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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Advance planning: xmas crafts to do with toddler (36 weeks pregnant!)

24 replies

tootsieglitterballs · 28/07/2017 08:51

Any suggestions for Christmas crafts I can plan to do in October with our then 2 3/4 year old?

I'm thinking homemade crackers, cards etc.

I've got a week to keep him super occupied as DH is away for a week with work, so I'll be without a car, during October half term, and 36 weeks pregnant, so I'm preparing to be absolutely shattered by this point, the size of a whale and probably wanting to spend more time at home than out and about!

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Soslowmo · 28/07/2017 12:35

I made these Christmas cards with my youngest. It takes a bit of time, so recommend doing a handful at a time.

tootsieglitterballs · 28/07/2017 13:30

@Soslowmo wow, the clay decoration is fab! What a great idea. Shall bookmark that as something to do that week - grandma will love it!

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Equimum · 28/07/2017 16:57

We made reindeer wrapping paper when DS1 was about that age. We dipped his feet in brown paint and he walked all over a roll of brown paper. We then painted red blobs on the point of the heel for the nose, and drew antlers & eyes with a thick black marker. Our relatives really loved receiving gifts wrapped in it.

You could also make paper chain with Christmas wrap.

Unicorn81 · 28/07/2017 19:11

Perhaps some jar pressies or prep to use them in Dec? Maybe some spa jars, cake jars, i did one last year with hot choc and marshmallows for my nephew and he loved it

GinYummy · 28/07/2017 19:19

I paint pva glue on the children's hands and then get them to hold a bauble. Gently remove the bauble and roll it in glitter.
I seal them with spray sealent and they look really great.

tootsieglitterballs · 28/07/2017 21:52

Brilliant ideas - thank you!

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BendydickCuminsnatch · 30/07/2017 09:44

Ooh great thread! DS2 coming on 6 Nov so v helpful!

midnightflowers · 30/07/2017 09:57

Salt dough decorations.
Buy some x-mad tree cookie cutters (small) stars, etc. Poke a small hole in the top of them then Bake in the oven. When cooled they will be rock solid, paint them then put a loop of string through to hang in the tree.
(I'll find you the link) Pinterest is your best friend for things like this!

midnightflowers · 30/07/2017 09:59

http://rainydaymum.co.uk/the-quickest-ever-salt-dough-recipe/

Or a bunting one like this.
Same concept but just poke one hole in the top to hang in the tree Smile

tootsieglitterballs · 03/08/2017 15:20

@midnightflowers great idea - I've found a recipe for cinnamon scented salt dough, so shall pop that on the 'things to do' list!

Any suggestions on the best place to buy crepe paper?? If I'm going to do crackers with him, i want to do them 'properly' 😉

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Annwithnoe · 04/08/2017 01:50

First stay away from Pinterest or you will completely over estimate what is achievable with a 2 year old.

Don't expect a child that young to be interested in measuring the ingredients, making the dough, adding the colouring, rolling it out, cutting out shapes, baking/ drying, painting, stringing. Just one of those activities is a lot at that age! But you can spread out an activity over a couple of days and get a lot of mileage from it!

Strap child into high chair before beginning and wear old clothes before painting. Bath time is your follow-on activity! And possibly scrubbing paint off walls and ceiling while child naps! Just saying! Or just do the activity sitting in the bathtub!

If you want to do some kind of writing/painting on fabric bags or t-shirts, prep first by cutting a piece of cardboard to size and putting it inside the bag or tshirt. It holds it stiff which is easier to work with and it prevents colour running through to the other side. Aldi sell plain cotton totes which can be decorated for Christmas.

Finger painting is easy and much less stress than trying to manhandle a wilful toddler to make neat footprints/ thumbprints etc. The key is to choose two colours only that mix to make a third colour, e,g red and yellow (orange), blue and pink (purple) but not red and green (horse poo). You can make cards, wrapping paper, giant canvas for grandparents living room with minimum effort for you and maximum fun for child.

