christmas activities for a 12 month old

[Fabby]

anyone got any ideas they could share with me please?x

[Fabby]

any of you more experienced minders with previous xmas activities help?????.......

[Malark]

I'd be interested to hear any ideas too, I have a 9 mth old and have tried to get handprints in paint to make a christmas wreath with her pic in the middle but she hates paint on her hands and just cries.

[RainbowMum]

keep it simple - especially if they're not really interested - a pre cut christmas card - e.g tree shape and some festive stickers! A good gift for taking home is mincemeat - pre measured ingredients ready to tip in bowl & stir - piccy of mindee stirring - pop in jar, pretty piece of cloth or scribbly drawing from mindee to go on lid.

[Chell]

I intend to cut out some Christmas tree shapes then get the toddlers to sponge paint them green. When they are dry I'll probably get them to add some sparkles of some sort.

[RainbowMum]

A footprint is easier to get than a hand - if yr quick lol! I put mindee in high chair with intersting toy or snack - whichever will keep them more occupied, tell them I'm going to tickle toes (add a little warm water to paint so not too cold) Paint toes then press card to foot!

Thinking about it - footprint in green paint would be tree(ish) shaped....

[charlie potato]

Reindeer with paint
One footprint for face and two hand prints for antlers. xx:clapping:

[charlie potato]

I intend to cut out some Christmas tree shapes then get the toddlers to sponge paint them green. When they are dry I'll probably get them to add some sparkles of some sort.

I love that idea. xx:jump for joy:

[Childrenatheart]

I wonder if this post should be re-titled Christmas Activities for parent of a 12m old? I cannot see your babies gaining much from the activities described, except possibly the daubing paint on the templates, but even then as far as the child is concerned the shape of the paper they are painting on is meaningless.
They are all worthy activities but do consider who is benefiting from them and if its not the child think twice before embarking on them.

I know I'm probably being contentious here & I've enjoyed many a healthy discussion with local minders at toddlers groups where we've had 'kit-form' craft - fine producing 20 identical handprint Rudolph heads or for practising fine motor control, shape recognition, spatial awareness but definitely NOT creative development.

For the babes here most of the 'activities' I offer are of a sensory nature so I might put out a bowl of pine cones or other natural materials/heuristic play to explore, maybe with some sprayed silver & gold or metallic reg & green, poss with Christmassy scents like nutmeg. Give them a big pile of tinsel to play with or strings of beads, or baubles (non-breakable). For babies who don't eat it I make christmas playdough using glitter & spices. We listen to Carols and use jingle bells to shake, visit local garden centres to look at their displays, read touchy feely books & point & say about the Nativity story & Santa stories (Usborne do some excellent ones).

I'll be interested to hear other peoples ideas & views on this

[candy cat]

I'm doing finger print painting then cutting out into xmas tree shape sticking it on silver card and adding a few baubles (glitter glue-aided) could do anything xmas related .....even laminate and make decorations etc

get them to colour on some card.....cut out a photo frame shape like a mount then stick a photo in it and add a calender....pressie for parents

[mrs_scottydog]

There is a calendar template on the link below that Debbie spent ages putting together.

http://www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=69367

Maybe you could get your mindee to do some marks with paint or crayons at the top?

Another option is to take a photo of them doing one of the sensory activities that Childrenatheart mentioned and stick in onto the calendar Hx

[Rubybubbles]

I wonder if this post should be re-titled Christmas Activities for parent of a 12m old? I cannot see your babies gaining much from the activities described, except possibly the daubing paint on the templates, but even then as far as the child is concerned the shape of the paper they are painting on is meaningless.
They are all worthy activities but do consider who is benefiting from them and if its not the child think twice before embarking on them.

I know I'm probably being contentious here & I've enjoyed many a healthy discussion with local minders at toddlers groups where we've had 'kit-form' craft - fine producing 20 identical handprint Rudolph heads or for practising fine motor control, shape recognition, spatial awareness but definitely NOT creative development.

