Christmas is done! We had what I would possibly call our best yet and now it’s time to kick back and relax.

A big special thank you to our awesome guest contributors who made Kiddley so special during November and December. We hope to have them back to play again next year.

Thank you to everyone who visited Kiddley since our launch in May. Thank you for your enthusiasm, your suggestions and your emails (if you are waiting for a reply, we will get back to you soon, we promise!) and we hope that you found something appealing on our site over the months which has worked fabulously for your family.

And now we are going to take the next few weeks off to spend a bit more time with our friends and family and we hope you manage to get to do some of the same.

We will be back for 2007 in the middle of January so we look forward to seeing you then. In the meantime here are some posts from our archives which might help you fill in some of the holiday moments.

For the holidays

Camping with kids

Activity bags

Nature rambling

Planning for the holidays

Finding time to do stuff with your kids

Keeping a short term journal

Be a tourist in your own city

Introducing your kids to digital photography

And our all-time most popular posts

What’s the time Mr Wolf

A button boquet

DIY Marble run

Crayon cookies

Make a “stained glass” window

Tags: holidays, vacation

It may be the 11th hour, but there is still plenty of time to dive into some last-minute crafting to create that perfect homemade gift. Here are some suggestions for presents which you and / or the kids can whip together today ready for a lucky relative tomorrow.

Kid’s art stationery

You will need:
A5 paper
Envelopes
Child’s drawing
Scanner
Word processor
Printer

Scan in the art work and insert it on a page in your word processor. If you are word processor savvy, create some lines in a grey shade down the page for writing guides. Print out multiples on to A5 paper. Bundle in lots of 10 with matching envelopes. You could even print the motif on the back of the envelope for a matching set, and if you are feeling super keen why not make some of your own envelopes? Package the lot together with raffia twine, or a strip of thin paper taped at the back or in a cellophane bag.

If you don’t have access to a computer on Christmas Eve, you could get your kids involved in a production line of paper and envelope decorating at the kitchen table and then bundle up sets of one-of-a-kind stationery for extra lucky relatives.

And from our archives:

Don’t forget the marvellous Crayon cookies

Peel the papers off broken crayon pieces and place three different colours in each cup of a mini muffin tray. Place in a preheated oven at 150°c for a few minutes and the allow to cool on a bench before placing in the freezer for half an hour. They should then just pop out of the tray and be ready to wrapped up and placed under the tree.

If you have a few spare hours this afternoon, try making a Sock Monkey

While the sock monkey instructions look a little confronting at first glance, putting one of these gorgeous and quirky guys together is actually incredibly easy - even for a real sewing machine novice.

You will need:
A pair of medium length socks in any colour or pattern
Thread
Black or brown felt
Red or pink felt
A sewing machine
Print out of sock monkey instructions

Follow the instructions for deconstructing the pair of socks into the bits for the monkey and then sew together and stuff according to the directions.

Have a look at this sock monkey gallery for oodles of inspiration.

And of course, from our wonderful guest posts this month you could always whip up some Festive bird finger puppets, Pecan-pretzel candies or a book of Dress-up dolls.

Here are some quick ideas from around the web:

Peppermint Creams from Delicious Magazine

These are quick and easy treats which can be dipped in chocolate or left as they are and then bundled up in cellophane. Most of the ingredients are probably already in your cupboard.

Stephanie’s fabric trees

Print out the pattern and put these fabric trees together in no time at all and embellish them with buttons, trim or sequins.

Heather’s headbands & booties

More downloadable patterns, this time for booties and headbands. Beautiful stuff.

And then there are free homemade toys for toddlers (via Parent Hacks) and Cat Morley’s enormous archives of projects many of which would make great gifts. Happy last minute crafting!

Heather from HELLO My Name is Heather sent us this fabulous idea

Exercise those right brains with junk-food paper dolls. And, if you enjoy a funky junky Christmas tree as much as I do, hang ‘em on your tree for holiday laughs year after year.

You will need:
Junk-food boxes
Permanent marker
Scissors
Glue
Brads

Optional:
Wire, bells, eyelets, string, buttons, etc.

With a permanent marker, draw body parts on your favorite junk food box, allowing for overlap when the doll is bradded together. Be choosy about the placement of each body part, so it will ‘read’ well when assembled. For best results, be on the lookout for letters and shapes that can help define your character, like the garlic beard on Cheez-It Santa or the letter “O” eyeball on OREO Mama. Assemble doll using petite metal brads. Glue on facial features and clothing embellishments to your heart’s content. If you’d like to hang the doll on your tree, attach a wire loop to the top and you’re all set.

OREO Mama kicked off the craze, then Cheez-It Santa, TV-dinner Scooby-Doo and The Coke Star were all eagerly crafted by my son, Elijah.

Needless to say, these funky junkies are among my favorite Christmas ornaments ever!

