The very first week of November might seem a little early to start thinking about the holiday season (unless you are in retail, where it seems October is the month to start ramping up). But when it comes to crafting, establishing new traditions, fun family activities and starting homemade items it’s better to be prepared earlier than later. Three Christmases in a row now, I have said to myself “if only I had started planning earlier I might have had time to make x, y or z…”.

Now is the time to write a quick and loose list – just jot down 5 to 10 things you would like to make with your kids to help celebrate the holidays and then work out how and when you will need to start them to get them done on time. Things like Christmas cards need to be started soon to get them out to overseas friends and family where as crackers and tree decorations can be left until December.

Here is a list of suggestions for crafts you might like to do with your kids in the next couple of months:

Christmas cards
Presents for teachers
Garland
Paper chains
Paper snowflakes
Mantle scene
Christmas angels
Gift wrap
Simple stocking or santa sack
Cookies

Stay tuned to Kiddley for heaps of tips, ideas, links and advice for when it comes to fun things to do with your kids this season. To start with, next week we will be making a bunch of Christmas cards ready to send around the world.

It’s easy to fill a box full of props to encourage imaginative play. Imaginative, dramatic play is an essential part of early childhood education and development and a prop box is the perfect way to let kids explore roles and ideas around a theme.

Themes could include things such as bakery (see our Playing Bakery post for ideas), astronaut, doctor, vet and so on. Gather props for your chosen theme and store them in a big box, basket or plastic container and leave it where it is easily accessible. Find an exhaustive list of themes and ideas for relevant props at allthedaze.com.

Find old clothing for dressing up and where possible include real items that can be used safely rather than toys. Kids love playing with the real version of something far more than with a plastic imitation toy one. Try second hand stores and flea markets to stock your prop boxes but also ask family and friends if they have anything that might be worth including.

Get your kids involved by asking them what they think should be included, and with searching out appropriate items.

Get together with a group of families who also have kids and make a bunch of prop boxes between you which can be rotated from household to household.

Things like pens, paper, playdough, play money, pieces of fabric, paper bags, an old computer keyboard and so on are great open ended items which could be included as useful items in a lot of themed prop boxes.

Chat to your kids about the theme and what it might mean, what people might do in the relevant roles and their experiences of the topic and then leave them to it.

What? A new blog? Why not! Kiddley Links!

Increasingly we are finding that posting product information here on Kiddley just didn’t fit with our aims for the site. But instead of ignoring all the wonderful things we stumble across available for kids online, we have started a new shopping blog so we can share them with you. Each day we will be posting quirky, fun, creative and imaginative goodies from around the web for your kids. You will also find the occasional competition, give-away and Kiddley Links exclusive offer.

Hope you enjoy it!

I spent hours playing with my paper dolls as a child. I would use an old pair of blunt ended nail scissors to carefully snip dozens of little outfits out of paper doll books and then dress them with complicated dramas playing out in my mind.

I have made two pages of blank templates for a paper doll and her clothes. All you need to do is download and print them off. You may need to help your kids snip them out and then they are ready to be decorated and dressed in extraordinary combinations. You can see AJ and my interpretations in the photo above.

You may need Acrobat Reader to open the file.

The main figure (top left) would work best printed or stuck onto sturdy card stock so it doesn’t flop around annoyingly. I have included such fun features as an 80s bubble skirt, a bear costume and a tiara.