Christmas is approaching at 100 miles an hour and will be with us in no time at all so make sure your craft cupboard has all the ingredients for festive Christmas craft to do with your toddlers!  There are loads of decorations that you can make for Christmas so make sure you are stocked up with crayons, glue, scissors, glitter, card, coloured paper, cotton wool, googly eyes and anything else that makes for festive decoration.

Here are just a few ideas of things to make:-

• Christmas Cards: make lovely glittery Christmas cards for friends and family, for younger children, draw pictures for them to colour themselves.  Older children can draw their own pictures with Santa, Christmas trees, reindeer, baubles, candles etc.  Use glitter or cotton wool to make sparkly or fluffy snow.
• Paper Chains: Craft shops will sell strips of brightly coloured paper with adhesive at one end.  Lick this and stick it into a loop and create a chain to decorate your house.  If you can't find paper chain strips, just cut strips of any coloured paper and stick them with glue or tape.
• Glittery Holly: cut small holly sprigs and dry them inside overnight.  Apply glue to each leaf and sprinkle glitter on.  Make sure you do this over a sheet of paper so that you collect all the surplus and pour it back into the tube. Try to beat the birds to holly sprigs with berries on!
• Snow Scene in a Jar: Find a jar with a screw lid and buy a small plastic toy that can fit inside the jar.  Ideally look for a Christmas themed toy, you'll find a Christmas cake decoration in most supermarkets at this time of year.  Glue the toy to the lid and glue some extra stones on too.  Use either an all purpose adhesive or a glue gun - this is definitely a job for grown ups!  When dry, fill the jar with water and add some glitter, put the lid on and screw it tightly and you have a snow scene.  Instead of a plastic toy, why not have your little ones mould something from plasticine instead?  Penguins and snowmen are fairly easy for little ones to make.
• Countdown Calendar: Although Christmas will arrive quickly, it will seem ages away to your little ones.  Help them see how far away Christmas is by making a countdown or advent calendar.  Give them a surprise each day, whether it be a Christmas picture, chocolate or some other treat, and they will be able to see how many more sleeps until the big day!  Use the exercise to practice counting, count how many days left until Christmas each day.
• Tree Decorations: Make decorations from the Christmas tree - be creative and use different materials: pine cones, paper or card, plasticine, clay, pipe cleaners etc.

These are just a few ideas for Christmas fun craft.  The most important thing is to ensure that your craft cupboard is well stocked in the run up to Christmas so that you can entertain the children with craft ideas whenever you wish to!

As your little one approaches their special day of the year, it is very easy to get carried away by throwing extravagant parties at play barns or hiring lavish halls.  Then comes helium play balloons, piles of food, prizes, party bags, decorations and all the other bits and pieces that go with it.  However, you can still have a great party without it costing a fortune and with a bit of thinking, the kids will still have a fabulous time!  Here are a few party themes to get you in the party mood.

• Fairy Party - feature flowers, fairy wings, fluffy clouds, sunshine
• Pirate Party - feature pirates, treasure, ships, islands
• Under the Sea Party - features fish, mermaids, sharks, dolphins
• Circus Party - tight rope walking, clowns, juggling
• Dance Party - make up a dance and teach it to the children
• Princess Party - features princes and princesses, crowns, jewels, thrones
• Superheros - Star Wars, Spiderman, High School Musical and any superheros
• Traditional fancy dress party - with musical statues, musical bumps, Oranges And Lemons, Duck, Duck, Goose, and lots of fancy dress

Ideas you can adapt to make the party really unique!

• Invites: Try and theme your invite to match your party.  Make fairy party invites into the shape of flowers, or pirate party in the shape of a ship.
• Decorate: the simplest shapes like stars or flowers or car shapes in bright paper and stuck to a dull church hall wall can really bring the room alive.  Try making bunting or hanging glittery curtains to make it feel special.  Try hanging cut out shapes or pictures from the ceiling or by the window so they blow in the wind.
• Have a colouring session as the children arrive.  Prepare colouring pictures and lots of crayons on a big table and invite the children to colour a picture while you wait for everyone to arrive.
• Balloons are great to play with and look fun hung about the place.  Tie one balloon to each end of some ribbon or wool and hang over any pictures on the wall.  Give each child one to take home.  You could also place a piece of jewelery or sweets inside each balloon so there is a treat inside when the children get home!
• Make something like an edible necklace out of cheerios or popcorn and thread with string or wool.
• Throw a tiny bit of glitter over each child as they arrive: magic dust to make them have a great time!