Christmas tree hanging decoration

This was one we did at toddler group and is very simple.

Cut card (if you have no card then you can use cereal boxes) in to the shape of a Christmas tree.

Use a hole punch to make a hole and thread with wool.

Then decorate the tree with pens/paint and sparkles!

Christmas tree

I have made a large Christmas tree for us to decorate.   We are going to gradually add decorations to it ever the next week.   

I used green paper and cut out the shape for the tree, sticking it on to white paper from a large roll.  You could paint a tree instead. 

I added a pot and some writing.

So far we have made bobbles using glitter glue pens.

More to follow....!

Toilet roll snowman

We made him by covering a toilet roll tube in cotton wool, using PVA glue.  We used left over material scraps to make the hat, buttons and nose - you could also use paper.  A pipecleaner was used for the scarf and googly eyes!

Dino printing

Frozen themed play dough

Today I made some Frozen themed play dough.  I used -

•  1 cup salt
• 2/3 cups plain flour
• 1/2  cup baby oil (can use cooking oil)
• 2 sachets cream of tartar
• 1 cup of warm water
• 1 cup of paint
• Blue and silver glitter

 

 I mixed up some green/blue and glittery paint until I got the colour I was happy with.  I would have liked more green in it but our green paint was running out!  If you like you could use food colouring instead.

 

I simply mixed all the ingredients up in a bowl.  No real method!  I did have to add some more flour as it was too gooey still - I just added the right amount until I was happy with the consistency! 

Added in some extra Christmas sparkles/stars and some star cutters! 

 

Children in Need

Here are some Pudsey/Blush biscuits we made using the kit from Lakeland! 

This is another cake we had and some cakes bought from Aulds with donations going to Children in Need

We made standing up Pudsey and Blush pictures by drawing and outline on cardboard and colouring it in.  We then cut a slit in the bottom and placed another piece of cardboard in to make it stand up. 

Here is the link to the site if you want to donate -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/corporate2/childreninneed

Play dough and coloured match sticks

These are great for developing fine motor skills!  

Halloween biscuits!

Magic Halloween slime

For magic slime you need - shaving foam, paint and glitter.

Mix up the foam and paint using a spoon, then sprinkle glitter on top.  I put it in a disposable baking tray - this helps to contain the mess and also is a nice reflective surface.

I added in a few toys from the play dough box but toys are not necessary.  Some snakes/spider/insect toys might be another good idea!

We played with it squishing it between fingers, making patterns on the table, hiding toys in the slime and exploring all the shapes we could make.

When finished I put the tray and toys in the sink and rinsed.  The table cloth and apron went in a cold rinse wash in the machine and came out sparkling clean.  This is not suitable for very young children who will put the foam near their eyes or in their mouth.  Also remember shaving foam may sting cuts.

Pumpkin decoration

Decorating pumpkins in a way that is easy for toddlers.

We got these adorable munchkin pumpkins from Sainsburys

A large baking tray and apron helped to contain the mess!

We used paint, paintbrush and glitter.  

Lots of fun and mess!  A very pretty pumpkin that lasts longer than traditional carved ones and won't go mouldy so fast!

Tissue paper pumpkin

Very easy one - drew a basic pumpkin shape and we ripped up tissue paper and stuck it down.

Wolf leaf craft

Nearly Autumn again - my favourite time of year for crafts! Today we went out for a walk to collect some leaves, we chatted about leaves falling off the trees and sang the leaves song. 

"Autumn leaves are falling down 

falling down, falling down, 

 Autumn leaves are falling down on the ground!"

To the tune of London Bridge. 

I got sent the idea for this cute craft by my friend, she saw it on  http://www.teachingideas.co.uk!

We stuck the leaf on a piece of paper and decorated with paper and googly eyes to make this wolf/fox.  Very easy and I think they look great!

Hedgehog printing picture

This is a bit of a different take on the one we did before -Hedgehog potato printing

Printed out some pictures of hedgehogs and mixed up some brown paint - good opportunity to chat about colour mixing.  (Red and green = brown)

Used black/pink for nose, ears and feet.

 

We used mini craft sticks to print spikes on the hedgehogs back.

Pre-school word activity

This was a simple, fun activity I made up for 4 year old who was interested in letters, writing and sounds.

 

I used white paper cute in to squares to write the letters on.

 

I folded a piece of card in to 4 and drew 4 rhyming things on it. 

We then worked together to stick on the letters to make the names of each object and then colour the in. 

Free summer ideas - outdoor crafts

Summer can be a tricky time to keep the kids entertained without spending loads of money!

We went to this local loch (or lake!) and fed the ducks.  We went for a walk round, chatting about the birds and flowers we saw.

 

After that I set the children a challenge.   I gave them 10 minutes to make a duck collage using materials found outside.  This is what they made - 

 

I also challenged them to  write the word quack using whatever they could find -

 

For younger children you could ask them  to build a campfire or collect items of different colours.

Pop up thank you card for a teacher!

It's that time of year when you need to think about teachers gifts.  As someone who has done teaching let me tell you that a home made card, made with time and love is extra special.  I still have cards from 10 years ago!

So first you need a piece of card, fold it in half and decorate the front anyway you like. 

For the inside you need a piece of card folded in half twice, this will be the plant pot.  Stick it inside the card with glue.  The card should fold flat if placed correctly. 

It should then look like this -  

 

Then you need to make about 6 flowers to go in the plant pot.  You can use coloured card or plain card and colour them in with pens. Make sure they are not too long or they will stick up above the top of the card.

 

Stick these inside your plant pot, some at the front and some at the back.

 Then you have your pop up card! You are now free to add any extra decorations or writing you might want!

Commonwealth games activities

We made some Scottish flags - you could also make flags for different countries...or perhaps all of them!

 

Clyde is the mascot for the games this year, we made a collage of him and a drawing of him too! - 

 

We also printed out some colouring pictures from the activity village and used palette paints to colour them in.  The baby did one too!

 

This is our wee display so far -