Here are some activities all about winter

There are some lovely things to do, you need to read this through and gather together the things you will need

Photo decorations, a craft activity

You could use this as a present for a relative.

What you need

• Clear plastic lids, often found on cream or yoghurt pots.

• A photograph of your child. 

• Card/ scissors/ tape/ ribbon.

• Glitter, glue, sequins, etc., to decorate.

Place the lid over the photograph so that the child’s face appears in the centre and draw around the lid.

Cut out the photograph (make it a little smaller than the outline drawn).

• Put the photo in the lid with the child’s picture pressed against the lid surface. This will protect the photo as it is decorated.

• Cover the back with a piece of card and tape this around the edge of the lid to seal the photo inside.

• Decorate the photo lid.

• Secure a loop of ribbon to the back so that the decoration can be hung.

 Firework display, an outside splatter paint craft activity

Some children are frightened of fireworks, often having had a bad experience when they were younger. As fireworks are unlikely to go away and seem to go on throughout much of November and December now, it is good to talk about fireworks and make them an exciting project focus in the lead up to 5th November to help allay some fears.

What you need

• Pots of ready mix poster paint 

• Teaspoons.

• A large sheet of black paper 

• An outside area where paint can be used.

• Aprons and wellies.

What to do

 

You will need aprons and wellies, as this can be a messy activity.

• Put the black paper on the ground outside, and use the spoons to drop paint onto the paper from a standing height so that it splashes as it hits the paper creating the look of a firework exploding.

• Do this several times using a variety of colours.

• Now finger paint some swirls and add some other firework shapes

Related activity

• Make wax fireworks’ pictures. Draw lots of colourful fireworks on some white paper using wax crayons. Press quite hard so that the wax is quite thick on the paper. When finished paint over the whole sheet of paper with some watery black paint. The wax will show through the paint to create a picture of fireworks in the night sky.

OR You could splatter paint and then blow for a different effect

Car match, a sorting and counting game

What you need

A variety of toy cars, (or dolls or bears or gloves and mittens or socks or dolls' clothes - anything you can sort!)

What to do

Sort the items in different ways such as material, size, colour and pattern, etc.

Talk about what you are sorting, count how many big (small) ones, how many pink (blue) ones, how many long (short) ones etc

A cooking activity

Gingerbread biscuits

Introduction

Take a look at the German Christmas markets and all the wooden toys, ornaments and colourful decorations. Gingerbread is traditionally made at Christmas time as the ginger spice is warming. It began as a German recipe.

What you need

• 200g plain flour.

• 75g brown sugar.

• 50g margarine.

• 1 x 15ml spoon golden syrup.

• ½ x 5ml spoon bicarbonate of soda.

• 1 x 5ml spoon ground ginger.

• 1 egg.

• Shape cutters/ baking tray.

• Icing sugar and biscuit/ cake decorations.

What to do

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.

• Add all the other dry ingredients.

• Beat the egg in a small bowl.

• Gently melt the margarine and sugar together in a saucepan. Do not allow to boil.

• Add the margarine/ syrup and the beaten egg to the flour mixture. Mix to form a soft dough.

• Roll out and cut out desired shapes.

• Bake on gas mark 4/ 180˚C for 8 –10 mins.

• Allow to cool then decorate with icing and toppings.

• Be aware of egg and gluten allergies when cooking.

• Alternatively buy some biscuits and simply decorate

Winter flowers, an outdoor activity

Introduction

The cold weather of the winter months can mean that your garden or outside area becomes neglected. The children can wrap up warm and keep the garden looking as good as possible. Encourage them to sweep up dust and leaves that get blown onto the hard surfaces, rake the leaves from the flower beds and grass, cut back plants that die away with help and generally keep it tidy. There are many winter flowering pansies available that can be planted to bring colour to an outside area in the gloomiest weather. Bulbs to be planted in pots for your windowsill if you can't get outside

What you need

• Winter flowering pansies. (or bulbs and pots)

• Good soil.

• Child sized trowel, fork and rake.

• Watering can.

What to do

Select an area for planting, either a bed, bucket or a pot.

• Dig the area over to break up the soil. beforehand

• Use the trowel to dig a hole for the pansies and plant.

• Fill the hole with soil and press down.

• Water in over the next few days so that the plant

can become established. (You might also wish to

plant some winter pansies in hanging baskets.)