Some festive baking! Yum!

Some festive baking! Yum! Christmas is a great time of year to make biscuits. There are loads of cookie cutter shapes to choose from, I chose Christmas trees. I used a favourite recipe that never fails. This is a very easy recipe called 1-2-3 biscuits from ‘Cakes and Cake Decorating’ by Rosemary Wadey.

The recipe for some festive baking! Yum!

2oz/50g butter

1oz/25g caster sugar

3oz/75g plain flour

To make 

Cream butter and sugar together and then gradually add the flour. Knead till smooth. I made this in my mixer but it is easily done by hand.

Chill the biscuit dough for at least an hour. If you miss this it will be very difficult to roll out and cut into biscuit shapes.

Once chilled roll out on a floured surface. Cut into shapes. I used a christmas tree shaped cutter. Bake at 150C /300F /Gas 2 for about 25 minutes (less if you have a fan oven. Check often anyway). They should be lightly browned. I have a gas oven that has a mind of it’s own so please don’t take my timings as exact!

Once cooked allow to cool and then decorate using icing (icing sugar and water mixed- add water little by little). I added green colouring jell. Decorate any way you like. And enjoy!

Hundreds and thousands cake decorations
Decorating biscuits with icing
Some festive baking! Yum!
SAM_2052
SAM_2053
SAM_2054

Star Christmas decoration to make – using lollipop sticks

Star Christmas decoration to make to hang on the tree! Lots of sequins are needed for this simple star shaped decoration for the Christmas Tree. It’s a fun craft to make and looks lovely as a special home made decoration. The printable banner, ‘Joy to the World’ is a reminder of the great news of the first Christmas.

Luke 2:10-11 And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

Everything you need for the star decoration

  • Six lollipop/ popsicle sticks per star. (plus some spare in case of any mishaps!) Try to buy the coloured sticks. (Please consider purchasing through this link as the blog will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!)
  • Sequins (different colours, shapes and sizes)
  • PVA glue and spreaders
  • A button and thread
  • ‘Joy to the World’ mini banner (download available below)

How to make the star

1. Glue the lollipop sticks together – layer the sticks as shown in the photo and wait for the glue to dry.

2. Meanwhile thread the cotton through the button – tie in a knot to make a loop. This will be used to hang the star from the tree.

3. Glue the threaded button to the top of the lollipop stick star.

4. Before you add sequins to the lollipop stick glue the mini ‘Joy to the World’ banner in place and then add sequins to the star.

Diagram showing how to put a lollipop stick star shape together
Star decoration made with lollipop sticks and sequins
Star decoration for the Christmas tree made with lollipop sticks and sequins

Here’s another star idea that’s suitable for under 5’s. A Christmas Star wreath shape decorated with pictures from Christmas cards. If you don’t have Christmas cards use wrapping paper scraps!

A Christmas Carol to enjoy!

How to make a shepherd

How to make a shepherd printable instructions.

You can make a shepherd to add to a Nativity display or use when telling the Christmas Story. Below is a photo of a nativity to give you an idea of how you can use paper plate Christmas characters to build a Christmas scene. In the picture we have Mary and Joseph, angels and shepherds. The manger is a party bag with yellow tissue paper inside – see this post for instructions and a printable baby , the stable is made from a cardboard box lined with yellow tissue paper on the inside and covered with brown tissue paper on the outside.

How to make a shepherd printable

How to make a shepherd printable instructions

You can print the above by clicking on download…

There is a similar printable all about making an angel available in this post

Enjoy making a Christmas scene to use in storytelling or as a decoration.

Make a Paper Plate Christingle for 7-11 year olds

Angel!

There are lots of Bible stories that include angels so this craft isn’t just for Christmas! But obviously we often make angel crafts at Christmas so here is a paper plate angel that stands up and could be used as a tree topper.

All you need – paper plates (cheap and quite thin as you want to cut them in half and fold them), doilies (not too large and cut or folded in half), wool for hair, stars and shiny paper to decorate, glue and crayons to draw on features and glue.

If you are making these in a toddler group do all the cutting out prep beforehand and have a made angel to give an idea. If you want to do the folding of the plate ahead of time you could.

Enjoy!

Make Your Own Advent Calendar

All you need to make an advent calendar with Bible verses that help us to prepare for Christmas

Are you looking forward to Christmas? One way of helping our children understand the real meaning of Christmas is to point them to what the Bible has to say about the Birth of Jesus. This ‘make your own advent calendar’ is a simple way of helping us to re-focus on Jesus as we get ready to celebrate Christmas. There is one picture for each day (tree, sheep, star and a manger for Christmas Day) with a Bible reference to look up and read as a family.

How to make this advent calendar

You will need…

Print the symbols onto card and cut out. Place each one in an envelope with a number on the outside (you can buy inexpensive special advent stickers for this), add small treats to the envelope too. At the beginning of December put up some string or ribbon and use pegs or paper clips to attach the picture each day during advent. You can leave the pictures black and white or colour them. There are Bible verses to read each day – help the children to find the verse in the Bible (some are a bit tricky to find) and read the verse with them.

You can add a chocolate treat too if you wish. When our children were small we’d have eaten the chocolate treat either straight after breakfast or straight after school and read the Bible verses at bedtime. But you pick a time that fits in with your family life!

The envelopes, pegs, stickers and string can be used another year and you can print out as many of the Christmas shapes as you like.

Free printable is here  Christmas 3-shapes 3 ( verses)  Christmas 3-shapes 2 ( verses)  Christmas 3-shapes 1 ( verses)

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on the link and make a purchase it helps fund this blog at no extra cost to you. 

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