Christmas has long been a special time of the year, a time for families to be together and share special traditions, eat yummy food and enjoy each other. Children are at the centre of all of this. We see the wonder in their eyes and it kindles our hearts and warms our souls.

Home crafted gifts that you and your children have made will be treasured by whoever receives them.  There are many crafts at our fingertips these days with the internet, Google and especially Pinterest – just be careful you don’t spend all your crafting time searching through these 😀 .

Key words such as keepsake crafts, hand print/ foot print crafts, children’s Christmas crafts will help you find ideas for your next project.

6 tips I’d like to share for crafting with children:

1. Make sure you have given yourself plenty of time. Patience is necessary as children cannot do things as quickly as we might like them to. Working with time constraints can lead to frustration and will not be an enjoyable craft time.

2. Keep in mind nap times and work around these. When crafting, children are often using fine motor skills and this tires them out more quickly than normal.

3. Give your child space to work. My younger children loved sitting in the high chair to work as they felt comfortable and the tray made the perfect work space, I just handed them each item, such as glue and paper, as the activity needed it.

4. Know your limits! Identify things that stress you out. They can often be substituted with something else. For example, I love glitter but hate the mess, so I would choose to use washi tape or glitter glue instead. Gooey glue can get messy quickly, so my children used glue sticks and tape.

6. If you’re not a mum who enjoys craft, but still would like that special memento to share with your family, there are companies that can take your childs’ fingerprint or artwork and emboss them onto a key ring, charm or ornament for you! If you can, why not support a handmade business by searching through sites such as Etsy, Facebook or Gumtree, before going somewhere else? Companies such as BigW, Harvey Norman or Kmart also offer a great range of personalised goods.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas, happy holidays and many blessings for the new year.