This DIY homemade printed Christmas gift wrap activity for kids of all ages, using recycled brown paper, really got us into the festive spirit, and in a small way, we can feel we are making a difference.

This year, as a family of four, we are keen to keep unrecyclable store bought Christmas wrapping paper waste to a minimum, so we had great fun with friends getting messy and being creative, whilst educating our 12 and 10 year olds that Christmas needs to be more homemade, like in the 'olden days' as they call them! 

We purchased a 100m roll of recycled brown paper, for £15.00 ( around $20). 
Along with some inexpensive poster and acrylic paints, we gathered up our festive stampers and some wine corks and old toy building blocks to print with.
We also used polystyrene pizza bases to make print blocks, by scratching into them with a sharp pencil.

Our 10 and 12 year olds painted and printed for over two hours with their friends and were really experimental - so were the adults. No phones were on, we just listened to music, chatted and had a great time!

Here are some of our finished one metre long wrapping paper artworks!
​Some of them remind me of Klimt - it must be the gold and silver metallic paint.

​I'd love to hear back from you if you give it a go!

For further Christmas ideas, free printable coloring pages and teacher/homeschooler lesson plans, visit my Christmas and New Year pages 
Browse my Teachers Pay Teachers Store for over 100 seasonal detailed resources.

Happy Christmas all!
Diane 

I always look forward to the hustle and bustle of our lively school fair - especially all the festive and glittery activities in the craft room.
I thought it would be fun to share the activities that we ran with the kids this year, all chosen to be suitable for little ones with the help of their grown ups and for the older ones to tackle on their own.
Parents enjoyed doing their own too when they got a spare minute!

Please read on if you are planning some group activities, school fairs or just want to get creative at home, I hope you find the ideas fun and useful.

My 8 year old created these examples. We used old yellowed music paper bought from a charity shop to cut bauble shapes on the left, which were then outlined with felt tips.
​We tore strips and added glitter to make the tree card on the right.

These cards were made using maps from an old road atlas, cutting and tearing shapes.

These simple cards were made by cutting up paint chip cards into simple tree shapes and adding glitter

This was a really popular activity. Use 3 pipecleaners to make a 6 pointed snowflake and thread with beads. Bend the pipecleaners over at the ends as they can be sharp.
​Add string to hang

Make a hole in the bottle top - we prepared a batch in advance by  holding  a small metal screw driver over the gas flame and pushing it through the plastic lids - strictly grown ups only! Open up a paper clip and push it through the hole to hang some string or ribbon from.
Push in some air drying clay. Add beads and sequins. We are making some name ones for family friends using plastic letter beads.
I found the idea here
http://artful-kids.com/blog/2010/12/14/artful-discoveries/

 Cut out the template using card, add googly eyes and glitter. Fix the lollipop at the back with tape - ta dah!
Download your template here from Brisbane Kids

For more festive free downloads and creative ideas, visit my Christmas page

Visit my online store and use the code IMBOX1 for a 15% discount on funky kids wall art and festive supplies

For Christmas ideas from creatives around the world, have a browse of my Christmas Pinterest Board (beware, it's highly addictive!)

Happy Christmas all!
Di
x

The cards in the image above were made by upcycling old doodles - we cut them into tree shapes and added glitter and mini pom poms!

Strips torn from an atlas, with a bit of sparkle and a washi tape pot

Doodle colourful abstract trees on music paper. You can download a free template here 

These modern abstract tree shapes were cut out using coloured papers, a nod to Matisse. It was fun arranging them and glued down they make great modern art Christmas cards

These 3 free printable 'modern art' activities are a fun activity for all ages.
Make them into festive pictures or cards. Encourage kids to explore colour palettes to make the tree, star or angel 'stand out' or 'recede'. Experiment with pens, pencils, paints, collage, oil pastels. Have fun!

Download here

When you download these free printable templates, you will also receive a code, giving you a !5% discount on kids wall art and creative downloads in my new shop.

My recent blog post, 'a roll of tape and a biro' attracted so many visitors, I thought I'd develop some festive doodles based a round the same theme, of manuscript papers, simple shapes and repeat patterns.
Here are my first festive doodles, I'll add more as my ideas develop.

