I love getting the kids involved in making homemade Christmas gifts. This year we have decided to go one step further and make homemade christmas gift bags to put them in. These DIY gifts bags are easy enough for toddlers and preschoolers to make and every bags looks unique. You could easily use the same technique to make homemade gift wrap by printing onto a roll of brown paper instead of brown paper bags.

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Messy Little Monster

Christmas is slowly creeping up on us and I don't know about you, but I don't feel ready yet.  I still have lots of people to buy presents for and things to get organised.  Our Christmas tree is now up though, which is definitely making us feel a little more christmassy and I do love all the excitement in the lead up to the big day. 

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Messy Little Monster

Toddlers and preschoolers will love recycling old toilet rolls and cupcake cases to make simple fairy house luminaries.  DIY fairy houses are fun to make and easy enough for kids of all ages to make. The best bit is that this simple recycled craft doubles up as a fun DIY toy. 

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Messy Little Monster

Lapland UK is truly one of the most magical places for young children at christmas time and I am so excited to share our Lapland UK review with you! From the moment we arrived at the enchanted forest we were emerged in the magic of 'Lapland'. Lapland UK is based in Ascot and is SO much more than a 'Santa's grotto', the experience lasts about 4 hours and it is magical for kids and adults alike. What a fantastic start to the Christmas season!

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Messy Little Monster

Who knew that bottle caps could be used for so many different crafts! Are you the kind of person that just can't throw anything away? Well here is a section of my favourite bottle cap crafts for kids. I have included craft ideas that use both metal and plastic bottle caps and some of these ideas are easy enough for toddlers and preschoolers to enjoy. I love that some of these bottle cap crafts can be played with, whilst other make beautiful decorations. 

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Messy Little Monster

With Christmas just around the corner, the most magical time of the year for little children everywhere begins! Harry and Daisy have just received letters by official reindeer post inviting them to Father Christmas' secret toy factory at LaplandUK.  We just have to follow the simple directions in the letters "0 degrees North, 20 degrees west' to get to the enchanted forest. 

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Messy Little Monster

Toddler scribble art on a canvas makes a perfect gift. The youngest of children will be able to make gifts for family using this simple and effective art technique. The artwork will look great hanging on the wall and double up as a keepsake to treasure. Choose a favourite colour or two or alternatively choose colours to match the room decor. 

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Messy Little Monster

Upcycle bottle tops and use them to make an adorable bird puppet kids craft. Toddlers and preschoolers will love making these easy, but very cute birds. We loved using our puppets for imaginative play and to sing the nursery rhyme 'Two Little Dickie Birds". 

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Messy Little Monster

Disney On Ice is always a magical experience and we weren't disappointed with our latest visit to the show in Birmingham.  We went to see the full edition of 'Frozen' and loved every minute of the skating, singing and dancing. The special effects and costumes were out of this world!

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Messy Little Monster

With Autumn in full swing, we have a huge (and ever-growing) collection of conkers to craft with. If your kids are looking for easy conker crafts they will love this cute conker spider craft. Conker spiders are perfect for autumn-themed topics and threading pipe cleaners to make the spider's legs is great for toddlers or preschoolers working on fine motor skills.

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Messy Little Monster

With Halloween just a few days away this quick and easy DIY ghost lollipop is a perfect last minute craft.  Using items you have at home you can turn a lollipop into a spooky treat to give to little trick or treaters on Halloween night. 

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Messy Little Monster

Add a bit of personality to a large wall space, fireplace, child's bedroom or doorway, by making your own DIY garland craft. Garlands are a simple way to decorate for any occasion and are often quick and easy to make. I have put together a collection of fantastic Autumn themed garlands which are perfect to make now as the leaves begin to fall. I have also added some garlands that would look amazing any time of the year. Whether you are looking for craft ideas for yourself or to make with a child, I think there is something for everyone here. 

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Fingerprint counting is such a fun way of learning to count.  Print out our FREE PRINTABLE spiders webs and add fingerprint spiders to each web. We have two versions of the printable, one with numbers 1-9 and one blank for you to add your own numbers. This counting activity is fun to do after reading the book 'The Very Busy Spider' by Eric Carle.

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Messy Little Monster

Autumn is such a pretty time of the year.  The changing colours of the Autumn leaves inspired this bubble wrap Autumn tree craft. Printing with bubble wrap is such a fun art process and simple enough for toddlers and preschoolers to enjoy.  What's even better is that this simple tree craft can be used to enhance small world play. 

