Creative Chrismas Countdown

Our Creative Christmas Countdown so far

So its day 11 of the creative Christmas countdown hosted by Creative with Kids and Red Ted Art.

I havent posted about this in nearly a week and ive missed some great activities. Perhaps it was a little ambitious to attempt an activity a day.......i do get a little over excited when it comes to Christmas.

There have been some really lovely activities this past week from some blogs i havent read before so i'm looking forward to having a read in a quiet moment.

These are whats been happening on the countdown.

Day 6 - www.imaginationsoup.com How to make your own christmas story book with free story starter printables. Ninky is a little young for this but i have mentioned it to a lot of friends with older kids. I may even make up a few books for my neices as a little activity to keep them busy in the holidays.

Day 7 - www.kitchencounterchronicles.com - Simple handmade twig ornaments. These are really sweet and are being added to my ever growing list of things to make with Ninky. I'm ashamed to say we havent been on a nice walk to the park in a couple of weeks so havent had chance to pick up some twigs but i think Ninky would love this activity. As my overstuffed pockets can attest Ninky  is an avid collector of twigs, stones, leaves etc on walks so this will be right up his street. It will also be a nice contrast to the plastic gaudiness of christmas. ( not that plastic and gaudy is always bad, i love a bit of kitsh come Christmas time....who am i kidding i have a secret liking for it most of the time)

Day 8 - www.sunscholars.com Naughty or Nice cans. These are empty ans decorated on the outside and then filled in the middle with coal or kisses (hersheys) to let you know if you have been naughty or nice. I think older children will find these both lovely to make and exciting to receive.

Now i have to let you into a little secret.....this may get me hate mail. I dont like Hershey Kisses in fact it goes further than that. I think they taste a little bit of vomit. I know shocking right. I was so excited to go into the Hershey store in New York when i visited to try one and then i had to spit it out! i was horrified. I am making up for this by being a bit of an americanophile in most other regards. Really if any Lovely American moms out there would like to adopt me then please get in touch x

Day 9 - http://www.happyhooligans.ca Styrofoam Ornaments. These seem very easy and perfect for Ninky at this age as he could do this himself. So why havent i dont this so far, well do you think i can find styrofoam anywhere locally...no! I did have some that was left over from a print making workshop i attended but i threw it out not so long ago. I knew my hording tendencies were for the best. You always need the thing you have just thrown away. Fact.

The workshop was at a local art gallery and i signed up as i had wanted to learn screen printing. I hadnt bothered to check the age range. I turned up on the day and there was me and about 20 8-14 year olds. It wasnt to bad and i was really impressed with how hard the kids worked. I love it when children are enjoying learning.

As a side note, if i wasnt a SAHM and lived by the lady behind Happy Hooligans, a childminder who does the best activities with her band of little hooligans then i would sign Ninky up to her day care without question. She says on her intro she hopes to inspire others, well you do Jackie. If i had the right set up, home, health ect i would like a little band of hooligans of my own. For now i just have my one ASBO toddler.

Day 10 - www.handsonaswegrow.com Decorate a window. This was one of those posts that make you think, 'why didnt i think of that' she uses tissue paper and glue stuck to a window to make a snowscape then decorates with trees. I wouldnt have thought to stick the tissue to the window, i'm not sure why not now. Its simple but lovely. We already have an Autum Hand print tree on the Patio doors which needs updating now we are firmly in winter ( its started to snow here minutes ago) so i think this is how we are going to bring it up to date.

I got the orginal tree idea from www.artfulparent.com not only is this lady very talented but she is generous too, she often sells her e-books for short periods for pay what you can afford. A godsend to a struggling single wage household like ours. I have the Autum and Winter books now. I cant recommend them highly enough.

Day 11 - http://www.nurturestore.co.uk/ - Model Christmas town. Cute does not begin to describe this craft. The only reason i havent begun this today is that at the moment my sister is comendeering all of the families toliet roles to make little crackers filled with sweets for a Christmas fate. As soon as my toilet rolls are my own then i will begin stock piling them to start this lovely activity.

Ninky is a little young for the drawing and cutting but will love the gluing and decorating and will enjoy playing with them afterwards, At 29 months his imaginative play is coming along in leaps and bounds. Ordindary household objects are being turned into all kinds of magical things. Its very sweet to see.

So if i havent been doing these crafts then what have i been doing. Well there has been a lot of sneezing, we now have colds and this has meant we've done our fair share of snuggling up on the sofa but we have managed the odd activity. More of which to follow in my next post.

Thanks for reading.