Ahh - why did I leave Xmas craft so late?

[Maza]

I'm just not fussed, if they are here they are here and do the activities, if not then they're not! I have a stash of handprint cards which my daughter has made over the years in the various playgroups she has attended. I prefer the ones she has done purely by herself as they tell me so much more about her development and what is going on in her crazy, sweet head at the time.

[SJ35]

No, not just you. All mine are part-timers and they are only doing a handprint / photo calendar thing and if we get time we will make some biscuits. That's it. xxxxx

Same here. All but one of mine are under 18 months , one hates messy play so not going to stress about doing loads of Christmas crafts just for the sake of it x

[Maza]

Same here. All but one of mine are under 18 months , one hates messy play so not going to stress about doing loads of Christmas crafts just for the sake of it x

I know how you feel. My DD hates getting messy and yet she did a footprint and handprint Rudolf card at nursery last year. Hope it didn't make her too miserable. I also have images of the poor nursery nurse cutting out zillions of handprints and footprints during the time she could have been spending teaching and nurturing the children.

[Ripeberry]

But what exactly are the children getting out of the whole thing?
The purpose of the crafts etc is for the children to practice all the relevant skills whilst having fun and giving me an opportunity to discuss the whole link to christmas etc. Production lines simply don't do anything for the child - and I wouldn't be afraid to tell parents this if they questioned why their little prodigy wasn't bringing home reams of masterpieces.
Of course we do cards and crafts , but inline with the childrens desire and abilities , it doesn't take over.

Very true! I think sometimes we can go over the top with crafts. My mindees are 14 months, 23 months, 3 yrs old and 5 yrs old and out of all of them only the 3 yr old loves doing craft. So I'm not going to 'force' the others to make something if they don't want to.

[littleguy1]

We've been crafting away since the 1st lol! It's my first year with a house full of children as the past 2 years I have had no kids about for 1 reason or another so we are rather excited!!

[lorettacritchet]

Oh my Christmas crafts in November? I have only planned two weeks worth of Christmas crafts this year! Am I doing something wrong? lol

[Chatterbox Childcare]

We have been covering christmas since October! Our tree decoration started out with pop sticks as a triangle when we were covering shapes and then in November when we were doing green we painted them and then when the little ones wanted to, we decorated them.

It is all about their learning as others have said and not "because it is Christmas". My calendars are for the parents as a keepsake but the children have loved getting messy by painting their hands and then water play when cleaning them.

Today we made salt dough which turned into handprints and mine thought the glitter was fab and the bits left over were played with as play dough all day