Isn’t it shiny?

AJ has started saving up for a very special doll and is slowly but surely filling her tiny little piggy-bank. She loves to open up the piggy-bank and spread the coins across the carpet and count them, time and time again. And it gives me the heebies because the coins are incredibly filthy. This evening, with a spare half an hour before dinner time, I suggested she get an old tooth brush out and some soapy water and scrub them clean. How easy is that? She was well occupied for the whole half hour and declares she will now clean them all again every time she gets a new one.

You will need:
A bowl of warm, mild soapy water
Coins
A toothbrush
A tea towel
A small bowl of vinegar (optional)

Scrub!

After she scrubbed the coins, some were still quite tarnished. Depending on what kind of metals your coins are made from, you could leave them in a small dish of white vinegar overnight for an extra shine. We tried this with our 1 and 2 dollar coins and it was a disaster, though all the silver is now dazzling.

On this day in 1882 the creator of Winne The Pooh, A. A. Milne, was born. Here’s what you could do to commemorate:

Read Pooh Bear stories at bedtime.

Make honey cakes – we are making some from Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden – Cooking with Kids.

Find a creek with a bridge and playing Pooh sticks.

Download and print out the Pooh Party info PDF and play games, make delicious smakerels (including honey cake) and entertain one and all with Pooh puppets.

And if you live in New York, why not pay the real Winnie the Pooh a visit at the New York Public Library?

Amy at Angry Chicken gives simple, straight forward instructions for making these Aunt Sarah Dolls –

“The girls love these dollys a whole lot and I thought about making some with photos of the whole family. I think it’s especially cool for long distance family and friends that they don’t see very often. Plus it’s just freaky and funny to see faces of real people on dolls.”

Welcome to Kiddley for 2007!

It’s our first day back but I still feel as though I am in holiday mode. AJ doesn’t go back to Kinder for another three weeks so there are plenty of holiday activities happening over here… now I just need to get organised enough to photograph them and write them up as Kiddley articles.

While we were away…

Babble (which launched mid December) has been busy and is already brimming with goodness.

10 Tips for a Successful 2007 (via Parent Hacks)

The top 10 Parent Hacks of 2006

So, today? Where you are it might be incredibly cold but here it’s going to be 39°c so I am washing teddy bears and making ice cream.

** the above photo was taken by the incredibly talented Bella Blue from Lost in Transition. Reproduced with her permission. Her kids are decorating some print outs of Kiddley paper doll templates **

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

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!

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!

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:

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.]