Christmas Crafts: Initial Gift Tags

 I love how simple this idea is and the results are cute and achievable for a range of ages. Over at Happy Hooligans (where I first saw the idea) they hung the initials on their tree but we made ours into gift tags for the kids Teachers.

You will need:
Thin Card - blank of both sides works best for gift tags
Paint
Glue
Pencil
Sequins, glitter, gems or whatever you would like to decorate your letter(s)
Hole punch
Ribbon

To Make
1. Draw your Initials onto the thin card and then cut them out

2. Paint the letter - the kids picked Christmas Colours for their teachers

3. Let dry
4. Glue on your decorations
5. Punch a hole in the top and thread you ribbon through
6. Write on the back of the gift tag and attach to the present

 Super cute and a lovely keepsake rolled into one

Christmas Activities : Roll A Snowman

 Roll A Snowman - Take turns at rolling the dice. First person to finish drawing their snowman is the winner
This game is very easy to play and is great for practising turn taking. I made my own version on the computer as I wanted Neevah to read the instructions (I left off the little picture guides) but you can print out a game sheet from here.

Neevah drawing the buttons on her snowman

Our completed game sheets

Christmas Crafts: Decorate a Gift Bag

Give your presents a personally touch this Christmas with these cute gift bags. We printed circles on our bags but you could do handprints, letters, squares and rectangles (turn them into presents) or paint a Christmas scene. I am sure the recipient will love the wrapping just as much as the present.

You will need
Plain paper bags with a flat bottom
Paint
Lids in different sizes
Paper plates or similar

To Make
1. Squirt paint onto the paper plate and spread it out a little as this makes it easier to get a good paint coverage on the lids
2. Set out the paint, lids and paper bag and invite your child to decorate the bag

4. Press the lid into the paint and then onto the bag .... repeat until your child is happy with how the bag looks

Tip: If you get circles with large gaps in the middle you can try pressing the lid in the same spot again or use a paintbrush to touch them up

5. Leave flat to dry
6. Place your gift inside and tie with a festive bow or gift card

Christmas Activities: Counting Christmas Tree Decorations

This simple idea has fine motor skills and one to one counting practice all wrapped up in a Christmas activity. It could also be adapted to different ages and maths abilities.

You will need:
White Paper
Green Paper
Christmas Stickers
Scissors
Glue
Marker Pen

To Make:
1. Cut out a Christmas tree shape from the green paper
2. Glue onto the white paper

3. Decorate the tree with Christmas stickers

4. Count how many stickers / decorations are on the tree

5. Optional I then wrote the number of decorations at the bottom of the tree for number recognition

For Neevah I used the same basic idea but changed it into a number recognition activity

 I just noticed she made a mistake with Number 14 she got a little carried away with the stickers

Handprint Monsters

Liam had a lot of fun making these handprint monsters, picking out the eyes and how many teeth they should have.Inspiration for this craft was found at Meet the Dubiens

You will need
Paper
Paint
Paintbrush
Wiggly Eyes
Scissors
Glue
Black Marker Pen

To Make
1. Paint you childs hand and then press onto the paper. Experiment with different looking monsters by leaving fingers or thumb paint free.

2. Let Dry
3.Add eyes, mouth and teeth to your handprints to turn them into monsters

Tip: For easy clean up of painted hands have some baby wipes or a container of water on hand

Foam Sticker Drawing Starter

 Back in July we tried a Wiggly Eye Drawing Starter and it was a huge success so I re vamped the idea using some foam stickers we had in our making box. Liam is very interested in caterpillars, cocoons and butterflies at the moment so I picked 2 small butterfly foam stickers but any shapes would work. A triangle could become a house or a rocket, a circle could become a snowman or wheels, a mushroom could become a fairy glade or woodland .... work with whatever your child is currently interested in.

Start by setting up your invitation to draw .... stick the stickers onto the paper and lay out the drawing implements.

Liam and I first talked about where you might find butterflies and then he set to work creating his picture.

Flowers for the butterfly garden

The flowers need stems and leaves

This is a great way to encourage drawing and practice pencil grip for those children who are a little more reluctant to draw.

Patterned Bead Caterpillar

Inspiration for this craft can be found at Mess for Less where they made snakes. While the snakes are very cute our house is currently all about Caterpillars, Cocoons and Butterflies.

You will need
Coloured Paper
Black Paper (only need a very small piece)
Marker Pen
Pony Beads in 2 or more colours
A Pipe Cleaner
Scissors
Glue

To Make
1. From the coloured paper cute a circle and from the black paper cut 2 antennae
2. Make a hole near the edge of your circle and thread the pipe cleaner through the hole and twist the loose end to secure

3. Draw a face on your caterpillar

4. Stick antennae on the caterpillar
 5. Thread the beads onto the pipe cleaner in a pattern. Liam threaded a simple AB pattern and we named the colours as he threaded each one to help keep the pattern going

5. Once all the beads are on the pipe cleaner twist the end around a few times to stop the beads coming off
6. Bend the pipe cleaner so it looks like a caterpillar