Christmas and craft are a very nice pairing, with lots of simple and beautiful crafty goodness that can be made with the little ones throughout the festive season. Each year my list of craft ideas grows and I could easily fill the advent calendar with multiple ideas for each day, but… last year the little ones reached a point in our Christmas countdown when they asked for a day off. So this year things have been different.
I haven’t filled the advent calendar with activities – to be honest I haven’t actually put one up because they’re enjoying asking what the date is then using their maths to work out how many sleeps to go – and it’s been a slow and relaxed lead-up to Christmas. It’s rather nice, actually.
We haven’t made gingerbread, written letters to Santa, or even gone to visit Father Christmas for the photo. Instead, we’ve talked about what Christmas actually means. We’ve spoken about kindness, generosity and how important it is to be giving and compassionate to others who need it. I haven’t asked the little ones what they would like for presents and instead we’ve talked about how it’s not what we get but what we give to others that matters. It’s been a lovely change of pace to replace the usual hectic feel of an activity filled December.
So, when Littlest wanted to make something crafty together, I went with a take on another activity I knew he had enjoyed – The Starlets – to create a Christmas themed craft that he could come and go from throughout the day. He could create when he felt like it and not feel that he needed to spend lots of time at the craft table. The result was these little angels.
The how-to is the same as The Starlets, but instead of decorating with sequins, tape and such the wooden sticks are simply painted with gold or silver, and the big ones had a sprinkle of glitter while the paint was still wet. A dash of glue at the top where their hair would be and a dip in the glitter gave us quick halos. The wings glued on the big angels are heart shaped doilies while the little angels have paper doilies cut in half – you could use paper plates or cupcake liners as an easy substitute.
A simple and easy craft for our slow and quiet lead-up to Christmas.
