The Weekend Box Update

Around this time last year I was given the chance to review The Weekend Box. This box was packed full of activities aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 8, the idea was to stop bordem from setting in on those weekends when perhaps you have nothing planned or bad weather stops play.

A year on and Weekend Box are still going strong, so good that in November of last year they won Start Up Of The Year at the Start-Up Loan competition in London.

Since reviewing last, there have been a few changes and I happen to think these improvements are very effective but the good news is that they still remain at the great price of £7.50 per box and you receive one every fortnight.

So what's changed? Firstly the actual box has had a small make over. The box can now be closed meaning activities can now be transported without getting lost, fantastic if your children plan on staying at say nannie's house and want to take their box with them.

Secondly each weekend box now comes with a theme. Rather than 4 random activities, each activity now relates in some way to the others. My box followed the theme of Chinese New Year. The activities included making fortune cookies, paper plate drums, Chinese dragons and Chinese lanterns.

Creating a Christmas Wreath

I love crafting with the kids and Christmas is the perfect excuse to get out to get a little creative. I wanted some new decorations this year but didn't want it to cost a lot so we've been creating some decorations of our own, starting with an simple festive wreath.

You will need :

Hanging Snowflakes

You may have seen that we have been making alot of our own Christmas decorations this year including a toilet roll Christmas tree. Today I am going to show you how to make hanging snowflakes, perfect for adding a touch of Christmas to your windows.

You will need :

* plain white paper
* coloured wool
* pen
* scissors
* sewing needle

1. Take one corner of your paper and fold it over until it reaches the other side of the paper as shown below :

2. Cut along the verticle line you have created and you will be left with what looks like a triangle. Then take your pen and draw whatver shapes you like around the triangle.

3. Open out your triangle to reveal your snowflake. Repeat these steps to create as many snowflakes as you would like, for the purpose of this post I have made three snowflakes.

4. You will now need the wool you have picked out, I suggest the length you need is 1 and a half times the length of the snowflakes when all put together in a row. Tie a not at one end of the wool and then using a large sewing needle, thread the wool through one corner of the first snowflake.

5. Continue to thread the wool through the bottom and top of each subsequent snowflake, making sure to double sew on each corner so that the snowflake won't slip down the wool. You can then tie a loop at the top of the final snowflake for hanging.

6. Hang your snowflakes up and show them off.

To make your hanging snowflakes really stick out you can use different coloured papers or even create your own designs on them.

xxxx