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Make your own DIY wooden name garland.  This is a project which I have been meaning to do for ages! I am so glad I have finally got around to making a name garland as it looks so pretty hanging up in Daisy's bedroom. It was really simple to make too, the hardest part was picking the colours!

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Messy Little Monster

Leaf crafts are a must for kids during the Autumn (Fall)! Use our free hedgehog printable to make a simple leaf hedgehog. This easy leaf craft involves getting outside to make a collection of leaves and then using them to make the spikes on the printable hedgehog. Toddlers and preschoolers will love this quick and easy Autumn activity and you can guarantee that each hedgehog will end up looking unique!

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Messy Little Monster

As Autumn begins so do all the leaf crafts!  Leaf puppets are such a simple and fun activity for toddlers and preschoolers.  After reading the 'Leaf Man' by Lois Ehlert we made a collection of leaves and then set to work on making our own leaf man (well about 20 leaf men, monsters and owls!) 

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I'm always on the look out for easy crafts and have put together a collection of no sew felt crafts that I love.  All of these crafts only use felt scraps so it's a great excuse to use up any little scraps of felt you have lying around. If you are like me and not a fan of sewing you will be pleased to see that they are all no sew! Most of them are easy enough for kids to make too!

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Watching Disney On Ice is a truly magical experience for the whole family. This year Disney On Ice presents Frozen.  The full story is brought to life on the ice and we can't wait to watch.  Daisy will be old enough to enjoy the show now she is two, so the whole family will be heading to Birmingham in October this year. We can't wait to sing along to the songs "let it go" and "Do you want to build a snowman".  We will share our review with you after the show, but for now here is some information about the show. 

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Messy Little Monster

How cute is this nature owl craft?! The big question is, will you make a pine cone owl or conker owl first?! (Or what else could you use to make this cute nature craft!)

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Children of all ages will love this simple clay boat and underwater craft.  You begin by making an underwater scene and then make a sailing boat to sail upon it. This Summer activity combines process art with clay modelling which makes it perfect for toddlers and preschoolers as well as older children.

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We made the best of the summer sunshine today by making sponge water bombs to use for a huge family water fight. It was so much fun! It takes 2 minutes to make these simple DIY water bombs and all you need is a pack of sponges and some elastic bands. 

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The summer holidays are finally here! YAY! Playing with ice fish in the sunshine is a perfect activity to keep the kids entertained. Ice fish are simple to make and its great fun catching the fish, watching the colours mix together and exploring how they melt. 

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Messy Little Monster

Make the cutest fingerprint ladybird magnets from salt dough.  Salt dough is cheap and easy to work with and using your child's fingerprints turns this simple kids craft into an adorable keepsake. 

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A quiet walk in the sunshine inspired this beautiful nature craft using real flowers. After going outside to pick some flowers we returned home to make a real flower suncatcher. This easy nature craft using a paper plate and contact paper makes a fun outdoor activity for toddlers or preschoolers to enjoy over the Spring and summer months. They will love collecting nature and making their suncatcher independently. 

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Butterfly crafts are perfect for kids during the Summer months. These fingerprint butterfly magnets are made using an easy salt dough recipe and they make great keepsakes or gift ideas. Salt dough is so easy for toddlers and preschoolers to craft with and these fingerprint butterfly magnets look great on the fridge.

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If you have a pile of stones lying around the garden get creative and turn them into pet fish!  This simple stone fish craft is easy enough for toddlers and preschoolers to enjoy. Using chalk pens on white stones looks really effective and kids will love playing them. 

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Salt dough crafts are so easy to make and I totally love our latest keepsake, a handprint bowl. Follow our simple instructions and salt dough recipe to make your own salt dough bowl in the shape of your child's hand. This is such a cute keepsake craft and the bowl is a perfect size for rings, cufflinks or keys. These dishes would make perfect homemade gifts for Mothers day, Fathers day or for Christmas. 

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If you are looking for easy play activity ideas for your baby, toddler or preschooler it doesn't get much simpler than playing with dried pasta and spaghetti.  Pasta play keeps young children busy as well as working on their fine motor skills.  Dried pasta activities make very little mess and they can be tidied away again quickly. This easy play idea is one of our go to activities if we have a spare 5 minutes to fill as it is so easy to prepare and tidy away. 

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Painting on foil is a fun and easy process art idea for kids that is sure to be popular! Foil painting using cotton buds (Q tips) as paintbrushes is a perfect art technique for toddlers and preschoolers who are working on fine motor skills and colour mixing.

Inspired by Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' painting we used different shades of blue and explored swirling the paint around the foil which gives the artwork a real winter feel.

