With the school holidays fast approaching, we have a range of ideas to keep the kids (and / or grand-kids!) busy, have some fun and you get to keep, eat or have some home made gifts at the end. 😊

• Salt Dough Ornaments
• No-bake Reindeer Biscuits
• Christmas Cards
• Fingerprint Cards

1. Salt Dough Ornaments

Using your child’s hand and footprint, you can create these keepsake Santa and Reindeer salt dough ornaments. The lovely thing about this is that when you get out the ornaments every year you can see how much their hand or foot size has grown!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup fine table salt
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup chilled water

Other items:

• Acrylic paint
• Paintbrushes
• Ribbon

Directions:

Step 1

Preheat oven to 120°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in oil. Gradually add water, stirring mixture with a wooden spoon until combined. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead to make a smooth ball.

Step 2

Roll dough out between 2 sheets baking paper until 1 cm thick. Use hand or foot to create an impression in the dough. Use a chopstick or skewer to make a hole at the top of each decoration. Place decorations on trays. Roll remaining dough together and repeat.

Step 3

Bake decorations for 2 1/2 hours or until firm and dry. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 4

Paint front and sides. Allow paint to dry. Paint a second coat. While top-coat is wet, sprinkle with glitter. Allow to dry. Paint back of decorations with 2 coats. Thread ribbon through holes. Hang on Christmas tree.

2. No Bake Reindeer Cookies

Ingredients:

• 150g cooking chocolate
• 1 packet of plain biscuits (oval shape – Arnott’s milk Arrowroot biscuits are good)
• 1 x box of Tiny Teddies
• 1 packet of Strawberry Creams
• White Chocolate Chips
• Black or brown edible icing pen
• Or substitute the chocolate chips and edible pen for candy eyes.

Instructions:

1. Melt the chocolate in a pan. 150g of chocolate covers approximately 1 packet of 31 biscuits.
2. Spread the melted chocolate over the biscuits.
3. Add the Strawberry Creams for the reindeer's nose and press gently into the chocolate.
4. Use 2 tiny teddy biscuits for each Reindeer. Turn them over and use as the antlers, again pressing gently into the chocolate.
5. Add two white chocolate chips for the eyes.
6. In the middle of the white chocolate chips, use the icing pen to leave the reindeer's pupil.
7. If you prefer you can use edible candy eyes instead of white chocolate chips for the eyes.

3. Christmas Cards

Handmade Christmas cards are the best! Have a card-making session with the kids and see what you can come up with. Here’s a few ideas to kickstart your inspiration!

a. Star-Topped Felt Tree Card

Soft just like the new slippers you got from Santa, this card is made entirely of felt with button ornament accents.

Method:

Cut a rectangle from white felt; fold in half to make a card. Cut a tree from green felt and star from yellow felt; glue to the centre of the front of the card. Cut letters (you can either freehand them or draw the letters on with a pencil first). Glue letters below the tree. Glue on colourful mini buttons to mimic ornaments.

b. Thumbprint Cards

Even the "all thumbs" type can tackle these crafts, which start with plain white notecards.

Greenery: Using green ink, stamp thumbs and press onto card to make leaves. Add berries and bow with a red marker and stems with green watercolour paint.

String Lights: Stamp thumbs in various link shades. Use a black fine-tip marker to draw a string connecting the lights.

Enjoy and have fun!