Christmas in a day....

I've just watched the Sainsbury's Christmas in a day film on you tube. I loved it! It was great to see how everyone else celebrates Christmas, as I have only ever spent it with either my family or my husbands. My favourite part by far was the Barbie grave yard....

Have you watched it yet? What was your best bit?

x Jo x

20+ Pre-School Christmas Crafts

Paper Plate Crafts...

Angel - Crafty Journal

Snowman - The Crafty Hostess

Christmas Tree - A Mommys Adventures

Wreath - Big 2, Little 2

Gingerbread Man - My Preschool Crafts

 

Craft/Lolly Sticks...

Pretty Wreath - babble dabble do

Snowflake - All Free Christmas Crafts

Snowflakes- Happy Hooligans

Snowmen - A Day Of Wonders

Christmas Trees- A Home School Journey

Salt Dough...

Christmas Shape Salt Dough Decorations

Hand Print Keepsakes - This Blessed Nest

White Clay - The Imagination Tree

 

 Hand Prints...

Christmas Tree- The Gingerbread House

Reindeer Card - Emmys Mummy

Snowman - Pinners and Needles

Santa - The Mother Huddle

Angel - Happy Home Fairy

 

Other Great Ideas...

Simple Santa Hats

Happy Hooligans

Pipecleaner Icicle - Happy Hooligans

 

Pine Cone Tree & Mouse -  Retro Betty

Penguin Craft

I really can't wait to make some of these with the boys this year. If you would like even more Christmas ideas follow my Christmas & Winter board on Pintrest.

x Jo x

Zoo Small World - In a Cardboard Box

 

A couple of weeks ago our oven decided to break & keep tripping our electric. We ended up having McDonald's for tea that night & I started to panic about how i was going to cook the cakes & food for Joseph's party!

After a quote of at least £100 to fix it & with it being about 6-7 years old we opted to replace it. I can recommend AO.com for a very quick service ordering on the Saturday & having it delivered on the Sunday for only £9.99 extra! 

Anyway getting to the point... the oven came packed with a box top & bottom. One of which was got ripped when we opened it, but the other one was perfect. So I asked Daddy to keep it, que rolling of eyes & 'what do you wan that for'. He is of the opinion that my box & other junk collecting is getting out of hand! So  knew that I needed to use this one ASAP!

Daniel (3.5) & I decided that it would make a good Zoo, as we haven't had our animals out for a while now. Daniel decided that the water animals needed a pond in the middle & then we discussed what other animals would like to live together. I quickly drew the layout with a black permanent marker & used a green & blue to quickly colour it in. We then decided that it needed a entrance door so that people can visit. 

I've discovered that using a pumpkin carving knife like a saw works really well on cardboard & as ours isn't sharp I don't need to worry so much about doing it while the boys are around. It does however make more of a mess than scissors but is so much easier. 

Both boys have had lots of fun playing with this, though after being on the floor for a while its starting to get a bit battered. So it may well be in the recycle box this week, much to my husbands delight!

x Jo x

Marble Run Fun

Apologies for the lack of posts recently I've been so busy with 1/2 term & Josephs Birthday. He had a great Halloween party which I will post about soon. So I thought I would share this post that has been waiting in the wings for a while!

We picked up this fab ELC marble run at the car boot back in the spring. I'm really trying to encourage more open ended toys & this one is great I'm sure it will be used for many years to come. Both boys love building the towers & then testing them with the marbles. It really is a great toy for problem solving skills, trying to work out where the marble will go & what to change to make it go where they want. It's also great for fine motor skills when putting it together.

Daddy had lots of fun helping the boys build a really tall tower.

In the summer we even took it out-side to see how it would work with water. It kind of worked but only if you pour a small amount of water, pour to fast it it all spills over! It was still lots of fun though! We didn't use the light up battery section with water.

They are still enjoying this almost 6 months on, with it being brought out about once a week.

x Jo x

If you would like to buy your own marble run (it would make a great Christmas gift) Here are a few Amazon affiliate links for your convenience.

Early Learning Centre - Marble Madness Game -Almost the same as ours
Galt Super Marble Run- looks like a good set & Galt are normally good quality
Toyrific Marble Run Game -Looks like much better value, but reviews suggest that its smaller & won't work with normal marbles