New Year Crafts for Kids

It is only 10 days until 2008 and you might be planning to celebrate the coming of the New Year with your kids - or put them to bed at the normal time and have an adult celebration! Either way, children love the concept of a "new" year and it is a good time to think about their aims for the year ahead and work on some personal or family goals.

On a practical level, if the kids are staying up you are going to need to keep them entertained way past their normal bedtime! We have New Year puzzles, New Year printables, New Year coloring pages, New Year jigsaws and a brand new page of New Year crafts which should help you to do that!

New Year for Kids

Kwanzaa for Kids!

Kwanzaa is celebrated over the 7 days between 26th December and 1st January each year by African Americans, primarily in the US. If you celebrate Kwanzaa (or would like to learn more about the holiday) please take a look at our new Kwanzaa page, where we have a collection of Kwanzaa crafts and inspiration for many more Kwanzaa activities for kids.



This kinara craft is just one of the new Kwanzaa crafts for children you will find!

Christmas Crafts for Kids - lots new!

We've been adding some super new Christmas crafts for kids of all ages. Please take a look!Christmas Crafts for Kids

Three Is A Magic Number (Schoolhouse Rock)

NB: Please do not let your children browse video sharing sites unsupervised.

Happy New Year 2008 coloring pages

We have just added some new New Year coloring pages to the website for 2008. Perfect to keep the kids busy in the long wait for midnight!

New Year coloring pages

Little Christmas Tree Decoration - video from Activity Village

NB: Please do not let your children explore online video sharing websites without supervision!

St Andrew's Day Crafts

If you are celebrating St Andrew's Day on 30th November, or if you would like to try your hand at some of our new "Scottish" crafts, please head over to our St Andrew's Day crafts page! Your kids can make a Loch Ness Monster and a sporran, try painting a tartan or a golf ball modern masterpiece, or enjoy our golf games (after all, Scotland is known as the home of golf!)

St Andrew's Day Crafts

St Andew's Day for Kids

Printable Bookmarks for Christmas

These new Christmas bookmarks make a great little gift for a teacher to give a pupil, or for kids to give each other at Christmas instead of Christmas cards. Or perhaps a few will find their way into a Christmas stocking? We have seven different designs:
Christmas bookmarks

Advent Crafts - make your own advent calendars this year!

This weekend, why not sit your children down to make their own advent calendars! We have two new craft ideas as well as a printable advent paper chain that your children will enjoy putting together!


Advent Chest


Advent Train

Advent Paper Chain

Printable Christmas Cards - gorgeous!

If you are looking for some Christmas cards to print, please have a look at our newest addition to the website! The cards are simple, pretty and festive (and not too heavy on ink requirements!)

Printable Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards to Print and Color

Just added today, a selection of Christmas cards which you can print for your children to color in, perfect for a special card for a special person this Christmas!
Printable Christmas Cards to Color

Christmas Coloring Pages

Please check out our updated and expanded collection of Christmas coloring pages! We have colorings to appeal to all ages of children, and you'll find everything from a smiling Santa to the Christmas pudding!
Christmas Coloring Pages

Hanukkah for Kids

If you are celebrating Hanukkah, or would like to learn something about this Jewish festival of lights which begins on 4th December this year, head over to our brand new Hanukkah For Kids pages, where you will find:

Hanukkah crafts - a brilliant collection of crafts from Sarah and Jack, including this fantastic Menorah banner

Hanukkah coloring pages

Hanukkah printables - writing paper for all ages and some printable crafts

Hanukkah cards to print and color

Hanukkah puzzles

Hanukkah links - other fun Hanukkah activities to enjoy with your children from around the web.

Food Coloring Pages

We have a new range of food coloring pages on the website - everything from broccoli to ice-cream cones!
Food coloring pages

Printable Lined Paper - all sorts!

We have begun to add a selection of printable lined paper to Activity Village - including handwriting paper, lined paper for all ages, story paper, writing frames, graph paper and more. Print out a stack or bookmark the pages so that you can find them when you need them.
Printable Lined Paper

Happy Thanksgiving! New Thanksgiving printables...

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American visitors!

