Advent Activities

Whilst it's fun to just open the advent calender and light the candles why not come up with a list of advent activities that your can do each day together in the lead up to Christmas.....

I have been looking for ideas....... here are a few of my favourite..... click on the link for each one to go to their blogs....

and finally......

What ever you choose today have a great advent.....

Advent Candle Art

I thought today we would have a go at decorating our own advent candles - we will need four, one for each advent weekend before Christmas.

I had a look on the net, go old google, and found some great ideas. I decided to follow this post from redtedart

Why don't you all a have a go you've go a few days to get ready!

Advent Calender Fillers

Well we've made our calender, or come up with a design idea anyway, so now what are we going to put in it?

Here are a few simple ideas that I have found .....

you could add finger puppets......

or Lego men.......

or fun socks.......

a new Christmas tree decoration for each day.....

buy one puzzle and add a few pieces for each day......

Hide a gift or two and then make a treasure map. Cut the map into 24 pieces so they get 

one part of the map each day and a big treasure hunt on the 24th....

advent promises

Hope this has given you some ideas that not just a chocolate each day........

Kids Crafts - Advent

Children love the anticipation of Christmas and there is nothing more exciting than counting down the days leading up to that big event......

So instead of buying a chocolate filled Advent Calendar why not make your own - with the kids help of course......

Here are a few easy but effective ideas to inspire you that you can all make leading up to the start of Advent...

all these ideas are really simple and you probably have most of the materials to hand - obviously minus the gifts inside.......

if you want more ideas check out pinterest there's loads of ideas there......

Banana Biscuits

Wow where has the time gone?

I seem to be running to keep still at them moment so have totally neglected this part of my blog......I'm so sorry to all of you who do take the time to visit my kids section and I have had nothing for you. I will be remedying this very soon and especially to the run up to Christmas.

 I have all sorts of ideas planned so will be back in force towards the end of the month.

But here's a really great recipe that I've been baking for a while now - banana biscuits - they easy to make and you can all get involved....

I got the recipe from kids spot kitchen take a look & give them a try....

Lets get ready for halloween....food ideas

There are loads of great halloween party food ideas around at the moment and whilst us adults might find some of them a little bit off putting (to say the least!) kids just love it - the more gruesome the better.......

so here are a few ideas I have found recently that you can make with your kids to have or take to a party this halloween....

l love this idea - here's the link 'banana ghosts'

and these worms are so easy to make just pour jelly into some bendy straws - let it set and yuck - wiggly worms.....

and how about this - so simple but effective......

for more ideas check out my halloween pinterests site

Mixed-Berry Shake

Milk shakes are great fun to make with the kids and adding ice-cream makes it even better.

Try this simple recipe this weekend to help prolong that summer feeling...

This will serve about 6

Takes about 10 minutes to do....

You will need...

1 litre tub vanilla ice cream

6oz mixed red berries - those frozen ones are good for this

1 pint milk

Some fancy dancy straws - if you wish!

In a blender, combine half of the ice-cream, berries and milk. Puree until smooth - ypu may need to stop occasionally to give it a stir - Pour into glasses and repeat with the remaining ingredients

See simple

Have a great weekend

 

Shadow Puppets

I love a good puppet show and when I was a kid I used to make loads of shadow puppets and patterns on the wall. My step son's also loved it and we would spend hours making cutouts for a play on a wet day....

It's really easy and fun way of pretend play, making up stories and putting on a show with the kids for family & friends - you can even make popcorn & 'sell' tickets for the event to make it all a bit more fun.....

Check out this link for some great ideas......

Flappy Birds

We made these at our kids club the other day and they went down a storm. Loads of different designs and colours.........

So I thought I'd share the link with you.

The idea was from that excellent site 'made by Joel' I love all the things he does on his blog.

check out the link...... and happy flapping!!

A is for Apple

It's apple time and a great kids activity is get out in the fresh air and pick some apples - either from your own garden or go to a 'pick your own' orchard. Some parks and Statley Homes have 'apple days' this time of year with loads of different activities for the kids and often they combine a food fair with it for the adults. It's usually a fun day out for the whole family......have a look and see whats going on in your area.......

When you get home with your apples - apart from eating them - there are lots of fun things you can do with them - here are a few of our favourites - click on the pictures to take you to the link.....

Make some toffee apple wedges 

Create some artwork with some apple stamping

Get all wet with some good old fashioned apple bobbing

What ever you decide to do get out into the fresh autumnal air and enjoy collecting some apples.

Kids Kebab

 

Kids like nothing more than helping with the dinner and one of the easiest things to do with them is to let them thread meat, fruit & veg on to skewers for the barbecue or under the grill.

Its a funny thing but if you allow the children to choose what they want on 'their' skewer they will eat it all up when cooked! But if you put the exact same ingredients, without them being involved, they will become fussy and refuse to touch it - Murphy's law or something!

Loads of different ingredients can be available for cooking this way from cubes of meat & cocktail sausages; to meat balls & bacon rolls; pineapple & grapes; halloumi cheese; all types of vegetables including mini tomatoes;corn-on-the-cob rings; colourful peppers; black pudding; prawns and I've even tried mango wrapped in bacon.

This is so easy to do all you need are some kebab sticks (or even coctail sticks for mini kebabs) and raid your fridge & freezer for a variety of ingredients (you only need small amounts) to prep and place in bowls for the kids to assemble themselves. When they have finished you can just brush with oil & grill or barbecue.

Serve with simple dips of tomato sauce, mayonnaise or  just a fruit yogurt if they are sweet kebabs.

Have fun enjoy yourselves and let your imagination run riot!

How to draw........

… your very own unsuitable pet

I came across this in my paper today, really enjoyed it & thought I would share it with you.....

Charlotte Voake gives a somewhat scary step-by-step guide on how to draw a less than fluffy friend. It's going to be quite a big one! 

Charlotte is rather fond of strange companions as you can see in her latest book Melissa's Octopus and Other Suitable Pets. Due to be published in October....

Taken from the Guardian Children's Books