Paper Angels, Play Dough Trees and Other Crafts

The children enjoyed making angels out of paper plates.

We used a small plate to make the body and large plate to cut out wings and the head from, we managed to get two wings out of one large plate.

 Decorating a play dough Christmas tree with beads was a big hit, they were engrossed in the activity for nearly an hour. They have asked for them several times over the run up to Christmas. Have discovered another use for our fir tree stacker, perfect to draw round to create the tree shape, as well as the usual play.

We made some Rudolf gingerbread biscuits, the idea is that you use a gingerbread man cutter, turn him upside down and decorate, this is the image I had seen that really made me want to try this, my little ones had a slightly different idea.

 I was really pleased to discover that Belle and Boo make a love decoupage set to make some lovely Christmas cards with, so as both my girls love the character, I decided to buy a set and have a go, this is first for this type of craft for me and really enjoyed myself.

Had a lovely time with M, her friend and L making some rolled beeswax candles.

Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and see you all in the new year.

Belle and Boo

I came across the Belle and Boo books a couple of years ago and fell in love with the characters, the beautiful illustrations and of course the stories are enchanting, luckily L enjoys them too.

I treated L to Belle and Boo and the Very Merry Christmas and also the sticker book to go with it, we love both of them. Every story starts with "This is Belle and this is Boo. They are always together on sunny days, rainy days and dreamy let's be lazy days" which is great as L remembers this and joins in every time we start to read the stories. The books have a lovely vintage feel, that follow everyday friendship and activities between Belle and Boo, that captivate L, we have thoroughly enjoyed the sticker book too.

Now a little trick I've used for years, that makes it easier for toddlers to to do the stickers books on their own, without the frustration of stickers that tear etc as they try and get them out. Is to peel the sticker background of, leaving behind the stickers they need. They are then able to peel them of without any of the usual problems.

Now tying in nicely with the end of the story was the idea I had seen here, so we made some pop corn, some for snack and the others to thread onto string. Not something I will plan to do again in a  hurry as it's rather fiddly and time consuming, even if did look rather good. We made some bird feeders using an orange cut in half and the flesh scooped out and attempted to make some feeders using bird seeds mixed in with melted lard and pressed into cookie cutters. I only managed to get two out in one piece, the others crumbled. Any way L and the minders, loved putting them on the tree, not sure when the birds will feel brave enough to come into our garden to feed though, as the children ran around the garden shouting " Birds, birds, we've made food for you, birds come and eat your food now"

I am working on a Belle and Boo cross stitch for the girls bedroom, decided to try and outline the face last night, as I was really worried it wouldn't look right, relieved to say I was pleased with how it came out. There was part of me that hoped to get it done for Christmas but don't think I am going to manage that, as I have been busy knitting various Christmas presents and then sewing some decorations. It will hopefully look like this one when I have finished it Belle and Boo dandelion cross stitch pattern

Christmas EYFS Planning

Some of our Christmas story books

The Nativity

The Night Before Christmas

The Christmas Story

That's Not My Reindeer and That's Not My Snowman

Toddler Christmas

Farmyard Tales Christmas

Christmas Around The World

Spot The Reindeer At Christmas

Belle and Boo and the Very Merry Christmas

My Christmas Treasury

Wenceslas

Wreaths and Trees

We had friends over to join us for crafts and fun today, had a lovely time, Christmas music playing in the background. The little ones are now trying to learn all the words for Jingle Bells, they've listened to it several times and are doing well.

Our advent calendar craft for today is making paper chains but as we had friends over, thought we would also make some wreaths. Last night as I was searching through the Christmas craft box, I found some glittery stickers I had bought, thought they would be perfect addition to the tissue paper and foam berries I had planned. The glitter stickers were a huge hit, if the big smiles on their faces were anything to go by.

Had fun making lots of paper chains, they also made the paper chains into bracelets and an aeroplane.

On Tuesday we made Christmas trees out of paper plates, this is a craft that the little ones had seen and asked to make. We talked about dividing the plate into 3 and I drew the lines, they then did the cutting out. They then sorted out the 3 pieces they needed and sequenced the pieces from large to small. Lots of glitter glue was used, they took a long time to dry out and they look brilliant.

Window Stars

I love making window stars and was really pleased with  a couple of the new designs I tried out, I've put together a tutorial for one of them.

To make this window star, you need 8 rectangles, I use one sheet of kite paper which is 16cm by 16cm cut into 8 rectangles.

Fold each rectangle into half.