If you are looking for some last minute ideas to keep your kids busy while you get the turkey ready, have a look at our new Thanksgiving printables...

Thanksgiving printables

Circle of Smiles - watch with the kids..

NB: Please do not let your kids browse online video sites unsupervised!

More Thanksgiving Crafts!

Isn't this squash pilgrim gorgeous? We've added him, and some super handprint craft ideas for Thanksgiving, to our Thanksgiving crafts section today.
Thanksgiving Crafts

Thanksgiving Printables and Coloring Pages

We have added a new collection of Thanksgiving printables and coloring pages today, perfect for keeping the kids busy on Thanksgiving Day - or for the classroom.


Thanksgiving coloring pages


Thanksgiving printables

New transport-themed coloring pages added

We have just added a new collection of transport-themed coloring pages to Activity Village. If your child likes sports cars, campers, tankers, motorbikes, boats and planes ... take a look!
Transport-themed coloring pages

Scarecrow puppet and more autumn crafts

We have added a bunch of new autumn crafts to Activity Village in the last few days, including a super scarecrow puppet (made using a wooden spoon), an autumn wreath and tree, a leaf rubbing fairy, twig fairy, and many more!
Autumn Crafts for Kids

Origami Elephant - Video

Watch Tilly demonstrating our latest Origami for Kids - this cute Origami elephant!

Printable instructions are available here :

Origami elephant

More Origami for Kids

Origami Booklet - Video

Printable instructions for this Origami Booklet are here:
Origami booklet

More Origami for Kids

St Andrew's Day Fun For Kids

New at Activity Village is our St Andrew's Day page. St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and St Andrew's Day is celebrated on 30th November each year by Scots all around the world.

We have some brand new activities for your children on a Scottish theme - including some great colouring pages, an origami Loch Ness Monster, word searches, downloadable jigsaws, and a collection of flag and map printables.

St Andrew's Day for Kids

Bonfire Night Fun, including some great new crafts!

It's Bonfire Night tonight, and if you haven't had your celebration yet, head on over to our Bonfire Night pages to find a great new collection of Bonfire Night crafts as well as puzzles, jigsaws and recipes and a printable version of the Firework Code to make sure you stay safe.
Bonfire Night at Activity Village

Halloween Crafts for Kids - more added!

Sarah and Jack have been busy with some brilliant new Halloween crafts. Try making a skeleton costume from a black dustbin bag, painting a pumpkin jack-o-lantern, and making some spooky Halloween mosaic pictures. Find these Halloween crafts for kids - and many more - here:
Halloween Crafts for Kids

Another Halloween Video - Marshmallow Ghosts and Ghouls

Halloween Origami - video of Halloween cat and broomstick

Halloween Origami - mummies, witch's cats and broomsticks!

We've added some gorgeous new Halloween origami ideas to the site this week which are fun to fold but also make cute stick puppets, invitations or table decorations too. Or how about bringing out some origami paper and the printable instructions for a quiet activity at your Halloween party?
Halloween origami

Marshmallow Ghosts and Ghouls - a fun snack for Halloween

We had great fun making these Marshmallow Ghosts and Ghouls - and just as much fun eating them! We will be making them again as an activity at our Halloween party, too, as I know Tilly's friends will enjoy decorating their own. You can even sit down with the kids to watch Tilly make them on video!
Marshmallow Ghosts and Ghouls

Fall crafts - have a printing and painting session!

If the kids feel like getting the paints out, there are some great ideas for a messy printing session on our Autum / Fall crafts page - using everything from handprints to apples!

Fall Crafts

Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids

If you head over to our Thanksgiving pages today you will find a brand new collection of original Thanksgiving crafts to enjoy with your kids, including this pretty salt dough apple wreath (best for older children), a Harvest Basket from construction paper, and more!

Thanksgiving Crafts

Online fun with this newspaper page generator

Your children will have fun with this online generator: simply type in your own date, heading and words and click "generate" to product a newspaper graphic like this one. The possibilities are endless! Perhaps you could use it for school projects, invitations, birth announcements, congratulatory messages, birthday cards...
Online newspaper generator

Halloween Lunch Box Notes - 16 to print and enjoy!

