Busy Easter Kids
Painted Eggs
Hard boil an egg. Allow it to cool. Paint with Easter designs such as flowers and chicks or decorate with felt tip pens.
Try an inexpensive day out:
Visit a Sheep Farm, you might be lucky enough to feed
the lambs. 
Visit a Bluebell Walk or walk in the woods. If you have a digital camera, take a few pictures to download onto your computer. Use the pictures to help your children design and print Easter cards for family and friends.
Make an Easter Chick
You will need:
Cotton wool balls in white or yellow.
Small pieces of felt in orange and blue.
PVA or craft glue.
Glue stick.
A pencil.
A mug or other circular shape to draw around.
Scissors or an adult can pre cut felt feet, eyes and beaks from the felt.
Small piece of card, yellow if possible.
Small pieces of brown or yellow wool or similar.
1) Take two cotton wool balls. Make the head one smaller by removing some of the cotton wool.
2) Fluff them both up then gently roll in between your palms to smooth them out. Make the smaller head one a round shape, the larger body one a rounded, elongated shape.
3) Stick the small ball on the top of the larger ball at one end, with the larger ball on its side.
4) Cut a diamond shape from the orange felt for a beak. Fold the diamond in half and stick to the head.
5) Add cut circle blue felt eyes at the SIDE of the head.
6) Cut feet. Stick on underside of chick.
7) Take the card. Draw around the mug to create a circle. Cut out.
8) Snip in about 2cm all the way around the edge of the cut out circle. Fold the edges up to make a basket.
9) Add small cut pieces of wool to the basket to make a nest.
10) Sit chick on nest. Add a couple of foil covered mini eggs to basket.
11) Name your chick
Active Kids
It's great to keep active with sports and other organised activites, but give your children plenty of time for relaxation and imaginative play too. Rushing around to a constant stream of classes just leaves the whole family exhausted. Balance is the key. There are many clubs now for children to choose from. If you want a moderately priced option remember the old favourites of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts who provide a wide programme of activities.
Don't forget that children can keep fit with a run in the park, hide and seek, garden games, climbing frames etc. and walking. Skipping ropes, hula hoops, balls and frisbees are all inexensive and fun too.
Busy Summer Kids – Crafts for the School Holidays
Flower Cards and Gift Tags
Keep the kids busy making cards and gift tags. It’s lovely to receive a card made by a child so work out who has a birthday coming up and make your card with that person in mind. You could make several cards ahead of family birthdays, anniversaries etc. which could save money too. Bookmarks are easy to make using this method too.
You will need:
Card ( you may be able to find good bits of card
from packaging materials)
A flower press or a few heavy books
Blotting paper
Craft glue
Tacky back sticky paper
Scissors
Optional but helpful:
A paper cutter
Tweezers
Hole punch.
Instructions
1) Collect pretty flowers. Thick flowers take a long time to press so stick to thinner flowers. (Remember not to pick rare wild flowers, save them to produce seeds).
2) Arrange the flowers either between two sheets of blotting paper to press between the pages of a book or between blotting paper sheets in your flower press. If you are using books to press the flowers, ensure you have sufficient blotting paper to avoid the juices from the flowers staining the book. Place the book containing the flowers under other books to weigh it down.
3) Be very patient. You need to wait a few weeks for your flowers to dry out.
4) Using pre-cut cards or rectangles of card for gift tags, arrange the flowers in an attractive design. Use a tiny amount of glue to secure.
5) Cut tacky back to size. Cover the front of your card with a piece of tacky back to protect the flowers and to help them to stay in place.
6) Older children may wish to use a Calligraphy set to write a greeting on the card. For gift tags, punch a hole in the corner and add a tie.
Lavender Bags 
Easy, no sew lavender bags.
You will need:
Lavender collected from the garden and left to dry out or purchased lavender.
Small scraps of pretty material thin enough for a supervised child to cut easily
Elastic bands or pieces of wool to tie the bag
Pieces of ribbon
Pinking shears or scissors
Instructions
1) Cut a piece of material into a square using the pinking shears or scissors. The size will depend on how large you would like your lavender bag to be.
