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!

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?

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!

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.

Andrea from Hula Seventy kindly sent us this holiday idea

Hello, I’m Andrea from Hula Seventy and would like to thank Claire for allowing me to share some of our family fun with you today.

For those of you out there who find yourself playing a constant game of catch-up with advent activities, I offer The Christmas Fun Jar. Although we absolutely love the advent activity calendars here at our house, we have decided to shake things up a bit this holiday season. The Fun Jar is actually something we put together each summer– we write fun things we want to do (big and small) onto strips of paper, throw them into a recycled jar (which we then decorate) and pull from it when things get a little nutty around the house. A perfect fit for the season, yes? The great thing about The Jar is that you can pick from it at any time, as often as you like– once a week, once a day, once an hour. You can wait until the week right before Christmas to construct your own, if you like. Anything goes! But the best part is that The Fun Jar eventually becomes a lantern. When you have emptied it, place a candle inside and the art work glows– a lovely thing to do on Christmas Eve. And a little bit of magic, I say.

You will need:
A glass jar
Colored tissue paper
White paper
Kid-safe scissors
Glue sticks
Crayons, markers, colored pencils
Glitter (optional)
Votive candles

1. Decorate the jar. Cut up and/or tear pieces of tissue paper and glue them onto the jar, collage-style. Squares, rectangles, hearts, Christmas trees,stars– again, anything goes. We also chose to cover the entire jar (which you may or may not want to do). The idea behind using tissue paper (as opposed to regular and/or construction paper) is the transparency allows for beautiful glowing when the candle is placed inside. Also, this is something that almost everyone can do. My son Ezra (who is 2 1/2) had an absolute ball smearing the glue stick on larger pieces of tissue paper and sticking them onto the jar. My daughter Ava (age 6) really got into creating Christmas-themed shapes and scenarios.

2. Put the finishing touches on the collage with crayons, markers and glitter. We also added a ‘Christmas Fun Jar’ label with construction paper. A little glitter was sprinkled here and there. Just for fun.

3. Put together the contents of the jar. Find a comfortable place to sit and generate ideas as a family. Everyone gets to contribute! It’s not a bad idea to have a list of ideas on hand to get the ball rolling (there are plenty of suggestions here at Kiddley, see this previous post). Write what you’d like to do on small sheets of paper, fold them up and throw them in the jar. When finished, place your magnificently decorated Christmas Fun Jar in a special location (mantles are nice) and let the fun begin!

4. Finally, it helps to be prepared for all that spontaneity. After we finished making our jar, I went back through and made a list of all the supplies we would need to have on hand. Also, as mama and chief Christmas Fun Jar maker, I reserve the right to pull a couple of the slips of paper from the jar (those with the more special activities written on them) and return them when I feel the time is right (a couple of days before Christmas, perhaps?)– feel free to do the same. There’s no shame in that.

And now, The Christmas Fun Jar is calling you. I hear it calling, I really do. And I’m hoping you’ll return with some lovely stories to tell.

Fiona from Hop Skip Jump sent us this beautifully simple Christmas idea

This Christmas, I thought we might try making some simple cut paper garlands. It’s such an easy, fun craft that has a very festive result, and something that works well for kids of all ages. Older children could tackle the entire project by themselves, while younger kids will probably need help with cutting and threading.

We made a couple of different garlands: one constructed from decorated paper and cardstock, and another made from plain white card which was enthusiastically decorated with lots of glitter, sequins and confetti by my three year old.

You will need:
2 x A3 sized sheets of card stock
Decorations (patterned paper, glitter, confetti, sequins, fabric, buttons, etc)
Hole punch
Glue
String
Scissors

Trace or print your desired shapes onto the cardstock.

There’s a downloadable template below if you don’t have time to make your own.

If you’re going to be decorating your garland with patterned paper only (like the bird one in the photos here), it’s best to glue your paper to the card before cutting. Once your shapes are cut out, decorate as desired and arrange vertically. When you’re satisfied with how it looks, punch holes at the top and base of each shape (except the base of the lowest hanging shape) and loop together with short lengths of string. Hang and enjoy!

Alison from Six and A Half Stitches kindly sent us this great tutorial 

I have been wanting to make little papier-mâché Piñatas for such a long time after seeing them on Not Martha, and Christmas seems like the perfect time to make these little balls filled with sweets or toys. They are easy to make with young ones, and fun to find fillings for. Children will enjoy pulling them apart and seeing what’s inside, and everyone will enjoy making them and seeing them hung up around fireplaces, on trees, or clustered on a door or shelf.