Cut Two quarter yards of contrasting Christmas fabric into inch squares (pref with pinking scissors) and let child make collage on plain paper with pva glue. Lovely sticky fun, bath to finish. Turn into cards or cut out into decorations

Cutting shapes out of cookies and pushing in choc chips. You could make dough in advance and freeze it until you need it as you might not have energy at Christmas. Also make salt dough now, play dough etc.

Upcycle a plain notebook with Christmas themed stickers. Pull away the piece around the stickers before you start.

Paint a huge sheet of paper green. Then fold over and over and draw one handprint to cut out a pile of hand prints (child can cut out one or two too if you like) and use to make a Christmas tree by sticking fingers down onto a triangle.

Cut out Christmas tree shape and stick onto plain white card. Decorate tree with sticky gems. Add a star to the top.

Melt choc and put in piping bag, knotted, and snipped. When cool enough for little hands let child loose with a big sheet of parchment/grease proof paper to make lots of blobs and squiggles. Then scatter sprinkles all over. Break into pieces and pop into cellophane bags and tie with ribbon. Yummy if you use nice chocolate and not the nasty cooking choc stuff.

Adapt Rice Krispie buns into Rice Krispie tray bake. Just spoon mixture into a casserole dish or baking tin and spread if spooning into cup cases is too tricky. Add some festive sprinkle stars and cut up when cool. More cellophane bags!

You might want to gather materials/ prep these now and put away for December.

If you want other Christmassy activities that aren't crafty per se:

Home made playdoh in different colours with drops of food essence added for different smells. Hide objects inside- simple things like smooth stones, Lego, a crayon or coins. Kept mine going for half an hour or more. Can be Christmassy with specific smells and colours, maybe some glitter too.

Standing at sink playing with water. If you do it on a day when you have a lot of towels to wash you can put them on the floor to catch drips and pre-soak them (efficient housekeeping yay)

Box of rice or sand or pasta with small objects hidden inside. Plastic animals or dinosaurs are great. Gets messy though

Google image search for Christmas colouring pages of current favourite cartoon.

Cut out Christmas tree from green felt and circles of coloured felt as "decorations". Velcro on back and let child decorate tree.

I've tried to think of easy low key crafts that are minimum effort for you as you'll likely be tired. The less frustratingly difficult it is for the child the longer they'll keep at it. And it builds their esteem to do it themselves rather than needing you to take over. I know it's not a very exciting list but all tried and tested!

On the other hand I might be woefully underestimating ability level. Mine have SN and youngest had exhausted frazzled mother so keeping things simple was a survival tactic Grin

shitwithsugaron · 04/08/2017 02:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tootsieglitterballs · 04/08/2017 08:51

Wow @Annwithnoe - what a list of brilliant ideas!

Plenty to keep us occupied!

I think one of the biggest reasons I'm asking now is so I can prep as much in advance as possible, put it in zip backs / tubs etc so it's ready to just pull out! Ease and keeping him interested is key (and me being able to rest!) . And also so someone else can pull it out too to do.

No footprint painting here for us ... for a start he's in the 98th centile for weight so I'll struggle to lift him to do it tidily!

I love the idea of the felt tree - great idea.

He's great at baking as daddy is a chef so he's grown up in kitchens so far, but at home I do take short cuts at this age ... I'm thinking ready rolled pastry and a jar of mincemeat!

Luckily I can get away without doing too much 'messy' craft as we go to a creative session each week where he gets to be messy and I don't have to clean up!!

I started collecting Christmas stickers in the sale, so have lots of those - he loves stickers.

Never done homemade play doh.... that sounds fun!

I'm going to prep salt dough for him to make decs out of which he can give to grandparents (they will love them regardless of how messy they are!)

Going to go back through this whole thread tonight and jot all these wonderful ideas down in my Christmas planner and start collating bits! I've got 4 loo rolls so far for crackers!

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BendydickCuminsnatch · 04/08/2017 14:03

Amazin Ann! Love your username too :) How do you store salt dough if you prep in advance - just freeze like cookie dough?