Tags: Christmas, junk food, ornament, paper dolls

Christina from Jam Fancy sent us this quick last-minute ornament craft

You will need:
A board to work on
Toothpicks
Fimo or sculpey
A plate

Roll a ball of each of your Christmas colours of about the same size.

Roll out the balls into thin sausages then twist two colours together. Roll them in to one thin sausage and cut the long piece in roughly in half.

If you are making candy canes form them into the right shape by making a crook at one end.

To make lollipops, roll the sausage in upon itself to make a spiral and flatten out the round shape by pressing it down with you fingers.

Using the blunt end of the toothpick, make a hole in the top of the circle.

With the pointed end of the toothpick, push gently into the bottom of the circle to make the lollipop stick.

Place the canes and lollipops on the plate and follow the instructions on the packets for the cooking times.

Thread up the lollipop and then decorate your tree!

Tags: Christmas, ornament, polymer clay

Carly from Moopy & Me sent us this great last minute decorating tip

There is nothing like leaving things to the last minute (that’s the signature style over at the Moopy & Me household), but these place settings will warm up the dinner table with a glow in just a few snips of the scissors. Inspired by the Christmas issue of the Japanese Cotton & Paint magazine, they had similar houses for window decorations.

You will need:
Favourite paper (200-300 gsm)
White paper
Nice pen for writing names (or even easier just type & print)
Glue stick
Paper knife (& cutting matt)
Tea lights
Other fun things for decorating, felt,glitter……

All instructions are on the download:

Tags: Christmas, decorating, houses

Lyn from Molly Chicken sent us this great craft idea

A fun project to do with children of any age, if they are to young to sew - use glue instead.

You will need:
White card
Black, white, brown and scraps of yellow and red felt.
Needle and threads or craft glue.
Stick-on googly eyes.

Get the kids to draw around their finger, onto the white card for the basic birdy body shape. The kids I work with always enjoy this bit, and you get some really ‘interesting’ shaped birds. Alternatively use the template provided. Add a large hem allowance for gluing or stitching together, and cut out.

Pin the template to two layers of your felt, and cut out. Now cut the beaks, wings and breasts and if you are making a dove you will need a little red heart.

Stitch/glue the breast or heart and the beak to one of the body pieces.

And then stitch the two body pieces together, sewing your wings into place at the same time.

Stick on the googly eyes and you’re done.

[ These can also be adapted to make the most fabulous ornaments — see Lyn’s post from last year - Ed.]

Tags: birds, finger puppets, ornament, soft toy

Amy from Angry Chicken sent us this quick last minute gift idea

Here’s a fun and quick cooking project that you can make with and the kids and give away as gifts. Multi-tasking can begin early! And you can never be to young to appreciate the tasty combination of chocolate and salt. Yum!

You will need:
Small round or square pretzels
Pecan halves
Rolos, Hershey Kisses, or a similar chocolate candy (something with caramel is extra good)
Plastic bags
Labels and markers

Heat your oven to 400°f (200°c) and have the kids stack the pretzels and then Rolos on a cookie sheet. This may take awhile, let them have fun with it. It’s the easy non-hot part.

Pop them in the hot oven for 3 minutes. Different candies take different times, but you want the candy soft enough to be squishy.

Take them out on the oven and transfer to a plate so the kids don’t burn themselves on the tray and have them push the pecan half on top of the chocolate, squishing it down. The chocolate will be hot, so supervise closely. I have never had any burns, but if one goes in the mouth, that would be a big ouch.

Chill the candies in the fridge and when they are firm put into baggies, making decorative labels if you wish. Now give away as gifts (or keep!).

Feel free to try different candy combinations. I’m still trying to figure out a combo that would work with a gumdrop on top. Happy holidays, have fun and don’t forget to wash your hands first!

Tags: chocolate, Christmas, gifts, nuts, presents

Kathreen from Whip Up gets us thinking about gifts kids can make

Every year (well for the past 2 years anyway, since my daughter started school), she has wanted to give her friends a gift at Christmas. It is a lovely idea of course, but can be a nightmare to negotiate and plan and organise. Who will get the gifts? How many to give out? Everyone in the class or just the few special friends, and what do you get them? How much do you spend? Can you give lollies to kids these days?

Well whatever your child decides there will be at least a few presents to give out. I think this year we are only doing five, so we can spend a little more time on each one, but if you are going the whole hog and doing 20 + the neighbourhood kids then you had better plan for something simple.

In the past my daughter has made cards and given out little bags of chocolates, and one year she made little beaded bracelets for the girls and leather charm necklaces for the boys. This year she is thinking about button bracelets or salt clay pendants.