With a simple flour and water paste* mixed to a smooth gloopy consistency and papier-mâché strips of tissue paper around semi blown up balloons of about 10-15cm diameter.

Leave a gap around the top as your opening – enough to get goodies inside.

Leave to dry till the case is hard, and then deflate the balloon by pricking it or cutting it with scissors (it won’t pop, but will let air out slowly as it removes itself from the inside of the papier-mâché case).

Once you have the empty shell, you can fill with whatever you like – small bags of sweets, toys, biscuits, glitter or cut out pieces of paper, small puzzles to put together, or even write out your own jokes to tell.

Then take another piece of tissue paper and a length of ribbon and seal the opening with more flour/water paste.

Have fun decorating! Finally add a small tag to the ribbon which says ‘Pull Me’ to help open.

Pull open, and enjoy!

* For those with gluten or wheat allergies, the following alternatives to wheat flour can be used: Tapioca flour, rice flour. Experiment with other flours to see if they work, or alternatively use a white paste with PVA craft glue watered down, however I tried here to limit the amounts of glue being used in the whole project. You may want to add some salt to the paste to prevent mould as well.

Heidi From My Paper Crane sent us this tutorial for how to make a pom-pom garland

A very simple and fun project for the little ones is making a pom-pom garland. All you need is a big pack of pom-poms, a needle, and some heavy thread or fishing line.

Parents will need to thread the needle (for smaller kids you may want to knot both ends together rather then leaving a tail) The tail part sometimes will confuse smaller children and the thread will keep slipping back through the needle.

Cut your thread (doubled if you tying the ends together) as long as you’d like your garland to be. Poke the needle through the center of a pom and then slide the pom all the way to the knotted end. If your child has trouble with the needle, you can always poke the pom and then let your child slide the pom-pom down.

Finish off the end of the garland with a nice big knot to keep the poms from slipping off. You can use the garland for a Christmas tree, or just a pretty decoration for whenever!

Stephanie from Little Birds Handmade kindly sent us this seasonal craft 

December 13th is Santa Lucia Day! You can read more about how Santa Lucia is celebrated in Scandinavia here. We decided to create our own versions of the candle crown traditionally worn by the eldest daughter as well as a star hat like those worn by boys in Santa Lucia processions.

You will need:
White card stock or heavy paper for crown and candles.
Green craft paper cut into leaf shapes (depending on the age of the child, you may want to cut out the leaf shapes ahead of time).
Red craft paper cut or punched into small circles for berries.
Orange/yellow craft paper cut into flame shapes.
Glitter.
Glue.

Santa Lucia Crown

1. Cut a two inch wide strip of paper long enough to wrap around the child’s head. Have child glue leaf shapes to cover the crown and decorate with red berries.

2. Add glitter to flame shapes. Cut strips of white card stock as candles (we made six candles for our crown). Glue flame to candle and candles to crown.

3. Fit crown around head and fasten at back with glue or staples.

4. Play Santa Lucia!

Boy’s Lucia Procession Hat

1. Create a tall cone hat from white card stock. Glue or staple closed.

2. Cut star shaped from card stock and decorate with silver or gold glitter.

3. Glue stars to hat.

4. Ta-da!

More Santa Lucia Links:

Santa Lucia Day in Sweden

Recipe for Santa Lucia Braided Bread

Listen to the traditional Santa Lucia song

Alicia’s tutorial for Santa Lucia dolls

Happy Santa Lucia Day!

Sarah from The Small Object Sent us this paper doll and ornament idea

Around our house, we have fabric scraps, paper bits and ribbon remnants lying about on tables and in bins which are far too enticing for little hands. And given the number of requests for drawing a princess, Nanny McPhee, Harry Potter and Mommy, I needed a paper doll. It’s perfect since you can make it into anything by adding ponytails,crown, bows, buttons,glasses and then color or collage on some bits.

Lately, the big thing has been taping down a piece of fabric to give them blankets, cause they get cold, you know.

As gifts, we also xerox a big stack of them and staple or bind them together to make a doll coloring book and then include an original drawing and a little bag of scraps.

Not to stop the fun, we love it so much I shrunk it down and made them into doll ornaments for the tree.

We’re set! Download and get your glue handy.

(Share, give + download to your hearts desire! Just please don’t go selling them or some other equally insane commercial idea. Thanks!)