Christmas Tree Craft

Cut out two tree shapes using thick card. We had already painted ours green on one side. (The end of a drawing pad or sketchbook is useful for things like this). Cut a slit from the base of one of the trees 3/4 of the way up. Cut a slit in the other tree 3/4 of the way down starting at the top this time.

Then smother the trees with pva glue.

 sprinkle on plenty of glitter

Stick on decorations of your choice. - we used mini pom poms...

...and added a silver star. Slot the tree shapes together and voila!

Looks like Santa's been. Happy Christmas everyone xxx

Christmas Gifts for 7-8 Year Olds

1. donna wilson cat purse 2. make your own word banner 3. star garland 4. retro pinball 5. bird bag sewing kit 6. classic peter pan book 7. pom pom hairband 8. magic trick set 9. giant skipping elastic 10. top hat 11. classic sewing box 12. camo face paint 13. mini funny voice changer 14. families game 15. djeco gouache paints 16. my first working tool kit 17. sukie iron-ons 18. boden fox tights 19. shwings 20. retro roller skates 21. the angry fairy book

Christmas Gifts for 6-7 Year Olds

1. prof. astro cat's frontiers of space 2. kidsenroof tatlin magnets 3. bobo choses patches 4. stabilo pens 5. djeco sand art kit 6. super sunprint kit 7. nanoblock lion 8. sukie sketchbook 9. yoda lego watch 10. djeco whale puzzle 11. oh naughty me activity book 12. beau loves sweatshirt 13. nailmatic nail polish 14. mini walkie-talkies 15. create your own monster 16. build your own brio airplane

Christmas Gifts for 5-6 Year Olds

1. ant world 2. bat hat 3. squirty camera 4. children are naughty book 5. grimaces game 6. rocket ruler 7. yacu mama game 8. donna wilson gloves 9. mibo lion rucksack 10. bow and arrows 11. cubebot 12. climbing hexbugs 13. shapemaker 14. marble skillball 15. maxomorra snowman boxers 16. birdie cake kit 17. djeco puzzle 18. globe bantam skateboard 19. pirate hat 20. pirate waistcoat 21. sukie pencil case 22. djeco brush pens

Christmas Gifts for 4-5 Year Olds

1. the moomins and the great flood 2. london bus mug 3. dog cushion 4. mix and match game 5. wooden dagger 6. wooden airport set 7. sheriff badge 8. horseshoe magnet 9. djeco pirate arty toy 10. pull-along cart 11. make your own robots 12. mouk puzzle 13. chocolate sardines 14. lottie doll 15. mini facemaker 16. bow tie 17. seedling butterfly wings kit 18. seedling superhero cape kit 19. balancing moon and stars game 20. indian tipi 21. 100 bears book

Christmas Gifts for 3-4 Year Olds

1. kiko bubble blower 2. toy kettle 3. funny face watch 4. nathalie lete doll 5. a-z magnatab 6. stella mccartney umbrella 7. let it rain on us poster 8. kiddimoto helmet 9. find my piglet game 10. stars rucksack 11. kettler balance bike 12. balancing squirrel game 13. retro hula hoop 14. mini shopping basket 15. retro cars 16. working stethoscope 17. a lion in paris book 18. fold and go stable 19. balance beam 20. fishing boats bath game 21. captain america outfit

Christmas Gifts for 2-3 Year Olds

1. big bobby car 2. wooden cutting food 3. gingham artist smock 4. ready mixed paint 5. fisher price movie viewer 6. maileg bambi 7. specs for rex book 8. tin friction plane 9. height measuring stick 10. my first carpenters belt 11. djeco fishing game 12. strawberry cutting cake 13. djeco bird whistle 14. pop gun 15. wooden nesting dolls 16. retro pan set 17. bajo happy sad goblins pull-along 18. storybook torch 19. diapers and milk leggings 20. polarn o. pyret t-shirt