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Here is a superhero puppet craft that little boys (and girls!) will LOVE!!! Use our FREE PRINTABLE superhero templates to make your own mini superheroes.  We have Batman, Superman, Ironman, Flash and Captain America amongst others.  These easy DIY superhero puppets are great for imaginative play and they accompany the lego superhero story books perfectly. 

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The kids have had hours of fun painting and playing in their own paint your own cardboard playhouse. I provided the paints and the cardboard playhouse and let them splat and drip paint all over it. They loved being free to decorate their cardboard house in their own creative way. They got totally covered in paint and had fun popping up out of the windows. This outdoor art idea for kids was so messy, but so much fun!

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Using Claude Monet's Water Lilies paintings as inspiration create your own water lilies using a paper plate and cupcake liners. This simple piece of Monet inspired art for kids is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, but older kids would enjoy it too.

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Make a DIY keyring from your child's drawing using Shrinky Dinks. A keychain made using your child's first drawings would make a memorable keepsake. Alternatively kids could make them as gifts for Mothers Day, Fathers Day or Christmas. Its so much fun seeing the pictures shrink in the oven. I remember enjoying using Shrinky Dinks as a child!

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Messy Little Monster

We had been really looking forward to the Silver Anniversary Presentation of Disney On Ice and I am pleased to report that we totally loved every minute of it. The combination of the fabulous ice skating and choreography along with well known and loved characters creates a truly spectacular show. 

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Babies, toddlers and preschoolers can safely play with this edible farmyard small world. There is no worry about them putting things in their mouth as everything except the figures are edible. Kids will love the sensory aspect to this play and using a tuff tray keeps all the mess contained. 

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Messy Little Monster

We made a Bat plane craft for our toy batman figure using just a piece of cardboard and a toilet roll tube! This batman craft is easy to make following our simple instructions and is perfect for little boys or girls that love superheroes. I created a FREE PRINTABLE with the batman logo on to complete the look! 

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If you are looking for an Easter handprint, fingerprint or footprint craft idea, here are 10 cute kids crafts for you to choose from.  We have found Easter chicks, Easter bunnies, crosses, Easter eggs and lots more.  Click on the links for full instructions. 

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Messy Little Monster

Watching Disney On Ice is a magical day out for all the family. We last saw Disney On Ice in November and we cant wait to join Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse as they commemorate 25 years of Disney On Ice.  Disney On Ice presents their silver anniversary celebration across the UK from 16th March to 15th May. 

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Messy Little Monster

'Messy Me' recently asked me to review one of their oilcloth messy mats.  I have two very messy little monsters so I couldn't wait to get my hands on one.   

The messy mats are made from hard wearing wipeable oilcloth (which is definitely important with a 1 and 4 year old!)   These mats are designed to be put under a highchair to catch any mess and protect the floor, but they work brilliantly as tablecloths, playmats or picnic mats. 

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Messy Little Monster

Make a fingerprint heart keepsake craft for someone special this Valentines Day or Mothers Day. Babies, toddlers and preschoolers can use our free printable fingerprint poem along with their fingerprints to create mini canvas art that can be treasured forever. The poem and fingerprint heart design would also be great turned into special greeting cards if made on card or paper. 

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Messy Little Monster

Surprise someone this valentines day by making a tiny folded heart envelope with a secret love note written inside. Using our free printable this simple paper craft couldn't be easier and it is sure to make someone smile.   These love notes are small enough to be hidden in a loved ones lunch box or their favourite book waiting for them to find them!

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Messy Little Monster

Oobleck is easy to make using just 2 ingredients, messy and lots of fun to explore! This makes it a perfect indoor sensory play activity for toddlers and preschoolers. Older kids will love exploring the science behind how Oobleck changes from a liquid to a solid - they won't even know they are learning! Today we added penguins to our Oobleck to create a winter small world scene. 

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We love our salt dough crafts and today we made handprint frames to add to our collection. These salt dough frames are a simple craft for kids to create and they make adorable keepsakes.  Why not help your child make one as a homemade gift to give to someone special this Valentines day or Mothers day.  

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Messy Little Monster

Start a New Years tradition with the kids this year with some printable interview questions. Record a few memories with these New Years interview questions for kids and look back on them year after year! Simply download our free set of kids interview questions and record your child's answers, or even better video them answering each question! 

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Handprint keepsakes are always adorable and what better way of helping your little one tell someone they love them than with this free printable handprint poem keepsake. This easy handprint heart craft would make a great Valentine's Day craft or Mother's Day craft for babies, toddlers or preschoolers. Scroll down for your printable handprint keepsake poem to make your own handprint heart craft. 

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Messy Little Monster