We are sure your kids will enjoy these little Halloween Lunch Box Notes - 16 little snippets of fun to print and pop into a lunch box every day. (I never did lunch boxes, but the kids often find one in their place on the breakfast table in the morning!) Until 10 minutes ago this pack was for sale. Now you can download it free.

Halloween Lunch Box Notes

For all mothers - a must-see video!

Make A Cat Mask - for Halloween or anytime

This cat mask craft includes all the best crafty activities - painting, cutting, sticking and make-believe! And best of all, you can use the finished product to go trick-or-treating on Halloween too.

Cat Mask

Fun printable toys from a Japanese site..

I have just come across this Japanese page of fun printable toys. You will have to guess at the instructions (unless you can read Japanese!) but there are illustrations which show you how to put the toys together. Click on the links to find the printables themselves - bearing in mind that sometimes you will be taken to the printables, and sometimes to a commercial site selling craft supplies! I particularly liked the pop up racoon and cut puppets and the skittles.

Printable toys

Cute hedgehog craft

If you are out looking for conkers, why not pick up some horse chestnut shells too and try our very cute hedgehog craft!

Painted candle craft - messy but effective fun for kids!

We made our candle to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, but you could make Christmas or Halloween candles in exactly the same way. They would also make a lovely hand made gift.

Painted Candle Craft

Tea Light Holder craft - quick and easy, but a great gift that kids can make!

Using a terracotta pot or ramekin makes this a very quick and easy craft, but you can really go to town with your decorations! It makes a perfect little present, too.

Tea Light Holder craft

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, and some new craft ideas

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, will be celebrated on 9th November this year, and we have updated our Diwali pages to include new Diwali recipes, crafts and links to some excellent pages elsewhere on the net. This is one of our newest crafts - a simple clay diya (lamp) which even the youngest children can enjoy.



Simple diya craft

The Potato Story - (educational) fun for kids!

The Potato Story is a fun, interactive initiative by McCain Foods to help children understand the origins of the food they eat, plant growth and nutrition. The website is based on the journey a potato takes from a farmer’s field to your fork to help engage school children in ICT, literacy and numeracy.

Targeted to Key Learning Stage 2 (7-11 years of age), The Potato story includes lesson plans, interactive games and quizzes and teachers’ notes offering guidance and suggestions for classroom activities based around each module’s theme. Along with recipes to try in the classroom or at home, children can learn through the characters Cheeky Ladybird, Bossy Butterfly, Lazy Caterpillar, Busy Bee and Jolly Hen.

In addition to the website, The Potato Story will also be accompanied by a re-designed London route master bus which will support the launch of the in-classroom teaching resource by visiting schools to add an experiential element to the programme.

The Potato Story supports the Year of Food and Farming, a government initiative aimed to get children interested in all aspects of the countryside, farming and food.

The idea for The Potato Story came from research commissioned by the British Heart Foundation which found that one in three children didn’t know that chips were made from potatoes! There will be no excuse for that now!

The Potato Story

The Potato Story - (educational) fun for kids!

The Potato Story is a fun, interactive initiative by McCain Foods to help children understand the origins of the food they eat, plant growth and nutrition. The website is based on the journey a potato takes from a farmer’s field to your fork to help engage school children in ICT, literacy and numeracy.



Targeted to Key Learning Stage 2 (7-11 years of age), The Potato story includes lesson plans, interactive games and quizzes and teachers’ notes offering guidance and suggestions for classroom activities based around each module’s theme. Along with recipes to try in the classroom or at home, children can learn through the characters Cheeky Ladybird, Bossy Butterfly, Lazy Caterpillar, Busy Bee and Jolly Hen.

In addition to the website, The Potato Story will also be accompanied by a re-designed London route master bus which will support the launch of the in-classroom teaching resource by visiting schools to add an experiential element to the programme.

The Potato Story supports the Year of Food and Farming (http://www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk/), a government initiative aimed to get children interested in all aspects of the countryside, farming and food.

The idea for The Potato Story came from research commissioned by the British Heart Foundation which found that one in three children didn’t know that chips were made from potatoes! There will be no excuse for that now!

Halloween Links updated - a HUGE collection of fun Halloween ideas!