2) Pop some lavender into the centre of the square.
3) Draw up the sides of the material square to form a bag.
4) Secure with the elastic band or wool tie.
5) Decorate by adding a bow around the tie using the ribbon.
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Crafty Kids.
It’s always good to have a few ideas up your sleeve to entertain your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Here are crafty ideas that are fairly simple.
SAFETY: THIS ACTIVITY REQUIRES PARENTAL SUPERVISION AS SCISSORS ARE USED.
Star
Required: Silver foil or silver craft paper, card (e.g. an empty cereal packet), glue, hole punch, small piece of red wool or similar, children’s scissors, flat shape of a regular pentagon (5equal sides) or a hexagon (6 equal sides) to draw around, pencil, ruler.
1) Draw around the pentagon or hexagon onto the card.
2) Place the ruler on one side of the pentagon or hexagon. Make the line of that side much longer in both directions.
3) Repeat on all sides of the shape. You will have lines that cross over. Look carefully. Where the lines cross are the points of the star.
4) Cut out the star carefully.
5) Glue one side of the star lightly.
6) Place the glued side onto the foil or the white side of the silver craft paper.
7) Wait for the glue to dry.
8) Cut the silver paper around the star. Now your star is shiny on one side.
9) Glue the second side of the star.
10) Place onto silver foil or paper. Allow to dry.
11) Cut out the star.
12) Punch a hole into one point of the star. Make a hanging loop through with your wool.
Leaf Picture
Required: Sugar paper (preferred) or white paper, squeezy tubes of paint, leaves
1) Collect leaves, the ones with deep veins work best.
2) Paint the back of the leaf.
3) Press leaf onto paper to leave the print.
4) Optional addition of seeds, grains etc. sprinkled onto picture.
Firework Picture
Required: Black sugar paper (preferred) or dark paper, squeezy tubes of paint, tubs for paint e.g. margarine tubs, pva glue if possible, wide staws, objects to print with such as cotton reels, paint brushes, sequins.
1) If you have pva glue mix a small part of the glue into some paint. This makes the paint dry shiny.
2) Flick the paint onto the paper with a thick paintbrush. (This is messy. Watch the walls, clothing etc.!)
3) Using the straw, blow the paint across the page to create ‘fireworks’.
4) Use the printing objects to add interest e.g. use cotton reels to create Catherine wheels.
5) Add shiny sequins to finish.
Christmas Computer Pictures
You can make fun Christmas pictures using computer programmes such as Paint. On many computers you go to programmes then accessories then Paint is shown on the menu. Select Paint and your kids will be able to produce Christmas pictures. For example, you can make a snowman using the circles and ovals or a Christmas tree using triangles and lines. This can be decorated. Pictures can be coloured in using Paint. If you're really clever, you can use a programme such as Publisher to select a card and add your picture to create a Christmas card.
Christmas Snowman
SAFETY: THIS ACTIVITY REQUIRES PARENTAL SUPERVISION AS SCISSORS ARE USED.
1) Find some white card. Draw the shape of a snowman on the card. The base of your snowman must be flat. Cut out.
2) Place the cut out snowman onto another piece of white card, draw around and cut out a second snowman. The base of your snowman must be flat.
3) Using a ruler, draw a line up the middle of one snowman from the bottom to half way up. Cut along the line.
4) Using a ruler, draw a line down the middle of the other snowman, this time from the top to halfway down. Cut along the line.
5) Slot the two shapes together. You should now have one snowman which stands up.
6) Decorate your snowman. You can stick on a cut out hat. Use felt tips to add a scarf, eyes, nose, buttons etc. or stick collage extras on.
This idea can be extended to angels, Christmas trees etc.
Kind Kids
1) Make up a Christmas shoebox for a child who wouldn't otherwise receive a gift. See our feature Christmas Shoeboxes
2) Start a small coin collection for a chosen charity.
3) Take your child to visit an elderly relative or neighbour who is unable to get out and about very much.
4) Help your child make a card or a gift for someone else.
5) Sort out good condition but no longer played with toys to take to a charity shop
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