Then fold each edge into the centre and open back out.

Then fold in the outer edge into the nearest crease on both edges, repeat for each rectangle.

Fold top edge in to the centre crease to create a triangle, I use a tiny dab of glue to hold them in place.

Fold the same the same edges in again to the centre crease, so it looks like the picture below.

Fold the bottom edges in to meet the centre crease, repeat for each rectangle.

To put the star together by lining up the edge of the bottom triangular with the centre crease of second pieces and glue in place

repeat until you have completed the star.

Just need a bright winters morning to show them of better, rather than the dull grey ones we have been having.

L enjoyed making some simple ones too, she is getting really good with the scissors and managed to do all the cutting herself, just needed a bit of help with the folding as it's not easy folding them exactly the right way so they all fit together at the end. L's star is made using two sheets of kite paper, each sheet cut into four squares.

Then fold each square diagonally, then fold the outside edges into meet the centre crease, to create a diamond, repeat with each square.

Match bottom edge of diamond with centre crease of another diamond and glue in place, repeat until you have completed the star. Haven't got a photo of the finished star as she gave it to one of her friends for their window.

Cinnamon Rolls

Our advent activity for today was to make cinnamon rolls, they are in my opinion delicious! The children love to help weigh out, mix and roll, as well as eating their cooking. I had seen Chelsea buns made in the shape of tree so thought I would try it with these buns, it sort of worked, at least it still has a sort of tree shape. They look better when cooked in a round tin but then again they are rather yummy and they are eaten quickly in my house. I adapted the recipe and made some eggless, dairy free ones for L, she is a very happy little girl, her special recipe is further down the page.

Cinnamon Rolls

225ml milk

75g butter

425g plain flour

70g caster sugar

10g fast active yeast

1 egg, beaten

For the filling

100g butter

65g caster sugar

15ml cinnamon

5ml vanilla essence

1- Heat the milk and margarine in a saucepan until nearly boiling, turn of heat and leave to cool.

2- Mix together the flour, sugar and yeast.

3- Add the egg and warm milk (not hot) to the dry ingredients and mix well.

4- Cover the bowl, I usually place a large plate over the top, leave to rise for at least an hour.

5- Mix all the filling ingredients together.

6- roll out the dough to form a rectangle about 25 cm by 40cm, spread the filling over it and roll it up

7- Cut your roll into several equal slices and place in a tin, not tightly packed as they need room to rise.

8- Cover and leave to rise until double in size.

9- Glaze with milk and sprinkle with some caster sugar.

10- Bake Gas 6 for about 25 minutes, rolls are cooked when they sound hollow when you tap the base.

Eggless, Dairy Free Cinnamon Rolls

250ml oat milk

90g dairy free margarine

425g plain flour

70g caster sugar

15g fast active yeast

For the filling

100g butter

65g caster sugar

15ml cinnamon

5ml vanilla essence

1- Heat the milk and margarine in a saucepan until nearly boiling, turn of heat and leave to cool.

2- Mix together the flour, sugar and yeast.

3- Add the warm milk/margarine (not hot) to the dry ingredients and mix well.

4- Cover the bowl, I usually place a large plate over the top, leave to rise for at least an hour.

5- Mix all the filling ingredients together.

6- roll out the dough to form a rectangle about 25 cm by 40cm, spread the filling over it and roll it up

7- Cut your roll into several equal slices and place in a tin, not tightly packed as they need room to rise.

8- Cover and leave to rise until double in size.

9- Glaze with milk and sprinkle with some caster sugar.

10- Bake Gas 6 for about 25 minutes, rolls are cooked when they sound hollow when you tap the base.

Yesterday we enjoyed watching Elf as our Christmas film and then we read The Little Fir Tree, then we  made some Christmas tree decorations.

I put together 3 green lolly pop sticks, then they stuck a green triangle of kite paper on the back and set about decorating them. Towards the end they asked for presents to put under the tree, I thought they meant that at Christmas time they had presents under their trees. Then realised that they were asking for presents for the trees they were making, they had remembered that earlier in the week we had used foam stickers that had presents in them. So we rummaged through the box till they found the ones they wanted to add to their trees. We also made some Rudolphs using lolly pop sticks, I just need to attach some ribbon to them so the children can hang them on their trees

My little ones really love playing with the baby dolls, it is something they have out every day, they love to create little rooms for them, this is one they made yesterday, I love it.

We have also made some window stars, planning on making a few to decorate our windows.