It’s fast approaching that time of year again – the big “C” is just around the corner! I very surprisingly managed to do about 70% of my present buying for all the children I needed to buy for last friday. They have some fantastic offers in The Entertainer at the moment so I ended up finding the majority of my gifts there.

So, with it being December this week I wanted to show you some old and new Christmas crafts/makes I have done with my boys.

Salt Dough Hand print decoration

I made this with E a couple of years back when I was pregnant with M and am planning on making them again this year. They make great gifts for grandparents too! I used red paint for the hat and a black permanent marker for the rest. Once all dried I then applied clear nail polish on top to seal the colours.

The salt dough is made up of:

1 cup of flour
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water

You just mix all the above together until it forms a dough. Roll out and get your little ones hand and press firmly into the dough (I did six incase some of them didn’t turn out right). Once this is done use a knife to go round the outline of the print and make a hole where the base of the palm is so you can thread ribbon through for hanging when it is finished)

These then need to go into the oven for a few hours at around 100 degrees C, turning half way through.

Mine were actually quite thick so took way longer than this! In the end I took them out of the oven and left them on the radiator to dry out properly for a few days. I have heard you can also do them in the microwave too.

Ginger Bread/Ginger bread house

I always, always wanted to have/make one of these when I was a child so I finally managed to make one with my little helper last year! I cheated with the gingerbread house and bought a kit from Sainsbury’s for a fiver and it was definitely a fiver well spent! I know you can buy ones that are ready made which you just assemble together but I love the smell of ginger in my home! E absolutely loved helping me decorate this.

We also made loads of gingerbread decorations too and attempted to melt down boiled sweet for a stained glass effect. We had hours of fun! (annoyingly I can’t find any of the pictures we made of these) Have a google around there are lots of gingerbread recipes.

Christmas Tree decoration

E came home with a note about a Christmas decoration competition for the school last week. Cue lots of panic as it meant I had to think of something he could make! After a quick google we decided on making a really simple 3D christmas tree out of cardboard that he could cut out (with help!) and decorate. He was so proud of the finished item he couldn’t wait to take it into school today!

See the instructions here

What Christmas crafts have you made with your little ones? Pop me a comment below.

You might also like:

• Craft Corner: Christmas Cards & Decorations
• Craft Corner: Two easy Christmas Crafts