Christmas childrens crafts

on the first day of christmas my true loves made with me:

Fimo Christmas tree and star decorations

Nice and easy this one, my 3 year old and 6 year old both loved doing it. Get yellow as star base [or sparkly yellow/gold/silver - whatever your preference! roll and cut out a star shape. then decorate with other fimo colour blobs as jewels - the older the child the more intricate the decoration/shape!! And the same with the tree shape. Gets through a lot of base colour - in our case green for the tree and sparkly yellow for the star. SO each square block makes 4 bases.

Stained Glass windows

We did this with a 2 year old and 5 year old - very messy so we adapted things! You need some clingfilm, black a4 card and coloured tissue paper, any safe childrens pva glue or similar. Parent [or older child!] cut out a black arched window with as many struts/fiddley bits as you want [we kept ours simple] , put on a clingfilm base. children can now put glue all over one side and then have strips of different coloured tissue paper to glue over the top. when it is all done, have a whole layer of glue over the top to give it some strength. The advantage of clingfilm underneath is that messy gluers creations wont stick to the newspaper or whatever table protector you are using! it can then be folded or trimmed to size.

chocolate oat banana muffins, marmalade muffins and mincemeat muffins [last 2 to freeze for Xmas day brekkie!]

recipe to follow

On the second day of Christmas my true loves made with me:

Godseye star decorations for the Christmas tree

can be simply done with sticks and wool, [or pipecleaners I guess] but we used used mini lolly sticks. Hopefully the picture I add will make things clear! Ooh, this link is good, and a lantern to make as well!! We made 6 points rather than 4 though, as looked more ’starry’ to us. could also use a similar theme to make snowflakes. Although my 3 year old had a go, it was too dificult for her, though v easy for 6 year old.

so an alternative

Yoghurt pot bells

I don’t think a christmas tree is quite right without a few yoghurt pots!!, the round petits filou type best. trim the lid area so round to, give a clean, and children can paint and then roll in glitter - fab even for a 2 year old. I then threaded the ribbon through and added a tiny bell - I think all bells should at least make some effort to tinkle!

sweeties - coconut ice and peppermint creams

recipe to follow!

On the third day of Christmas my true loves made with me:

Hama bead Xmas decs

fairly straightforward - my 6 year old getting inventive, my 3 year old just fills all the spaces. However, both can do - use the little star template for quickness, and the big star for more ‘decorative’

St Lucia crowns

OK so these should be made dec 13th - a story in ‘while the bear sleeps’. But lovely whenever! We had some crown strips we cut out of gold and silver card in the summer, added green paper leaves, white strips for candles, and orange flames on top. I did all the cutting for the 3 year old. Very simple to do, and they get to wear it! As a variant, make a crown on Christmas eve ready for christmas day - better than a cracker crown, and may keep children occupied at a crucial time!

Ginger bread cottage kit or gingerbread man kit

you can make from scratch easily enough, but the girls made a gingerbread cottage from a kit nana bought - cake already made, stick it together and attach sweets [and as soon as photo taken, sweets disappear! the gingerbread man kit BB got for her birthday from M and S - very easy and tasted yummy. Next year, with no kits we would make from scratch - I often use cinnamon instead as ginger can be overpowering for children.

on the fourth day of christmas my true loves made with me:

Festive Door wreaths

This was something that the 6 year old was fantastic at, but the 3 year old played a bit with - I did hers! Ingredients: I used some thin wicker cane, but some garden wire would do to make the circle base. Ivy [ long whippy bits] bits of the discarded christmas tree bottom branches, bay branches [the bay needed a prune!] and holly [each about 20-30 cm long]. ANy other garden greenery would be fine! Also a jolly red ribbon for SB and a tartan one for me. the wire things for closing freezer bags - or wool to tie the branches on with. We wound the ivy round first, then added the fir at the back - tieing in 2 places to keep it firm - we used 5-6 bits of each kind of evergreen going round. The bay we next tied in at the front, and finally the holly - again 5 pieces going round. We then loosely wound the ribbon round the lot finishing with a bow. We went for enjoyment rather than style, but were pleased with our first efforts.

Christingles

I think most people know how to make these! An orange, red ribbon, 4 cloves and a candle [I find a couple of pins makes the ribbon easier! We read the relevant bit from barefoot while the bear sleeps book. [fab book!] . This is good for all ages!

Star cheese scones

A nice simple recipe! 25g of butter [or dairy free alternative] 6 oz self raising flour [oh, my eldest weighs it out, so these measurements are easy for her!] 1/2 tsp mustard powder, generous grinding of black pepper, 1 beaten egg, 80g grated cheddar [or cheesely]. dollop of milk [or alternative] .

Rub flour, butter, mustard and black pepper together, add in 60g cheese, then the beaten egg and squish into dough. Usually need to add a bit of milk to get right consistency. Then roll and cut out with star cutters. Brush with milk and add rest of grated cheese to tops. Top shelf in oven on gasmark 6 for 12-15 mins. yummy!!

On the fifth day of christmas my true loves made with me:

Gift Boxes

An incredibly easy one for both 3 and 6 year old! Ingredients: washed margarine tubs; PVA glue; tissue paper. [jewels as optional extras!]. Its as easy as it sounds. glue on the box, tissue paper on the glue, more glue on the box, more tissue paper. then finish with a coat of tissue paper and wait to dry. Then - if still willing! decorate with jewels/glitter etc.

Chocolate dipped sweeties

This is OK for 3 and 6 year old, and very easy. I melted the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave - so much easier than the bain marie thing! half a big bar of dairy milk takes 1 min and stir and then a further 40 secs in our microwave on max. Then girls just dunked and rolled brazil and pecan nuts and crystalized ginger in it and onto greaseproof paper to dry. Although the choc starts off hot, it cools to non worrying pretty quickly, and although we used spoons, choc fingers was for the girls an added bonus - no lickig until finished! We also used white chocolate this year, but can also use plain. Other options are dried fruits - i particularly like apricot. Can be popped in the gift boxes above.