great project for the whole family on a winter afternoon.

First up, I filled a tray with the following: sparkly red, silver, and green chenille stems; red and green beads; and an assortment of colored jingle bells.

I showed Veronika how to thread a bead onto one of the pipe cleaners.

She took a few tries, but then was much more interested in the jingle bells. She actually was quite skilled at inserting a pipe cleaner into the narrow loop on each bell!

I helped a little and she produced this little bracelet.

Travis jumped in on the action and wanted to make holiday gifts for friends, a unexpected bonus of the activity.

I was so proud that he even made patterns, counting out the same number and color of beads on each side of his jingle bells.

Meanwhile, Veronika was honing those fine motor skills or just busy digging through the materials as if this were a sensory tray. Between the sparkly chenille stems and the jingling bells, there was lots to love!