Tracy has just updated our Halloween links page and we now have a really enormous collection of fun Halloween activities from the web (just in case you can't find enough to keep you occupied at Activity Village's Halloween pages!

Halloween Links

Halloween Project - Home-made tombstones!

Decorate your house or garden this Hallooween with these very realistic and spooky home-made tombstones! Adults needed to make these..

Littlest Pet Shop - games, printables and ecard fun

We think the Littlest Pet Shop characters are really cute, and enjoyed playing the online games and doing some sweet coloring pages at the official site, here.

If you want still more Littlest Pet Shop coloring pages, have a look at our Coloring Page Database listing.

Littlest Pet Shop coloring pages

Parenting Lessons Learned From a Piece of Pink Cake

By Terre Grable

Yesterday was a definite eye opening day. It was the first day back from summer of a mother’s group I attend at church. You could sense the excitement in the air of catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Then it hit me, this would be the first year I would be attending without my oldest daughter. For five years, we had attended together. There would be no more chasing my daughter up the lobby stairs to catch her before she independently went to her classroom. There would be no more midday surprise lunches after my group, or meeting up with friends at the park afterwards. It had all been replaced with growing up and pre-kindergarten.

So I did what any other self respecting and grief stricken mother would do...

Read the rest of "Parenting Lessons Learned From a Piece of Pink Cake"

Dice Games for Kids

We have just added 15 brilliant dice games for younger children to the website (previously only available as a purchasable download). Many are printable and most are educational - although the children will be having so much fun with them that they won't realise! These first 15 games are aimed at younger children (although many are adaptable for older kids); we have more games for older age groups coming soon.

Dice Games for Kids

A Most Important Word

By Mark Brandenburg

There have been countless debates about how to help your kids become happy, healthy, successful people in their own lives. And one effective method of preparing them for their own lives is to give them a heavy dose of the word that not enough kids are getting today.
The word?

Blackberry picking and recipes!

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but blackberries are out now in our region of the UK, and there are buckets and buckets of them within a few minutes walk of our house. There is something so satisfying about taking the kids out for a walk and coming back with overflowing containers of delicious, free blackberries, and then piling into the kitchen together to make something yummy with them.

Here are some blackberry recipes to get you started:

Fresh blackberry lemonade
The blackberries make this lemonade unusual and special.

Blackberry smoothie
Delicious, quick and wholesome - great for a snack or a quick breakfast.

Berry Brulee
This isn't a true brulee recipe, but a quick version which is still delicious and probably more popular with children.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble
As the evenings begin to draw in, take comfort in the smell of this crumble cooking in the oven! Serve with cream or vanilla ice-cream. You can also make up extra of the crumble mixture and store it in the freezer, ready for an almost instant pudding next time!

Blackberry Whip
This is a wickedly good desert! You can obviously vary the berries according to what you have in the fridge.

And here is a Blackberry colouring page too, in case the kids want something to do while you are busy in the kitchen preparing something special...

Hand Gestures Dramatically Improve Learning..

Kids asked to physically gesture at math problems are nearly three times more likely than non-gesturers to remember what they've learned.

In today's issue of the journal Cognition, a University of Rochester scientist suggests it's possible to help children learn difficult concepts by providing gestures as an additional and potent avenue for taking in information.

"We've known for a while that we use gestures to add information to a conversation even when we're not entirely clear how that information relates to what we're saying," says Susan Wagner Cook, lead author and postdoctoral fellow at the University. "We asked if the reverse could be true; if actively employing gestures when learning helps retain new information."

It turned out to have a more dramatic effect than Cook expected.

Read more

Times Tables - a new way to learn them!

We love these printable "Multiplication Thinkin' Logs" from The Toymaker. You get to build a tower and practice your times tables at the same time - what a great idea!

Halloween Crafts for Kids - two great new ideas

Sarah and Jack have been busy this week with two really brilliant new Halloween crafts - a Haunted House made out of a large cardboard box and a very realistic Mummy Hand Desk Tidy - the perfect accessory for your pens and pencils this Halloween!

Halloween Crafts for Kids

Monarch Butterflies, Migration, Mexico and More!