For the babes here most of the 'activities' I offer are of a sensory nature so I might put out a bowl of pine cones or other natural materials/heuristic play to explore, maybe with some sprayed silver & gold or metallic reg & green, poss with Christmassy scents like nutmeg. Give them a big pile of tinsel to play with or strings of beads, or baubles (non-breakable). For babies who don't eat it I make christmas playdough using glitter & spices. We listen to Carols and use jingle bells to shake, visit local garden centres to look at their displays, read touchy feely books & point & say about the Nativity story & Santa stories (Usborne do some excellent ones).

I'll be interested to hear other peoples ideas & views on this


completely agree with you here:thumbsup: And this is exactly right! Also yep should be ideas for the parent of;) . I look after brothers 20 months and 3yrs, we started on christmas this week, the 3yr old was snipping white paper and said it looked like snow, so we put it in a food bag and used snowflake stickers for him to take his snow home:D! how child led is that!

Using glitter paint for 20 month old adds a bit of christmas sparkle to his art piece!

[newandlearning]

hi.. I know what you mean about kits but it is still nice to feel like your 12 month old is 'doing' art or craft in some form... I remember 1 xmas we received a marble picture for our lil one which was put on a calender like Debbie's... I really liked it... you could do some marble painting with a 12 mth old and then cut into a xmas tree decoration shape with the mindee's pic. in the middle.. I may well do that myself :) ...

I used to cook cookies with my 12 month old.. and mix up their own reindeer food using oats, sugar and cake decorations to add sprinkle instead of glitter.. x

hope that helps a lil ;)

[ZoeAlli]

I used to cook cookies with my 12 month old.. and mix up their own reindeer food using oats, sugar and cake decorations to add sprinkle instead of glitter.. xhope that helps a lil ;)[/QUOTE]

I like this idea- it's something that a 12 month could do, I mean they could stir the ingredients together and be tactile with it.
I gave my 12month mindee crayons the other day, showed them what to do with it but they had no interest in it at all :( . I think all these activities are great and it's nice for the parents, but it is more us that do it than the 1year old (or will certainly be the case with me, don't mind really :) )! I love doing crafts, lo has an older sibling so looking forward to doing lots with them.
Like the idea of using sensory christmas stuff, will do this with lo whilst doing crafts with older one!:)

[ChocolateChip]

If you want an idea for a present for all my very young ones I bought a pack of glitter baubles from Baker Ross, you just put a photo of lo in it ( and on the back I wrote their name and Christmas 200? ) and there you have it, a nice memento and pressie for the parents. They come in 3 different shapes so potential for repeating it for a couple of years to make a set of keepsakes!

As for activities for the baby I like the ideas from Childrenatheart, as said you can always make a card from a picture of them with tinsel or something else festive.

[christine e]

I wonder if this post should be re-titled Christmas Activities for parent of a 12m old? I cannot see your babies gaining much from the activities described, except possibly the daubing paint on the templates, but even then as far as the child is concerned the shape of the paper they are painting on is meaningless.
They are all worthy activities but do consider who is benefiting from them and if its not the child think twice before embarking on them.

Totally agree with you!I know I'm probably being contentious here & I've enjoyed many a healthy discussion with local minders at toddlers groups where we've had 'kit-form' craft - fine producing 20 identical handprint Rudolph heads or for practising fine motor control, shape recognition, spatial awareness but definitely NOT creative development.

For the babes here most of the 'activities' I offer are of a sensory nature so I might put out a bowl of pine cones or other natural materials/heuristic play to explore, maybe with some sprayed silver & gold or metallic reg & green, poss with Christmassy scents like nutmeg. Give them a big pile of tinsel to play with or strings of beads, or baubles (non-breakable). For babies who don't eat it I make christmas playdough using glitter & spices. We listen to Carols and use jingle bells to shake, visit local garden centres to look at their displays, read touchy feely books & point & say about the Nativity story & Santa stories (Usborne do some excellent ones).

[/COLOR[COLOR="Red"]]Some lovely simple ideas!
I'll be interested to hear other peoples ideas & views on this

I remember visiting a childminder friend a few years ago arriving just as the children had got in from pre-school, they were all sat down at the table ready to plant hyacinth bulbs and looking like they were hating every minute ot it

[miss mopple]

I totally agree with you childrenatheart :thumbsup:

[claire bear 72]

really good ideas....as childrenatheart says !! you must remember wat the child gets out of it!!! thanx for the tips :clapping: