CHILDREN'S PARTIES.
Click here to go straight to a list of venues/suppliers.

Easter
2-5 April

My favourite website at the moment is Meddybemps.com and they have lovely colourful games, short stories, printable Easter colouring sheets, quizzes and an interactive Easter Egg Hunt.  There is also an illustrated short story to read on your computer about Frogwart the naughty witch.
www.meddybemps.com/funandgames.html

www.meddybemps.com

Sing along to the Easter Egg Hunt song at:
http://genkienglish.net/eastersong.htm
This is really a website designed to teach Japanese children to speak English, but the song and the colourful pictures that go with it will certainly appeal to english-speaking under 5s!  (You are meant to register and pay for the resources that go with this little song, but the song, at least is freely available.) 

If you would like to find out about Jesus and the Easter Story there is a well written (and printable) version here:
www.childrenschapel.org/biblestories/easter

There are some wonderful free Easter activities for your kids at the American Family Fun magazine website.  Choose from:

An egg box Easter chick for holding sweets:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts

and a mouse Easter egg:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts

Some Easter themed colour pictures to use when making your own cards or just as decorations:
http://a.familyfun.go.com/Resources/global/printables/0306_Spring-stickers.pdf

There is an almost endless supply of Easter crafts, activities, colouring pages and Easter printables to be found here:
www.dltk-holidays.com/easter/index.html

You can print off the template for these beautiful little Easter baskets, also from Family Fun:
http://a.familyfun.go.com/printables/mini-easter-basket-863104/

Tinies can create an Easter card using their own hand prints with instructions from this site:
www.kidsdomain.com/craft/easter-chick-card.html

Find lots of creative ways to make Easter Eggs at
www.kidscraftweekly.com

Earth day 
22 April

Earth Day is a time to celebrate our wonderful world and think of ways to protect it.  

If you want to see just how beautiful and amazing our world is, you'll find videos, activities, games and stories at:
kids.nationalgeographic.com

Find out how you can Reduce, Reuse, Recycle at this seriously cool site for kids:


www.recyclezone.org.uk

There are Earth Day crafts, games, colouring pages and projects at:
kaboose.com

There are Earth Day colouring pages and posters at:
www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/earth

You can download a 12 page "Happy Earth Day" booklet from here:
www.epa.gov/region5/publications

You'll find interesting facts about the environment and fun stuff such as interactive games and activities to print, cut and play at:


www.planetpals.com


St George's Day
23 April
We've had Burn's Night and St Patrick's Day, so now it's time to celebrate England!
England's patron saint is St George (he's the knight in shining armour who killed the
wicked dragon).  You can find out everything you need to know about him at the
incredible Woodlands Junior School site.


Copyright Salisbury District Council

Although there should be celebrations all around the country on this day, there are 
actually only a few.  One of the very best takes place in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where a
truly massive inflatable dragon is slayed by St George in the city's market square.

May Day
3 May

Find out everything there is to know about May Day history and customs at the delightfully old-fashioned:
Elaine's May Day Page

There are May Day crafts such as this little maypole for your toys to dance around at:
www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/

There are plenty ideas for May Day games for tinies at:
www.littlekidsgamesonline.com

Father's Day
20 June

Here are some fun things to make (or even just print out) to let dad know how much
you love him.  Don't forget to be extra kind and well-behaved on the day!

 
I've created a selection of simple, free Father's Day cards that you can print onto card.  They'll print out in colour and you can find them here.

kaboose.com has loads of craft activities and cards to make for Father's Day.  There's something here for everyone, from really creative cards, to pebble paperweights, a photo frame and pencil holder.

You can make this lovely card out of brown paper and a ribbon from the instructions at Enchanted Learning.

And finally, you can print these stickers by visiting the FamilyFun website, where there are so many craft activities and fun ideas you are likely to be overwhelmed by the choice!

Summer Solstice 
21 June 

The Summer Solstice is the day when the sun is at it's highest in the sky and it is
also the longest day of the year.  We have 13 hours and 1 minute of sunlight on this day!
The word "solstice" comes from Latin and means "sun stands still".

Every year, on this day, hundreds of people visit Stonehenge in Wiltshire to see the sunrise
there.  In prehistoric times men built a huge circle of stones through which the sun casts a
mysterious beam.  You can see how this works on this BBC website: 
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire

You can also download lots of archaeology pages to learn from, colour in and play with from 
the people who investigate the stones at Stonehenge:
www.wessexarch.co.uk/learning/resources

Midsummer's Day
24 June

In Britain people have always celebrated the summer sunshine on Midsummer's Day, which
is 24 June.  People would build bonfires and dance in a circle around them, to celebrate
the wonderful light and warmth that the sun brings.  

This was also believed to be a magical time when all the fairies and pixies came out to play.  
Shakespeare wrote a very famous play about this called "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  
CBeebies have a short animated version of the story here:
cbeebies/stories/dream.shtml

Even the early morning dew on Midsummer's Day was believed to be magical.  Young girls 
would wash their faces with it to make themselves beautiful and old people would wash with
it to make themselves look young.

If you would like to celebrate Midsummer, you could have a picnic of traditional summer foods, such as gooseberry fool, strawberries and raspberries.  You could even bake some little round biscuits or cakes and decorate them with smiley sun faces.  Then you might like to either dress up as fairies and pixies or hunt in your garden to see if you can find any hiding there on this  special day.  In the evening you could have a bonfire to dance around, just like our ancestors did. 

St Swithin's Day
15 July
People used to say that if it rains on St Swithin's Day it will rain for 40 days  (that's almost
until the end of August).  This legend has lasted for a thousand years, ever since the bones
of St Swithins were moved to Winchester Cathedral in 971.  There was a huge storm then 
and it lasted for 40 days.  Let's hope it's a lovely day!  Just in case, you might want to paint
a smiley sun picture or colour a paper plate yellow and give it a smiley face - to encourage the sun to chase away the clouds.

Beatrix Potter's Birthday
28 July

Copyright www.hop-skip-jump.com

To celebrate Beatrix Potter's birthday, fans of Peter Rabbit, Mrs Tittlemouse and Jemima 
Puddle-duck should visit the beautifully illustrated http://www.peterrabbit.co.uk/
On the home page, just press "play" to access lots of Peter Rabbit fun and games.
You can meet all your favourite characters and watch video clips from the Peter Rabbit 
and Friends DVD; play three gentle interactive games; then visit the Make and Do 
section for instructions on how to make a pom-pom mouse, edible bonnets and baskets, 
plus character colouring pages and a wordsearch.  There's almost enough to keep Tinies
busy all day.  

Roald Dahl Day
13 September

To celebrate Roald Dahl Day properly you must first visit the official website: www.roalddahlday.info

Here you'll find an A4 party poster, stickers and bookplates to download.  The poster has lovely suggestions for how to celebrate e.g. wear something yellow (this was Dahl's favourite colour), write a revolting rhyme, make up an Oopma Loompa Dance with your friends or give someone a treat (Dahl loved to give treats).  

You can download party printables from the Treats section of the website.  These include:
birthday bunting, a characters quiz and enormous BFG ears.  Then get recipes for Mrs Twit's
Eyeball Cakes and a Hot Choc Sludge Drink.  If you have any energy left, you can also get printables for making an enormous concertina crocodile or a roly-poly bird, amongst others.  

What a celebration!

International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Friday 19 September.

Just to make sure everyone knows it is a special day, you can download this poster and 
put it up in your front window:  www.talklikeapirate.com/partykit

There is a pirate hat and eye patch to cut out here:
www.leehansen.com/printables

and there's a whole page of free pirate clip art to use as you wish, on the same site:
www.leehansen.com/clipart/

There are lots of lovely pirate crafts including a spyglass, a parrot and a pirate ship at dltk-kids:
www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/pirates

The Disney website FamilyFun has some great ideas for pirate games or a pirate party:
http://familyfun.go.com/parties

The Family Fun site is especially useful as it has a section on "How to talk like a pirate".

Autumn Equinox
21-23 September

Equinox is a Latin word meaning " equal-night".
The Autumn Equinox (which is on 23 September this year) is the day on which there are exactly 12 hours each of day and of night.  This is the last moment before the nights start to lengthen into winter, so was traditionally a time to celebrate the year's harvest (it is sometimes called Harvest Home) and to reflect on the joy of summer months.  

In astrology, this is the date on which the sun enters Libra, whose image is a set of scales, to represent the balance of night and day.

For our pagan ancestors, this was a time to rest after all the hard work of bringing in the harvest, to be grateful for all the food they had gathered and to consider what they had achieved in the last few months.  Corn dollies would be made out of the last sheaf of corn to be harvested.  The dollies were then kept inside the house to bring good luck to the families over the winter.  People would gather together in the evening and honour the Green Man (who was their god of the woods) by pouring cider or ale at the base of a tree.  (It was a way of thanking the tree for it's goodness by sharing a drink with it!)  The equinox was also known, in England, as The Feast of Avalon because it coincides with the apple harvest and Avalon means "the land of apples".

In medieval times, the church turned the pagan festival into the Christian feast of St Michael and All Angels or Michaelmas (pronounced 'mickelmas').  Michael was the archangel who threw Lucifer (the devil) out of heaven.  There is a legend that when the devil fell to earth he landed on a blackberry bush, which he cursed for its prickliness!  

This year Michaelmas is on 29 September.  Some schools and colleges still call the first term of a new school year the Michaelmas term.  Old superstitions say that it is unlucky to pick blackberries after Michaelmas, but if you  eat goose on this day you will be lucky for the rest of the year.  The Victorians believed that a tree planted on Michaelmas Day would grow really well.  So why not plant an apple tree this year?  It will be well established by next year, when you will be able to celebrate the equinox in the pagan fashion by gathering around and sharing a drink with it!

The Big Draw
1-31 October

  

This is a nationwide, month-long season of drawing events for all ages.  
Big Draw Day is Saturday 10 October, but there will be events taking place throughout October.   See our diary section for local Sussex events. 
Find out more at:  www.campaignfordrawing.org

To get you started, there are free drawing lessons at www.howtodrawit.com
The advice is so simple it's suitable for ages 3 and over!

If you are feeling really inspired, the Art Attack website has everything a budding artist could wish for.

World Animal Day
Saturday 4 October

Your first port of call needs to be the World Animal Day website
where you can access the Kids Zone for animal jokes and loads of ideas.  You can do
something kind things for your animals, such as making a toy mouse for your cat, decorating 
a new bowl for your dog, make a cake for garden birds or even a toy aquarium for your bedroom.

If you click on this link Who Came To Our Bird Table? you can download a chart for 
recording all the birds who come to your garden in a week.  

If you are unable to identify all the birds, there is a wonderful Children's Guide to Garden Birds at the Campaign for Learning website.  You can print off this free 24 page activity booklet  here and keep it by the window for reference.  (After you've coloured in all the lovely pictures).

For an easy fun craft activity, you can visit the BBC's Little Animals Activity Centre
and print off pages to cut out and make tiny finger puppets of a mole, an owl, a hedgehog,
a mouse or a fox.

National Children's Book Week
5-11 October 

Children's Book Week is a celebration of books and reading for children of primary school age.
This year's theme for Book Week is Words and Pictures.

There are lots of resources and ideas at the official website: 
www.booktrust.org.uk/Campaigns/Childrens-Book-Week

These books were shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2008, in the age 6 and under category.  Why not visit your library and try them all?

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson
Elephant Wellyphant by Nick Sharratt
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers
The Witch's Children Go To School by Ursula Jones
There's An Ouch In My Pouch! by Jeanne Willis
Manfred the Baddie by John Fardell

Or visit the Tinies Stay In page of this website, where you'll find lots of recommended books 
plus links to the publishers' own websites - some are interactive and great fun!

Diwali - Festival of Lights
17 October

www.diwalifestival.org

Diwali celebrates the Hindu New Year.  In preparation for this, people spring clean their homes and open windows to let in Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.  To light the goddess' way, little lamps are lit all over the house.  The word "diwali" comes from the word "deepavali" meaning "cluster of lights".

There is a free printable picture of the goddess Lakshmi for the kids to colour here:
www.balagokulam.org

A little oil lamp is also put in the window, in memory of Prince Rama and Princess Sita.  According to legend, Rama and Sita loved each other very much.  One day an evil demon tricked Rama into leaving  the beautiful Sita alone in the forest, so that he could steal her from him.  Rama set out to rescue Sita with the help of the monkeys and other animals and had a series of amazing adventures on the way.  When Rama and Sita finally returned to their own land the people put little oil lamps in their windows to welcome them home.

There is a simple retelling of the story of Rama and Sita here: www.cist.org.uk

This is a real family party time, as delicious food is prepared and fireworks are set off to ward off evil spirits - a bit like our Halloween.  On the last day of Diwali, sisters cook for their brothers, who give them presents in return.

It is also traditional to make beautiful Rangoli patterns on the ground using coloured powders.  You can see some images of these here: 

www.diwalifestival.org


You can find a free Rangoli pattern to print off and colour in at Crayola.com  
If you paste it to some card and cut out the disc, you can hang it up on your door to welcome your friends: www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages

There are instructions for making an Indian elephant, a decorated slipper and a Diwali lamp pot at Big Eyed Owl

There is a really yummy Diwali pudding recipe at this BBC webpage:
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/

*Halloween*
31 October

Halloween cards and party invitations.

I've put together some images for these which you can use by clicking below.  
It's always difficult to print straight onto card, so I suggest you print off the page you want, cut out the relevant picture and glue it to an A5 card folded in half.  You can then write your own message inside.

Halloween page 1
Halloween page 2
Halloween page 3
Halloween page 4

Halloween Decorations

Print off the pages from this Familyfun website for pictures of cats, pumpkins, ghosts and spiders to stick on walls or windows for Halloween night.

Familyfun also has colourful cartoon type banner to print off and cut out.

Pumpkin Carving

There is a very good tutorial to be found at Halloween Pumpkins
They have also generously included a number of free templates like the one below.

Copyright www.halloweenpumpkins.be

Halloween Recipes
As usual the BBC has come up with the best recipes, this time from their Good Food magazine website.  You'll find spooky spider cakes and that essential pumpkin pie recipe:  www.bbcgoodfood.com

There are also some good recipes, including a very simple Gingerbread Skeletons & Ghosts one at the baking goods company Supercook's website: www.oetker.co.uk

There is a Frog Pond Cup Cakes recipe on the same site, it's almost too good for kids!
www.oetker.co.uk

Wanda's Halloween Cookbook doesn't take itself too seriously and it has some really lovely recipes for Pumpkin Pie and easy Marshmallow Ghosts. 


Copyright Halloweenkitchen.com

Halloween Party Games / Activities 

There are lots of lovely party game ideas at partygameideas.com

I've put a couple of our favourite party games on the Tikes and Mums Celebrate pages.  
I'm not sure if they are suitable for under 5s, so you can decide for yourself!

The American chocolate company Hersheys has instructions and printables for games such as Pin the Wart on the Witch and an easy Ghost Pinata to make.



Copyright www.hersheys.com

Visit the all new Winnie the Witch website for all sorts of witch related activities. 

There is a free printable Winnie the Witch colouring in sheet at: www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk

and a free dot-to-dot printable of Winnie's cat Wilbur at: www2.scholastic.co.uk

and a whole page of Winnie the Witch jokes at:  www.oup.com/uk/minisites/

You can also find a lovely witch and cat poem with a picture to colour in at:  
www.scholastic.co.uk

There are instructions for an easy- to- make egg carton spider at http://crafts.kaboose.com

Halloween Fancy Dress Ideas

Again the best site seems to be Familyfun, with more Halloween Fancy Dress ideas than you could ever imagine.  Some are complicated and require a bit of time, but some are very straightforward.  

Kids Craft Weekly has lovely instructions for how to make a pirate hat, parrot and a treasure chest.  So if your kids are pirate mad after watching Johnny Depp strut his stuff, this should keep them entertained. 

How could you get through Halloween without a sneaky peek at the Harry Potter official website?:  www.jkrowling.com 

Bonfire Night
5 November

Guy Fawkes

Tinies are a bit small to learn about Guy Fawkes, but they may enjoy learning the famous rhyme:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Games and printables

You can enjoy a lovely colourful animated rhyme on the CBeebies site:
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/razzledazzle

There are free printable pages of Bonfire Night pictures to colour here:
www.activityvillage.co.uk

and more Bonfire Night colouring pages here:
www.underfives.co.uk1
www.underfives.co.uk2

You can find some lovely colourful interactive games including Virtual Sparkler, an Interactive Poster and a Pets Game, plus the Fireworks Safety Code at the DTI site:
www.dti.gov.uk/fireworks/games.htm

You can make easy Chocolate Sparklers by dipping chocolate finger biscuits into warm water for a second and then into a dish of and hundreds and thousands.  Anyone could make them!

You can build your own very colourful Crayola Fireworks Spectacular at:
www.crayola.com/kids/games/

You can even create your own musical fireworks display at:
www.pbs.org/capitolfourth/fireworks.html

You can print off and talk about this lovely "Bonfire Night" poem by Irene Yates.  Perhaps your child would like to draw pictures of the images the poet describes?  www.fireworksafety.co.uk

Just to be on the safe side, you may wish to download a copy of the Fireworks Safety Code:
www.berr.gov.uk/fireworks

Stir Up Sunday
Last Sunday before Advent
(22 November)

This is the day when families traditionally gather together to prepare their Christmas pudding, with each member of the family taking a turn with the stirring.  (Christmas puddings were probably introduced to Britain from Germany by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert.)  The pudding is made a long way in advance because it takes a few weeks for all the dried fruit to become nice and moist inside and for all the flavours to mingle.

On their way home from church, children used to chant :

Stir up, we beseech thee,
The pudding in the pot,
And when we get home,
We'll eat the lot!

There are lots of rituals to be observed when making a Christmas pudding: 
 
The pudding should have 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and each of his disciples.  

Everyone in the family should stir the pudding and make a wish while they stir.

You should always stir from East to West, which was the direction the Three Kings took on their journey to bring gifts to baby Jesus.

A (very clean) lucky coin can be mixed into the pudding.  Whoever finds it on Christmas Day will have a  wealthy and happy future.  In the past, people used to use a sixpence but a 10p piece will do - as long as all your guests are warned to look out for it!

You can also add a ring, whose finder will be getting married soon, and a thimble which is meant to predict a lucky life for those who find it.  

(To avoid anyone choking on these, they can be wrapped in greaseproof paper before being added.  Children should have their slice of pudding cut up small for them before they eat it, so that any trinkets can be found.)

Some recipes tell you to soak the dried fruit overnight, so be prepared to start on Saturday.
According to Delia Smith, it's not wise to cook or store Christmas puddings in tin foil, as it makes them taste funny.  So wrap them in greaseproof paper instead.

There is a straightforward Katie Stewart recipe at Easy Living's site:
www.easylivingmagazine.com/Food/Recipes/KatieStewartChristmasPudding/

Delia's recipe can be found at:
www.deliaonline.com/recipes/traditional-christmas-pudding

The BBC has three different recipes at:
www.bbc.co.uk/food/news_and_events

Thanksgiving
26 November

     
 
"Thanksgiving"
The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest is all gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain.
So open wide the doorway-
Thanksgiving comes again!

What is Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is an American national holiday when families get together to share a big meal and celebrate all the good things in their lives.  It is a time when all the fruits and vegetables that grew over the summer have been safely gathered in.  Everyone is pleased that they will have plenty to eat over the long, cold winter months.  

In America, it is traditional to eat a meal of roast turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie for pudding.  This is because these were the foods that the first British settlers in America would have eaten.  People like to remember this because when the settlers came to America they had to start with very little and so found it really hard to keep themselves safe and fed.  One autumn, when the settlers had hardly anything to eat, the local native American Indians brought them lots of their own food and shared it with them.  This was such a kind thing to do, people celebrate it every year. 

The First Thanksgiving

Hold your own Thanksgiving Dinner

Why not have a Thanksgiving Dinner of your own?  It doesn't need to be on the Thursday, you could have it three days later instead of your usual Sunday lunch.  All the recipes you will need can be found at the links given below.  Don't forget to prepare lots of decorations in advance, with pictures you've coloured in and place cards for the table.  Most importantly, you need to think about what you are most thankful for this year.  To help with this, print off these Thankful Cards from FamilyFun:
http://familyfun.go.com/printables/season
and place one on the table for each of your guests.  Ask everyone to fill it in and, at the end of the meal, read them out  to each other.  You're bound to feel very happy when you realise just how lucky you are!

Mum can find a recipe for Classic Roast Turkey from BBC Good Food here:
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/
(and get some practise in for Christmas!)

Activity TV has two recipes that are so easy you could help mum make them.  
The printable recipe sheets are here for:

Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallow Topping (yum!)
www.activitytv.com/printables/

and Easy Pumpkin Pie
http://www.activitytv.com/printables

You can even watch videos of how to make these recipes here:
http://www.activitytv.com/search.aspx?term=thanksgiving

Help to decorate your Thanksgiving table with place cards for all your guests.

You can find a free printable for pumpkin place cards at Family Fun:
http://familyfun.go.com/printables/season

Thanksgiving printables and activities. 

Find out how to make a turkey out of your own handprints and footprints at Kaboose:
http://crafts.kaboose.com/hands-and-feet-turkey.html

There is a really cool Thanksgiving Activity Page at FamilyFun:
http://familyfun.go.com/printables/season/printable/thanksgiving

There's also a lovely cartoony Thanksgiving picture to colour in, again at Family Fun:
http://familyfun.go.com/printables/coloring-pages/

There are more cartoon colouring pages on a Thanksgiving theme at Lil Fingers:
www.lil-fingers.com/games/coloring/thankgiving

www.Childfun.com has a fun song to sing to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus".  You can sing the song and make up actions to go with the words:  

Thanksgiving song - Turkey on the Farm

The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble.
Gobble, gobble, gobble. Gobble, gobble, gobble."
The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble."
Thanksgiving Day is near.

The farmer on the farm goes chop, chop, chop.
Chop, chop, chop. Chop, chop, chop.
The farmer on the farm goes chop, chop, chop.
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The turkey on the farm says, "Please help me!
Please help me! Please help me!"
The turkey on the farm says, "Please help me!"
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The children on the farm say, "Come and hide.
Come and hide. Come and hide."
The children on the farm say, "Come and hide."
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The wife on the farm looks all around.
Looks all around. Looks all around.
The wife on the farm looks all around.
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The people on the farm eat Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Kentucky Fried Chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The people on the farm eat Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Thanksgiving Day is here.

The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble.
Gobble, gobble, gobble. Gobble, gobble, gobble."
The turkey on the farm says, "Gobble, gobble, gobble."
Thanksgiving Day has passed.

There are lots more games, songs and activities under Holidays / Thanksgiving at www.childfun.com

When you are all finally relaxing after your big dinner, you can have fun making up Native American Indian names for all the members of your family.  They should be names relating to nature that suggest something about how the person looks or what they are like.  
Some ideas are: Star Dancer, Pale Horse, Sitting Bull, Running Deer.  Or, it you want to be silly, how about Running Nose or Big Chief Sleepy Bear?

"Walk tall like the trees, live your life as strong as the mountains, be as soft as the spring breezes, keep the warmth of the sun in your heart and the Great Spirit will always be with you."
(Wisdom of the Navajo)

First Sunday of Advent
29 November

Advent is the period between 30 November and Christmas Eve.  
This is when families prepare for Christmas Day, when they can celebrate the birth of baby Jesus.  
Now is the time to start writing Christmas cards, decorating the house, singing carols, buying and wrapping presents.

A wreath is the traditional symbol for Advent.  
The circular shape represents God who has no beginning or end.
A wreath is green, which symbolises the new life that we are looking forward to in the Springtime.  Not many plants are green in the Winter, so the green wreath makes a house look cheerful.
Some people hang their wreath on the front door to welcome their guests.  
Others lay the wreath flat and place four candles around it.  
Christians light the candles one at a time on each of the four Sundays before Christmas.  
The first candle is for Hope, the second for Peace, the third for Love and the fourth for Joy.  
These are all things we like to think about at Christmas time.  
On Christmas Day a final special candle can be lit and placed in the centre of the wreath to celebrate Jesus' birthday and that he is the light of the world.

If you don't have a real holly or fir wreath, you can make your own wreath out of handprints.
Simply take a paper plate and draw around a saucer placed in the middle.  
Cut out the circle and you'll have a wreath shape.  
Then find some green paper and draw around your hand as many times as you can.  
Cut out all the little hand shapes and glue them all around the paper plate ring (arrange them at different angles so that they stick out nicely just like a real wreath.) 
You can then decorate your wreath in any way you like.  You could cut out little circles of coloured paper to stick onto it, or add bits of tinsel or glitter.
Last of all you can add a lovely red ribbon tied in a bow, so that it looks something like this: 

If mum looks after your wreath, and brings it out every year, one day you'll be surprised by how tiny your hands were when you made it!

Make your own Advent Calendar

There is a very simple Advent Calendar to print out and make at thetoymaker.com.
Just print off these two pages:
http://www.thetoymaker.com/Holidays/Christmas/advent1.pdf
http://www.thetoymaker.com/Holidays/Christmas/advent2.pdf

Then all you need to do is cut out the three sides of each door and glue the two pieces of paper together around the outside only.  (So that when you open the doors the little pictures will be visible.) 

ActivityVillage.co.uk have cute little Christmas Gift Tags to print out.  

As there are 24 in a similar style, you could use these for a homemade advent calendar.   
Start by printing off the pages of pictures here:

www.activityvillage.co.uk/Christmas_memory_game_3.pdf
www.activityvillage.co.uk/Christmas_memory_game_2.pdf

Now cut out each of the circles and keep them in a box.  Then get a big piece of green card (or coloured-in white card) and draw the basic outline of a Christmas tree onto it.  
Something like this:  

Cut out your tree and pin it to the wall.  Then every morning the children can attach one of the circles to the tree as if it were a bauble.  It should look very festive.  If you like, you could also cut and colour a big star shape that could be stuck at the top of the tree on Christmas Day.

If you're feeling very ambitious and have a day free, you can build your own Advent village from the instructions and printables at: www.santaspostbag.co.uk/advent-town-advent-calendar

 
Copyright www.santaspostbag.co.uk

It's quite straightforward because all the templates can be printed from the website straight onto card for cutting and glueing.  There is a house for each day of Advent up to the 24th, which is the village church.  Once you have made all the buildings, a little treat can be hidden inside, to be found on the appropriate day.  It could be a nice project for the whole of December, as you could build up the village as the month progresses - you would only need to be a few houses ahead at a time.

There is also a truly inspired Advent Reward Chart at www.activityvillage.co.uk

Children can write down the good deeds they do each day and will have proof of their goodness to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve.  You never know, the habit of trying to do something good each day may even last into the New Year!

There is an alternative chart, for those who need prompting about what to do, here:
www.northpole.com/Academy/GoodDeeds

Christmas
25 December 

Places to play
Visit Santa's Secret Village where you can write to Santa, listen to stories read by an elf - then print out and colour them in, join in with the karaoke, visit Mrs Claus' kitchen and look in her Christmas recipe book, visit the elves' toy store and the reindeer barn or even create a personalised story.  
A truly magical website:  www.northpole.com

Watch a penguin write your name or message in the snow - it's great fun!
www.star28.net/snow.html

There are games, make & colour activities, songs and stories over at CBBC's website: www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/christmas/

Take a digital photo of your child's face and this site will turn it into an animated elf.  
Alternatively you can select a random face instead.  
You can then send it  to a friend, for whom the elf will do a little dance!
www.elfyourself.com 

Things to do
For small children who would like to learn the Nativity story, you'll find a simple version with illustrations at:  www.topmarks.co.uk/christianity/nativity/index.htm

There are two printable Nativity story colouring pages at: 
http://thecoloringspot.com/christmas/

I've found three lovely games for family get-togethers over Christmas and everything you need can be found on this site:
http://wondertime.go.com/create-and-play/article/great-family-games.html

You can get about 100 Christmas song lyrics at Kididdles.com:
www.kididdles.com/lyrics/christmas.html

Christmas crafts and printables
The NatureDetectives website has a host of wonderful things including free printable templates for snowflakes and for snowmen chains:
www.naturedetectives.org.uk/seasons/winter

CBeebies have some easy Christmas decorations to cut out and colour:
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/make/christmasdecorations.shtml

CBeebies also have a whole page of Balamory Christmas decorations here:
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/balamory/make/activities/xmas_makes.shtml

If you prefer Dr Seuss' "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" pop over to: www.seussville.com/grinch/pdf/ for Grinch Christmas decorations to cut and colour in.

Kids Craft Weekly always has lovely ideas.  
Go there for some instructions for very easy Christmas tree decorations for kids to make themselves: www.kidscraftweekly.com/tree_decorations

There is some good quality free Christmas clipart for cards, decorations or tags, available at:
http://parenting.leehansen.com/downloads/clipart/christmas/index.htm

On the same site there is a printable Christmas angel border (either horizontal or vertical) which could be printed onto all sorts of decorations, stationery or even home-made Christmas wrapping paper.
http://parenting.leehansen.com/downloads/clipart/christmas/pages/angels-border.htm

Create a banner of gingerbread men:
www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/gingerbreadstring/

There is a cute Santas banner to print out at Canon printers Creative Park:
http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/3159/03505/index.html

There are lots of different printable snowmen to cut out and colour at Makingfriends.com.  
The parts are interchangeable, so the possibilities are endless!
www.makingfriends.com/winter/printable_snowman_craft.htm

There are some lovely Christmas car signs to colour in and cut out at:
www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/Signs/BabyAboarduc.shtml
and:
www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/Signs/snowmanuc.shtml

There is a lovely simple snowflake template on this printable page:
www.kaboose.com/parties/pdf/xmas_snowflake1.pdf 

Make a cheery reindeer out of your own hand and footprints:
www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/handfoot/

There are 24 free printable Christmas gift tags at allthingschristmas.com:
www.allthingschristmas.com/northpole/npprintables/tags01.html
www.allthingschristmas.com/northpole/npprintables/tags02.html

Plus 15 free printable Christmas colouring pages which would make lovely decorations once they're colored in:
www.allthingschristmas.com/northpole/color/coloring.html

Don't forget you could also print out more of the cute gift tags we mentioned below in the 
Advent Calendar section.  (Details and link below.)

You can also print out and colour in these pictures: 
www.kaboose.com/parties/pdf/xmas_xmastree.pdf  www.kaboose.com/parties/pdf/xmas_santaclause.pdf  www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/color/carol9.gif   

New Year's Eve
31 December

I've just come across a lovely idea for frazzled parents on New Year's Eve, it's a Pyjama Party and sleepover which instantly solves the problem of guests not being able to drink and drive.  The details are to be found at: http://home.ivillage.com/holiday/0,,8jmf72x5-2,00.html
The author of this article is not really thinking of including kids, but if you got together with just a few families you get on well with and adapted it a bit, it could be great fun!

An interesting activity for kids would be to give each of them a smallish candle and ask them to push a pin through it.  Apparently the phrase "you could hear a pin drop" comes from the tradition of pushing a pin through a candle, which when burned down, dropped out at midnight.  See whose pin drops out closest to the time (and see if you can hear it) - this might be one way of getting a quiet moment! 

There were some great ideas in an American magazine called "Family Fun".  These included getting the kids to make big cardboard placards with each of the numbers 1-10 on them to hold up one after the other at the countdown until midnight.  Just before the countdown, play Hunt the Clock  (if the clock has a nice loud tick it adds a whole new dimension to the game).  You can make your own New Year's Balloons by filling balloons with homemade confetti (colored paper cut out with a hole punch) before blowing them up and tying them.  These can then be burst at midnight for a colourful explosion of confetti.  The last idea was a very clever one.  Encourage the kids to write a New Year's resolution on a piece of paper, then put each of these into the appropriate Christmas stocking before storing them.  This way they will not be seen again until almost 12 months have gone by, plus they will be something else to enjoy in the run up to Christmas.

Play End of the Year Charades by compiling a list of important events, songs, movies or books from 2008 and getting your guests to act them out.  Most of the newspapers have already started printing such lists, so you shouldn't be short of ideas.

When the time comes to all link hands and sing "Auld Lang Syne" be prepared by printing off the lyrics from this website:  www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_syne.htm
There is even an MP3 version of the song sung by Kenneth McKellar - now there's a blast from the past!

After all the midnight celebrations, make sure you have someone tall, dark and handsome to "First Foot" your house (by going out and coming in again!)  According to Scottish Hogmanay tradition, your first visitor of the year will determine how lucky you will be.  The most luck is brought by a tall, dark handsome man bringing a gift of either a loaf of bread or a lump of coal.  (That way you can be sure of being warm and well fed throughout the New Year).  

Chinese New Year
14 February 2010

This is a big celebration in China and this year it starts on 14 February.  

It is a time to get together with your family and wish everyone good luck in the coming months.  In China everyone cleans their houses thoroughly to get rid off any back luck and to make room for all the good luck that the new year might bring.  Fresh flowers are brought into the home to symbolise the coming of spring.  The Chinese also like to wear red at new year because it is considered a lucky colour. 

The Chinese calendar is a bit like our zodiac and is made up of a cycle of 12 years.   Each year is represented by a different animal and (like a horoscope) the Chinese believe that when you are born you will be a bit like the animal of your birth year.

This year is the Year of the Tiger.  

All 12 of the animals which represent the Chinese years are:

You can read the children's story of the order in which the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac would appear at www.blss.portsmouth.sch.uk

You'll find colouring pages of all the different Chinese New Year zodiac animals at: Apples4theteacher.com

If you'd like to know which animal represents your birthday, you can put your date of birth on to this page:  www.topmarks.co.uk/ChineseNewYear  and find your Chinese horoscope.

Chinese customs for New Year include hanging red and gold paper down the doors to keep in good luck.  These are called Hui Chun.  Red is a lucky colour in China and gold obviously means money!  

To learn how to write Happy New Year in real Chinese characters for a door banner visit Goodcharacters.com  You can even click on an audio clip to hear how to pronounce it in Chinese!

Or you can print and colour a wonderful Chinese Dragon Banner at Scissorcraft.com

New Year's Eve is celebrated with a huge family feast.  Families will often eat 8 or even 9 different dishes because 8 and 9 are lucky numbers in China (the Chinese take their superstitions very seriously.)  Long noodles are eaten because they symbolise a long life.  At the end of the meal, sticky cakes and sweets are served.  This tradition is inspired by stories of the Kitchen God who is said to tell the Jade Emperor in heaven whether the family has been good or bad this year.  The family therefore serves the Kitchen God sweet, sticky foods so that his lips will stick together and he won't be able to tell tales on them!  

You'll find an easy recipe for traditional Chinese moon cakes at:
www.dltk-kids.com/recipesdb/

After dinner the family plays cards with all the lights turned on until midnight.  
At midnight fireworks and crackers are set off to ward off evil spirits.  

If you are having a Chinese New Year Party, or just want to finish the evening off with a flourish, you can release lanterns into the sky.  Traditionally, if you write your wishes on a paper lantern and release it, the lantern will ascend to the heavens and your wishes will come true.  
You can buy these lanterns here:
www.glow.co.uk/acatalog/FLYING-CHINESE-LANTERNS.html

On New Year's Day children are given lucky red envelopes called Hong Bow containing money or sweets and everyone says "Kung Hei Fat Choy!"

Make your own personalized red Chinese Lucky Money Envelope by clicking on www.activityvillage.co.uk/pdfs/envelope

If you'd like to celebrate Chinese New Year, there are more of links to crafts and activities below:

Make a Chinese dragon out of an egg box from instructions at:
www.kidsdomain.com/craft/dragon

Learn some fun traditional Chinese games at Apples4theteacher.com

There are many, many more free Chinese New Year printables for small people at:
www.activityvillage.co.uk

Valentine's Day
February 14

Valentine's day is on February 14.  
People send a card or present to someone they love on this day.  
You must not sign the card, though, it's meant to be a secret!

There are lovely Valentine's cards to print and colour in at:
www.crayola.com/cardcreator/

There are more Valentines cards to make, recipes and crafts at this Kids Domain page:
www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/val/

There are even more original ideas for Valentine's Day crafts at:
www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/crafts-animals.htm

You'll be amazed how many animals you can make with heart shapes at this site with
printable pages:
www.first-school.ws/theme/animals/crafts/heart-shape.htm

As usual Activity Village has an enormous number of cards, activities, crafts, recipes and 
puzzles for your kids to enjoy
www.activityvillage.co.uk/valentines_day.htm

Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Day!
16 February

Shrove Tuesday in the Christian calendar is the last day before Lent.  (Lent is the 40 days before Easter).  As Lent was a time of fasting, Shrove Tuesday became the day when all the fats, cream and sugar needed to be used up.  (In France and other countries, Shrove Tuesday is called Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday).  This is why we traditionally eat pancakes on this day.  In the olden days people also had Pancake Races where they would run along with their pancake in the pan, flipping and catching it as they ran.  

In Scarborough they celebrate Shrove Tuesday by skipping (with skipping rope) for a mile along the seafront.  It sounds such good fun it may inspire you to revive the custom!  

Copyright www.sideburn.demon.co.uk

There is a very famous poem by Christina Rossetti which celebrates this custom:
Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake,
Catch it if you can!

You'll find a classic Delia Smith recipe for pancakes at:  www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes

You can make wonderful Mardi Gras masks at:
www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/mardigras/mmasks.htm

You can even make a Mardi Gras float for your Barbie Doll!:
www.mardigrasday.com

There's a Mardi Gras colouring page to print at:
www.holidays.net/mardigras

Mother's Day
14 March

This is your chance to show your mum how much you appreciate everything she does for you.  You don't need to spend money to get a present for her, you could do something kind for her today, pick her some flowers, or make something special for her to keep. 

