With lots of festive talk and preparations at home and school over the last couple of weeks - I wanted to set up something fun for the children on their return home from a busy day at school. Something that would be calming but creative. Collaborative and fun. I work hard to build positive relationships between the children. I find activities where they can either create or play alongside each other are a positive way to do this. I see them helping each other, sharing, praising each other on their efforts - it's magic for me as their Mum to watch them like this. 

Have you started Christmas crafting yet in your homes and settings? I reluctantly put ours up this weekend. I'm not in the festive spirit at all at the moment. Its been such a busy year and I can't quite believe its only a few short weeks before the big day! Its all flown by! 

Today I am sharing with you a lovely Paper Christmas Tree.

One thing that I really love about this time of year is the endless crafts you can enjoy with the children. So much to do and not enough time! 

Some of the most popular posts we have shared have been Keepsakes - here is another one to add to the collection. A snowman hand print canvas that has been inspired by our Salt Dough Snowmen!

St Patricks Day is celebrated each year on or around the 17th of March. We recently shared a colourful Shamrock Suncatcher with you and today we are sharing hands on learning in a Tuff Tray.

St Patricks Day is a global celebration of the Irish culture. It celebrates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity to Ireland. There are often public parades, festivals and people wear green and shamrocks. 

Did you see our recent Chinese New Year inspired Sensory Play we shared last week? If you follow us on Instagram you would have seen the activity coming together on my Instastories. I love sharing celebrations and culture with the children! Chinese New Year is always quite a refreshing celebration to cover. It's after Christmas, we've said goodbye to the January blues and bam the Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year/ Spring Festival brings joy to the classroom. As part of this topic we have also shared Symmetrical Dragon Paintings, Chinese Lanterns using old art work, China Tuff Tray and Paper Roll Dragons!

Chinese New Year is almost upon us! Have you been doing any arts,crafts or activities with the children to teach them all about it?

If you follow us over on Instagram you will have seen this activity in action, along with Symmetrical Dragon Paintings, Chinese Lanterns using old art work, China Tuff Tray and Paper Roll Dragons! I wanted to set up some sensory play inspired by Chinese New Year too. My children really enjoy sensory bins/trays so I try to do as many as I can. Today this set up greeted Neve as she arrived home from school. 

Valentines is just around the corner and today I would like to share with you a lovely activity that combines Sensory Play and Process Art. I do this activity often with my children and they find the activity therapeutic. The aroma of the foam is refreshing and the swirls created are simply beautiful. 

If you follow us over on Instagram you will have seen the beautiful new book storage we have for Neves books. Its been a great way to organise key stories that are relevant to the time of years and interests Neve has. It holds an impressive 30 odd stories!
Over the last few months we have had Christmas stories and stories set in Winter popped inside our book display. Now Christmas has passed us by and Neve becoming interested in Space - I have replaced the Christmas books with Space themed stories. Its been great! A couple of stories Neve has been enjoying have been penguin related which led me to set up a Penguin Small World.
On the subject of Penguins - did you see our super cute Foot Print Penguin Cards?

I am super excited to share this art/craft with you today! It's a media I have wanted to trial for such a long time. Now the light is finally visible at the end of the tunnel after having the twins - we are able to enjoy more time crafting. I am so pleased about this!

I can't tell you how much I don't miss all that bottle feeding! 

If you follow us over on Instagram you will know we are always out and about, doing something together as a family. If we're not out and about we are crafting and getting messy.

Today's art can be used for anything. You can theme it, you can have it as a free choice activity. You and the children are going to love it!! 

With the year well underway now you may start thinking of ways to incorporate any festivals/celebrations within the children's learning. You may have been setting up some Valentines Play ideas along with Chinese New Year/The Lunar Year. We have made some Toilet Roll Dragons, Painted Dragons for Toddlers and Chinese Lanterns.

Today I am very excited to share with you a fantastic way to teach the children a little more about China, through a Tuff Tray and a map. It links in perfectly with the upcoming Chinese New Year and is great to support British Values within your settings!

Well it sure is super cold out there! Christmas seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye. We loved all our Christmas Crafting but now our attention has turned to Winter. 