Saw the felt xmas tree on Pinterest, love that idea! Just wonder if my whirlwind child would be into it. Plus, sounds odd, but I'm terrible at sourcing craft supplies and doubt I'd be able to find a nice big piece of green felt!

tootsieglitterballs · 04/08/2017 16:01

@BendydickCuminsnatch not sure where you are based, but I find either Yorkshire Trading Company or Boyes is great for fabric, boyes is particularly good did big pieces of felt as they have it on a the roll. Cheap as chips too!

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MrsDeaconClaybourne · 04/08/2017 16:10

White finger/thumb prints on black or coloured paper is a good one. Really easy and then you can used fine markers to turn them into snowmen. Or add a black and white prints to make penguins. You could make personalised snowpeople family cards for people. I also once did lots of green hand prints and then stuck them together to make a wreath.
When mine were smaller I found sometimes the effort to set something up and clear away was in inverse proportion to how long it occupied them for! So keep it simple Smile

MrsDeaconClaybourne · 04/08/2017 16:10

White finger/thumb prints on black or coloured paper is a good one. Really easy and then you can used fine markers to turn them into snowmen. Or add a black and white prints to make penguins. You could make personalised snowpeople family cards for people. I also once did lots of green hand prints and then stuck them together to make a wreath.
When mine were smaller I found sometimes the effort to set something up and clear away was in inverse proportion to how long it occupied them for! So keep it simple Smile

BiddyPop · 04/08/2017 18:17

Bookmarking to return to as I have limited broadband on hols.

Although there are lots of great ideas there already!

Wait4nothing · 04/08/2017 19:43

I'm going to do green play dough and lots of decorations (Pom poms) to make Christmas trees.
Brown playdough and cutters to 'make' gingerbread men
Play dough is easy to make (buy cream of tartar in baking aisle)

Annwithnoe · 05/08/2017 14:49

Bendy I've never actually tried freezing play doh or salt doh so it could be disasterous. Have frozen cookie dough successfully so I was assuming it could be done. Blush

BiddyPop · 15/08/2017 12:25

I have done a shoebox full of strips of different coloured paper, and some sticky tape. DD was then able to start off a paper chain with me, and work on it herself at different times until it was long. It can be a handy one to have tucked away and one that can be picked up and put down easily.

Can you get out for a nice walk in a park that has pine cones? Looking at autumn nature etc. Collect some cones (help him run off some energy looking), and then use those another day to paint, cover in glitter etc as tree decorations in due course.

YYY to potato stamping and fingerprint painting for cards and wrapping paper. Again, don't expect too long in any 1 thing - but if you have an oilcloth to spread out and let him get messy a few times, it can be fun. And yes, get a tshirt/shirt that is otherwise going to the bin as an overall to help prevent major messes on him (an adult garment cut shorter if need be but easily popped over his head works best - can be thrown into the wash to use again, but could also be thrown out if necessary).

Papier mache to make decorations or a piñata - needs a few different layers so days of small bits of effort, just cover the wallpaper paste bucket at the end of each session so it stays good. And plenty of opportunity for DS to rip newspaper to make the pieces. And then to paint later on.

Perhaps print off a few autumn or winter or Christmassy or family pictures for him to colour in (pencils or crayons) from the web, there are lots of sites. Some also have good ideas for making things like Snowmen and Santas and Penguins and things from toilet roll middles and cotton wool and a few other bits.

Or print or draw Christmassy shapes for him to paint/colour in, and then to (under supervision) cut out to glue onto a cardboard wreath or a poster, to use for decorating his room, or on cards, or stuck to card to make tree decorations....

tootsieglitterballs · 15/08/2017 16:29

Fab ideas! The pine cone one will go down a treat!

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DandelionAndBedrock · 18/08/2017 09:13

Cut out some black circles and orange triangles then stick them onto paper plates to make snowman faces. More paper plate ideas here.

Paper strip baubles are similar to paper chains, but easier to hang when finished. You would need to help a lot but they don't take long (assuming paper is pre-cut). Use PVA and hold for a few seconds to set, or glue stick if patience is wearing out!

tootsieglitterballs · 30/08/2017 07:42

I remember making something similar to those paper strip baubles when I was at school! Shall give those a god this year 😊

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