You could write all the things you love about your mum in a letter.  You could even draw a picture of her as well.  Or you could just write a little note wishing her a happy Mothers' Day, it's up to you.  If you can't think what to write, how about a  poem like this?

Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave dirty marks
On furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing 
I'll be grown up some day
And all those little dirty marks
Will all have gone away.

As I grow, I'll change a lot,
The years will fly right by.
You'll wonder how I grew so quick
When and where and why?

I may be still very small
But this I'd like to say
I love you very, very BIG
Happy Mother's Day!

You'll find this and other verses like it at:
www.verses4cards.co.uk/mothers-day-poems-from-kids.html

There are lots of free Mothers' Day cards to print out and colour in at Activity Village:
www.activityvillage.co.uk/mothers_day_colouring.htm

This link tells you how to make lovely photo frames:
www.kidsdomain.com/craft/momphotographs.html

This link has instructions for making Mother's Day Cards with your own fingerprints:
www.kidsdomain.com/craft/momcards.html

You can find out how to make Painted Flower Pot gift at:
www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/thankyougifts/flowerpot/

You can print off some coupons for your mum, with promises that you'll do things for her at:
www.kidsturncentral.com/holidays/mothers/nmcoupons.htm
Make sure you only give her the ones that you are able and prepared to do.

As usual Disney manages to do all these things and better than everyone else.  They even have a best Grandma certificate - in case she's feeling left out!   Visit their Family Fun pages to find colouring cards, crafts and coupons:
http://family.go.com/holidays/pkg-disney-mothers-day-printables/

You may need to ask dad or older brothers or sisters for some help ... and don't forget to clear up all your mess afterwards, to keep mum happy! 

St Patrick's Day
17 March

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland.  St Patrick was captured by pirates when he was a boy and spent six years as a slave before he was able to escape.  He trained as a missionary and went to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity.  Ireland is famous for not having any snakes on the island and the Irish believe that it was St Patrick who drove them all away.

Irish fairy stories are full of leprechauns who are mischievous little green men who make shoes for the fairies, but who also love gold and bury pots of it at the end of rainbows.  You can try to trick a leprechaun into telling you where he has buried his gold.  But if he offers to lead you there, you must never let him out of your sight or he will vanish into thin air!  If you could ever find the end of the right rainbow you could dig a hole there and find a pot of gold - so the story goes.  

One of our favourite books was Paddy's Pot of Gold by Dick King Smith.  It's well worth getting out of the library if you can find it.

If you can't find this book, then you can always read or print out a story about leprechauns at Highlightkids.com's website:  www.highlightskids.com/Stories/

Apparently, you can use a shamrock (or four leaf clover) as bait for a leprechaun trap because leprechauns love them.  It's very good luck to find a four leaf clover (not just on St Patrick's Day!)  So see if you can find one when you are in the park or your garden.  They are very rare, so if you do find one, keep it safe and it will bring you good luck.  
Four leaf clovers look like this:

  A four leaf clover.

This excellent site: www.first-school.ws/theme/printables has colouring pages, leprechaun printables and activities for pre-schoolers.  It's fun and educational.

You can print out all you need (apart from the inside of a toilet roll) to   
Make your own Leprechaun at: www.dltk-holidays.com

If you'd like to Grow Your Own Leprechaun or Build a Leprechaun Trap visit:
http://familycrafts.about.com

Perhaps if you can trap a leprechaun he will tell you where his gold is buried! 

  
You can make the cutest wee leprechaun and a place to catch him with instructions from Disney's family crafts pages:
http://familyfun.go.com/st-patricks-day/
There are also all sorts of games, recipes, colouring pages and craft activities for St Patrick's Day on the same site. 

There are more: crafts, colouring, games and recipes at the excellent dltk site:
www.dltk-holidays.com/patrick

If you'd like to find out how all the colours of the rainbow can be made, take a look at the Colour Wheel at: www.kidzone.ws/science/colorwheel.htm
It explains very simply how colours can all be mixed from the three primary colours.  
You can print out the sheet in colour or black and white - then colour it in yourself!

Spring Equinox
(First day of Spring)
20 March

On this special day the sun will rise precisely from the East and set twelve hours later due West, for this is one of only two days in the year when the day and night are exactly equal (equi - equal; nox - night).  In Britain, this means that Springtime is beginning at last.

In pagan times the people used to celebrate by dressing up a young man and woman as the Green Man and Mother Nature.  Nowadays, we mostly just do lots of spring cleaning and start to venture out into the garden again!  

The arrival of Spring is one of the most obvious things to celebrate as it brings with it the promise of new life.  Look around in your garden and in the countryside and you will see all sorts of flowers starting to blossom and bloom.  There will be baby lambs out on the fields and if you look very carefully you may spot some birds gathering twigs to build their nests.

The very kind people at The Woodland Trust have put together 100 activities for Spring, which you can find and download here: www.naturedetectives.org.uk/download/spring
These include a Spring Play Booklet, a Woodland Log Book and many nature spotter sheets.

You don't have to go far, though, to celebrate Spring.  Why not clear out all your old toys and make room for new things, or maybe go into the garden with mum and dad to help tidy up in preparation for some new flowers and plants.  Maybe this year you could have a patch of your own where you could grow some fruit and vegetables?  There are many more ideas to help you with this on our Mums Green pages.  

April Fool's Day
1 April

Trick your mum or dad on the morning of April Fool's Day, by printing off this page, folding it in half to make a card and then gluing it together.  Whoever you give it to won't be able to open it - so they're the fool!  http://familyfun.go.com/Resources