1. Festive trees on manuscript:
I regularly buy lovely yellowed music sheets from charity shops, they are great for doodles and collage.

I made a simple tree template from scrap cardboard. Make a series of tree shapes on your page and start colouring!
You could cut them out to make beautiful gift tags.
​

2. Manuscript bauble doodles

You can download these free templates by clicking on the images below

Browse my new online store for unique, affordable art prints, kids gifts and activities  - available as postal deliveries to you, or instant downloads for immediate use.

Visit my Christmas page for lots more free festive family friendly templates, colouring sheets and activities.

Join my popular mailing list to receive all my latest ideas, direct to your inbox - typically once a month, a little more often around key times of year such as Christmas, Chinese New Year etc.
​
See you soon :-)

I began this website about 3 months ago as  a way of documenting and sharing my work from the past 10 years and have had great fun learning about blogging, website design (thanks Weebly, so user friendly), social media and especially the growing worldwide creative community that is Pinterest.

My most pinned pin on Pinterest is the Modern Art Christmas Tree, pictured below.
It is also the image that has brought around 80% of my visitors to this website, via Pinterest - far more than Twitter or Facebook.

My 'statcounter' has told me that people have been downloading this activity in the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, India, Australia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and the Netherlands - what a well travelled tree! 

I have used this idea in my workshops, with young mums at risk of post natal depression, young adults in hospital fighting cancer, in community and mental health settings and schools - and at home of course with my children and their little friends.
Colouring can be a very relaxing, meditative process, proven to de-stress us, stop our busy minds working overtime and lower our heart rate.

You can download this activity and visit my pinterest boards for more creative ideas.
Happy Christmas folks!

Are you looking for some festive Christmas projects to do with your children?
Take a look at my free downloads page where you'll find lots of printables, colouring activities, cards and more.

I found this lovely book on our shelves the other night and read it to my 6 and 4 year olds.
I really think the illustrations are so timeless, simple and beautiful - and created 50 years ago! Here's a selection of the pages, I might see if my children would like to create their own drawings from them.

These trees don't have to be perfect, you can leave the edges raw, and hand sew them, that's what gives them a handmade, funky feel! 
I used cotton on one side, felt on the other, added ribbon, buttons etc and padded them with a bit of wadding.
A great gift or an addition to your tree. With careful supervision, suitable for age 6 plus.

I saw this idea on pinterest and thought I'd give it a go with my 2 littl'uns  - I bought a pack of 40 or so pegs for a £1 at the local bargain shop.
Charlie, age 6, said he thought this was one of the best projects he's ever done and has been hooked for a couple of days now, before breakfast and after school. 
Here are some of our pegs, decorated with felt tip, black fine liners, and metallic silver / gold pens.....we'll be hanging the cards up with them this year!

Do you remember making origami 'water bombs' at school - paper balls that you folded from a square, blew up and filled with water and threw at someone in the playground?? (I do!)

Well, they also make lovely decorations - try using diffrent types of paper, brown paper, sheet music, pages from an old nursery rhyme book, national geographic magazine. Younger children will need help - after you've made a couple, it seems alot easier! 

Click on this Activity Village link for great step by step instructions.

I have worked with patients in their hospital beds making these baubles, here's a selection below......

This festive activity is suitable for children age 3+. Free templates are available to print  from my downloads page. Use paint, pastels, pencils, felt tips, add some glitter if you want!

A sheet of 4 smaller images has been included for making Christmas Cards.
Have fun! Let me know how you get on, I'd love some feedback.

Here's what to do!


Have a go at these easy thumb prints. 
They work really well on brown paper, so save any envelopes you get.
Use your index finger for a small print and your thumb for a larger one.
Use poster paints, it's best if they are washable!
When the thumb prints are dry, use a black biro or fine liner to draw the details and add some essential glitter!
I liked the rough edges, but you can cut them out if you prefer.
Glue them onto blank cards, or make them into gift tags. 
Great for all ages, the little ones may need some help, but they'll love the finger printing!