Category Archives: ~Childrens Activities

Kwanzaa Noodle Necklace

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Materials
Assorted uncooked noodles
Food coloring
Elastic thread

General Supplies & Tools
Newspaper
Plastic gloves
Plastic sandwich bags
Craft scissors
Yarn needle

Instructions
1 . Cover work area with newspaper, and wear plastic gloves when coloring noodles.
2.  Place one handful of noodles in bag, using one bag per color. Sprinkle a few drops of desired food color­ing in each bag, blow in some air, twist top closed, then gently shake until noodles are evenly coated. Add more color, if needed. Leave bags open to allow noodles to dry.
3.  Cut elastic thread slightly longer than desired length of necklace, then thread elastic onto yarn needle.
4. Tie one noodle to end of elastic thread, leaving a 2″ tail, and begin beading. Mix noodle shapes and colors as desired. Untie first noodle, then tie ends of elastic thread into knot. Slip loose ends back through center of noodles to conceal.

How To Play “Jacks”

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WHAT YOU NEED
• A small, bouncy rubber ball
•  10 jacks
• A hard, smooth, level playing surface (floor, sidewalk, patio, or blacktop)

HOW TO PLAY
Sit on the ground and toss the jacks gently onto the playing surface.

Using one hand, gently toss the ball into the air, let­ting it bounce on the playing surface. With the same hand, pick up one jack and catch the ball before it bounces again.

Repeat until you have picked up all ten jacks. This round is called “onesies.”

Toss the ten jacks on the playing surface again.

Toss the ball into the air, letting it bounce once on the playing surface, and pick up two jacks at the same time. Repeat until you have picked up all ten jacks, two at a time. This round is called “twosies.”

Increase the number of jacks you pick up during each round until you pick up all ten jacks at once and catch the ball.

If you fail to pick up the correct number of jacks, fail to catch the ball, or drop the jacks from your hand, your turn is over and the next player goes.

When you get another turn, con­tinue where you left off. If you went out during “threesies,” toss the ten jacks, and start with “threesies.”

To make the game more chal­lenging, forbid players from touching jacks other than the ones being picked up and require players to place the jacks in their free hand before catch­ing the ball.

The first player to complete “onesies” through “tensies” wins the game.

For a variation on the game, require all play­ers to go from “onesies” to “tensies” and then back down to “onesies” again.

Victorian Christmas “Cracker” How To

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Christmas Cracker

Materials:

  • 1 toilet tissue roll
  • snapper (available at craft stores)
  • any small favours you wish to add
  • an 8 x 10″ piece of crepe paper
  • 2 pieces of 8 x 5″ crepe paper
  • decorative trimmings
  • glue
  • transparent tape
  • decorative string
  1. Centre the toilet tissue roll lengthwise along the 10″ side of the 8 x 10″ piece of crepe paper. Wrap the crepe paper around the roll, securing it with 1 or 2 pieces of transparent tape. (The tape can be attached to the underside of the crepe paper so that it does not show.)
  2. Insert snapper and favours (e.g. paper party hats, candies, nuts, riddles, trinkets, etc.) into the roll. The ends of the snapper should extend beyond the ends of the cracker.
  3. Tie each end of cracker with string.
  4. To make fringe, take an 8 x 5″ piece of crepe paper and fold in half lengthwise. Cut 1″ deep slashes about _” apart along unfolded edges. Repeat with second piece of 8 x 5″ crepe paper. cc5.jpg (5342 bytes)
  5. Take about 12″ of decorative string (gold, silver, etc.) and place along inside fold of fringe. Gather and tie around end of cracker, over first tie. Repeat with other end, using second fringe. Ends of fringes may be curled gently.
  6. Decorative trims, lace, ribbons, glitter, etc. may be used to decorate the body of the cracker.

Ice Cream Cone Christmas trees

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What better way to keep kids feeling jolly than to encourage them to play with their food — which is the whole point of our Snack-tivity Station. To help your guests create these festive Ice-cream-cone Trees, stock the station with paper plates, sugar cones, sugar cookies (your own or store-bought), store-bought icing (one batch of white, one batch tinted with green food coloring), shredded coconut, sprinkles, lollipops, and a selection of bite-size candies. To make a tree, spread a cone with green icing; spoon a dollop of white icing onto a sugar cookie, then gently push the cone into the icing. Top the icing with shredded coconut snow. Decorate the tree with sprinkles and candy ornaments, and crown with a lollipop star (nibble a hole in the cone for the stem). Provide flat-bottomed brown bags so kids can take home their trees (or tree pieces!).

Bagel Christmas Wreath

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Forget the front door. These bite-size wreaths — whimsical enough to appeal to the smallest (and finickiest) guests — are meant to deck your plate (although they’re unlikely to stay there for very long). To make them, spread mini bagel halves with cream cheese (plain or tinted green with herbs or food coloring), then sprinkle on red, yellow, and green bell-pepper confetti.