I couldn't let the season pass without some Winter themed Shaving Cream sensory play. We love this activity and we do it on a regular basis. Here are some of our other alternatives to this activity - 

Autumn Shaving Cream Painting

Large Scale Shaving Cream Painting

Rainy Day Shaving Cream Painting

Mark Making on a Mirror - Gross Motor Skills

Heart Marbling with Liquid Water Colours 

Phew!! It's Christmas Eve! I dont know about you but I'm feeling worn out but super excited!! All the planning, the mad rushing around and saving is all finally coming together! 

Hopefully you are more organised than me and wont be wrapping once the children go to bed tonight! Oh well, I will have the Christmas carols on drinking a glass of wine - which will no doubt help me sleep once I finally get up to bed. 

So today I want to share with you a wonderful way to ignite even more fun and magic that wont cost you a penny! Every year I do this for my daughter and she is enthralled by it! Her very own personalised message from Father Christmas!!

You enter your child's name along with some personal information such as their age, what year they're in at school or whether they stay at home. It then loads a video with all the information you have inputted.

You see Santa wave hello and say your child's name, and you watch as the elves help locate your childs very own book. It opens and inside is a photo (which you upload) the information you entered and it tells them they're on the good list. 

There are lots of different options/videos to select and personalise.

The link to create your very own video can be found at the bottom of this page....

To find these options plus more click through to - 

Personalised Message from Santa.

I would just like to take this moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy making memories with your families. 

I look forward to getting to know many more of you and sharing lots more fun, activities and crafts next year.

It's not long now until the Night Before Christmas. How has the Christmas shopping gone for you this year? I always promise myself to not leave anything till the last minute, but that always happens. I have to say, I've found being in the hustle and bustle today rather pleasant. That could be because I ventures out alone while Daddy had the children. I actually can't recall the last time I was out alone.

I adore hand and footprint crafts and we share them all the time on Learning and Exploring Through Play, lets take a look at a selection of my favourites:

Is the Christmas crafting still in full swing in your house? We can't get enough! With Neve breaking up from school tomorrow I am sure plenty more crafty fun will follow! If you are looking for a calmer Christmas Activity to try we have just shared a Christmas themed Sensory Tray. Christmas can be very overwhelming for some children so calming activities are needed at times.

Today's craft will be using items you no doubt already have at home. I was inspired by Mamae.na.gringa. They tagged us this week to share with us that they had been inspired by our Bubble Wrap Christmas Decorations. I always love seeing activities you get up to so do tag us where you can. As soon as I saw this craft on their profile over on Instagram - I couldn't wait to put our own spin on the Christmas Craft.

How are your children getting on with all the festivities? Some children seem to take it under their wing, others get agitated and overwhelmed. Regardless of how your children are coping with the endless changes, constant excitement and bustle around them this is a lovely calming Sensory activity.

Simple to put together and extremely inviting and pleasing on the eye - it doesn't take long to become fully absorbed in this invitation to play.

So I've spent the lead up to now in shock that I am Christmas crafting with my children. My word has this year gone fast! Now we are loving all the festive fun I don't want it to end! We've enjoyed having a Santa focus, Snowman focus and a Christmas Tree focus but today I am sharing with you - Reindeer! 

Snacks and Treats are a new topic on Learning and Exploring Through Play but I just love themed edibles! Such fun! Did you see the Snowman Pretzel Rods we shared not too long ago? They are great for the Winter months!

Well Winter has well and truly arrived for us here in the UK. It is absolutely freezing!! I did the school run today. It was like getting to school via Ice Rink! The snow and rain has frozen and made it rather lethal out there! 

Have you been sharing any Winter themed crafts and activities with the children yet? If you follow me over on Instagram you will have seen me share the fabulous book case I purchased from IKEA last week. I have sorted through all of our stories and put the Winter/Christmas books together in this bookcase. It's a great way to make sure you are enjoying books when they are most appropriate. I have found this has been much more valuable than I could have hoped. Neve has been asking lots of questions and because we are at this time of year, we are able to give her real life experiences to help with her answers. You can see us on instagram here - Learning Through Play.

He's making a list, checking it twice -  today's craft is a lovely Santa Wood Slice.

It's not long now guys till the big day! We are loving the wood slice ornaments and today I am sharing with you such a charming Santa themed craft! 

How is your Christmas shopping coming along? This is probably the most unorganised and laid back I've been with regards to Christmas shopping! The thought of hitting the shops with 2 17 month old boys full of energy is simply a no go. So what I get done, I get done and what I don't I don't.

Anyway back to today's craft.