Christmas Gifts for 1-2 Year Olds

1. classic baltic rocking horse 2. ratatam ball 3. janod fruit tree puzzle 4. petites pattes face socks 5. janod mobile phone 6. djeco 1,2,3 moby puzzle 7. mushroom piggy bank 8. superhero tights 9. folksy forresters fox 10. I like animals book 11. djeco mini garage 12. oeuf fox hat and gloves 13. stuf owl toy 14. jojo's first word book 15. kidsenroof swallow mobile 16. articulo animals 17. le toy van ice lollies 18. london bus 19. pull-along dachshund 20. melamine bear plate

My First Sketchbook

Sometimes the tidying up is just as fun as the mess making!

A Christmas Gift for a Lover of Dressing Up

I just discovered these beautiful animal headdresses by Sara Lowes at Animalesque via the Petit & Small blog. They come in kids and adult sizes and each one is beautifully hand made. Wouldn't they make an incredibly special gift for a lover of dressing up... I'll put one on your Christmas list Tess! 

A Christmas Gift for a Seamstress Mummy

 A lovely sewing pattern from Cali Faye + Some beautiful fabric by Nano Iro

Homemade Stickies

The nesting instinct has well and truly kicked in round our house and friends and charity shops have been striking lucky thanks to my current obsession with space and tidiness.  There are so many things I've hung onto but not looked at for an age including stacks of old magazines (which are now completely neglected thanks to pinterest). I was just about to chuck them in the recycling when I noticed all the cute images inside. A surprisingly cathartic evening in front of the TV with a pair of scissors later and Stevie had a big pile of pretty pictures to stick.  Her smile when I showed her what I'd done the next day was easily worth the time and she loved picking out her favorites to stick.

Easy Peasy Mark Making

Tip - Use a serving plate for the paint palette and add one colour at a time so it doesn't all go a lovely brown straight away!

Enjoy x

Christmas Ideas for the Tinies

clockwise from top left - quilted baby vest / wooden rain stick / bear paw mittens / cookie print all-in-one / cat poster / angel doll / puppy piano pull toy / bear hat / opposites book

Healthy Ice Cream... Whats not to love!

In our house ice-cream whether right or wrong is our biggest bargaining tool. It solves a million disputes and gets a lot of dinners eaten!

Luckily I have discovered a clever way to make healthy ice-cream. It's so easy to make and delicious too. The funny thing is after devouring bananas when small neither of my kids will eat them and Zeph is also funny about berries but when frozen and made into ice-cream all of a sudden they are fine!

All you need for a couple of ice creams is...

1 frozen banana

1 handful of another frozen fruit of your choice

some rice/almond/normal/soya milk

ice-cream cones

Chuck it all in the blender, whizz until smooth, pop into cones and hey presto silent happy children!

Some combinations we have tried

Banana and raspberry, aka the pink one

Banana and mixed berries, aka the purple one

Banana and pineapple, aka the yellow one

Banana, mango and almond (we put in a handfull of almonds) aka the nutty one

Happy ice-cream making xxx

Happiness is...

Jumping in puddles!

Watercolours For Toddlers

I had to think twice before posting this little tip - it's just so simple that it hardly seems worth it, but it is pretty handy, so for anyone who hasn't thought about it before here it is...

If you have a two year old like me who loves to paint then the quickest way is to set them up with a watercolour set. However, as I found, watercolour paints need LOTS of water, and my little one couldn't quite grasp the concept of putting water on the paint each and every time she went back for more, which led to a frustrated child asking for the 'big paint' - not always an option if you're in the middle of cooking dinner. So to get round this I poured a little pool of water on each pan of colour and voila, constant, vibrant paint with no chance of a water cup tipping, no mess and minimum cleaning up. Painting smock still firmly hanging in the cupboard, child amused for at least 20 mins and dinner on the table. It's a small victory but a good one! 

I picked up our watercolour set for a couple of pounds from Tiger