Some other cute ideas of things for kids to make for other kids include:

1. Making pendants: try using shrinky dink plastic or polymer clay (fimo, sculpey etc) which can be baked in the oven at home, then thread them onto leather or string.
2. Cards: try making your own stamps using potatoes or erasers to decorate blank cards.
3. Cooking: if your kids love to cook why not help them make shortbread or gingerbread and use fancy cookie cutters to create fun shapes.
4. Drawings: are your kids budding artists, why not get them to turn their drawings into small books bound together with string.
5. Peg people: pegs and paddle pop sticks are great to decorate and draw on, to give personality to, great idea for kids to make some to give their friends.

Hope your kids have fun with these ideas … do you have any others?

Tags: Christmas, gifts, presents

Alicia from the always gorgeous Posie Gets Cozy sent along this tutorial

Making a gumdrop wreath is fast, fun, and really easy. These were in Martha Stewart Living a few years ago and I’ve made them several times since. They’re fun to do with kids, and make great gifts for neighbors, teachers, or grandparents.

You will need:
10-inch styrofoam wreath form, either the spongy kind or the hard (extruded) kind.
About three pounds of gumdrops, either the jumbo or the regular sized.
Box of toothpicks.
Masking tape.
12-inch piece of wire to make hanger.

First, you need to wrap a few layers of masking tape around the top of the wreath form, especially if you are using the spongy type of styrofoam. When the wreath is finished it will be quite heavy, so I like to wrap a few layers of tape around the wreath where the hanger will rest to prevent the wire from ripping right through once it is suspending the weight of the gumdrops.

Just wrap the wire and create a loop, twisting the ends of the wire together several times. When you start to place the gumdrops, you will cover the tape and the wire so it will all pretty much disappear.

Then, break a bunch of toothpicks in half. You can use garden pruners for this, or just break them with your fingers. If you’re doing this project with kids, I would get all the toothpicks broken in half for them first; this is not the fun part, and you don’t want anyone getting splinters for Christmas.

You can use either the jumbo gumdrops (which are about an inch in diameter), like these, or the regular ones (about a half-inch). Obviously, if you’re using the jumbo ones you will be done faster, so that may or may not be a good thing for you – optimally, you’ll want to strike that balance between keeping the kids quietly busy or having them get bored and want to go do something else. (Also, there is a certain meditative satisfaction in doing this project, so if you’re stressed out from holiday stuff, this can be a nice calming thing to do with a glass of wine or a cup of hot cocoa after the kids have gone to bed. In that case, I’d go for the small gumdrops. But anyway.) Some grocery stores (like WinCo and Cub Foods in the United States) sell gumdrops in bulk for less than a dollar a pound, so it might be worth calling around to find them. You can also order them on-line from many places; try searching for “bulk gumdrops” (or “spice drops” as they are also called) and see what’s available in your country.

Then you just stick the broken end of the toothpick into the gumdrop, and the pointy end into the wreath. Stagger them so you don’t get any big holes. (You can also paint your wreath form before putting the gumdrops in if having the white peek through will bother you, but it doesn’t bother me so I don’t . . . bother with that.) Keep going around until you’re done (don’t cover the back, obviously). Then tie on a ribbon and hang!

I think they look especially cute in the kitchen, myself.

Have fun!

Tags: Christmas, gumdrops, wreath

Asha from Parent Hacks sent us this great hack

Today is Day 1 of my kids’ school holidays (which, in America, is generally two weeks). And while we’ve got plenty of holiday-related plans with friends and family, there are still many unfilled hours in the days ahead. I, for one, am happy to shelve the backpacks and early mornings for a little while, but I know that, without a little structure to punctuate our pajama-lounging, fireside-reading afternoons, we’ll all go stark raving mad.

Here’s what I did over the summer to balance our free/busy time, and it worked well, so I’m repeating the process in a smaller way for the winter break. I sat down with my kids (7 and 3) and made a list of everything big or little we wanted to do over the break. Everything.
Our list starts out like this:

1. Go to the snow
2. Make a gingerbread house
3. Build a fire in the fireplace
4. Make a pinecone birdfeeder
5. Walk around the neighborhood looking at lights
…

After we had a good list, we took out the wall calendar and penciled each item in. If you have more ideas than days in your vacation — no problem. This is a good exercise in prioritizing. I then decided on a basic rhythm for each day. I hesitate to say “routine” or “schedule” as it’s more flexible than that, but having a predictable sense of what to expect each day makes it so much easier for my kids to transition out of (and back into) school.

In our case, the “rhythm” looks a lot like it does when school’s in session, with the exception of an extra blessed hour of sleep in the morning. The day begins with breakfast, bed-making and tooth- brushing, and is then followed by an activity from the list. Then lunch, quiet time, possibly another short activity, dinner, family playtime, then bed. We try to schedule day-long activities (such as going to the snow) between shorter, at-home activities to maintain our sanity. And we toss the schedule completely when something spontaneous and exciting comes up (impromptu visits, last-minute parties with folks we care about).

I find that mapping out our vacation in this way makes us all happier, and, in the end, better rested and ready for a new year.

Tags: holidays, planning, vacation