This fascinating website offers an insight into the amazing annual migration of the monarch butterfly from the US to Mexico - and a lot more besides! Written specially for kids, there is a wealth of information to discover and some beautiful pictures too. We particularly enjoyed the slideshows and booklets looking at the life of various Mexican children.

Journey North for Kids

And if you feel like spending some more time looking at butterflies, you will find a collection of butterfly coloring pages and a butterfly mobile craft at Activity Village.

Bible Stories for Kids - fantastic new web resource!

We have just spent an hour exploring this fantastic new website, Friends and Heroes, based on animated Bible stories for children. There are a number of episodes online - of which you can watch snippets - but within many of the episodes you will also find charming animated videos of some of the best-known Bible Stories, such as Daniel in the Lion's Den, Samson and Delilah etc.

We were fascinated by the "Time Travellers" section of the website, which gives plenty of historical background information on the period. There are also numerous printable puzzles and quizzes, coloring pages, posters, calendars and an excellent collection of worksheets to accompany each episode. Highly recommended.

Friends and Heroes

Halloween Crafts for Kids - lots NEW!

This week we have been busy adding a great collection of new Halloween Crafts to the site - all of which can be adapted for all age groups, including your youngest children. So if you are in need of some spooky inspiration, have a look here:

Halloween Crafts for Kids

Polar Bears - very cute printables, new from Jan Brett

Jan Brett has just published a new book, The Three Snow Bears, and has launched some new activities on her website, including these very cute printable pages of illustrated facts on polar bears and in Inuit people - well worth printing out. You will find a lovely coloring page too.

Polar bears information printable

Disneys© Meet The Robinsons activity book to download

Disneys© Meet The Robinsons fans will be thrilled with this 15-page printable activity book, available exclusively at Activity Village. There are mazes, puzzles and colouring pages of your favourite Meet the Robinsons characters to enjoy - perfect for keeping your kids busy!

Meet The Robinsons activity book

Roald Dahl fans - design a book cover

13th September is Roald Dahl Day. If your child has a favourite Roald Dahl book, perhaps they would like to design their own cover and send it in here - it might be displayed on the Roald Dahl Day website!

More Roald Dahl activities at Activity Village

Halloween Printables

We have just added some new Halloween printables to the website, including a collection of Halloween writing frames and outlines - in all sorts of appropriate shapes - that you can use for your writing projects at home and at school. We also have some fun new Ghost Cards and lots of suggestions for games to play with them!

Halloween Printables

Card Games for Kids!

In these days of computer games, video consoles and electronic toys, it is easy to forget how much fun can be had with a simple pack of cards (or two). Inexpensive, easily portable and amazingly versatile, cards can be played by mixed age family groups, children-only gatherings, and even the solitary child. Brush up on your card playing skills with our collection of Card Games for Kids!

Card Games for Kids

Moving With Children

How To Discuss The Move

First and foremost, your mood will have a huge impact on your child. If your attitude is one of adventure, and if you stay focused on the positive opportunities the move will be creating, this will filter down to your children and help them mentally adjust to the transition. On the other hand, if you are stressed, worried or depressed, your child will pick up on this also and possibly react in a totally negative manner. There is no greater fear than fear of the unknown. Therefore, give as many details about the move to your child as you feel is necessary. Children need to know why the family is moving and what will be happening during the move. At all times, remain upbeat and excited, particularly if you are discussing the new home and community.You might want to hold regular “Moving Talks” with the rest of the family. At this time, encourage your children to ask questions and voice their feelings.

Read the rest of this excellent article here

It’s Official – Being A Mum Is Back-breaking!

A leading osteopath has confirmed what many new mums know too well - being a parent can be back breaking work!

Research into back pain both during and after pregnancy shows that more than 70 per cent of mums with children under two suffer from aches and pains. And over half of these suffer most when carrying their children in their arms.

The Wilkinet survey also shows that nearly all the mums (97%) love cuddling their children but nearly half can’t do so as often as they would like because of back ache.

Martin Grundy, a leading Osteopath from Whitley Bay, says that back ache is a natural result of pregnancy, when hormonal changes soften the joints, but that many of us make it far worse by the way we cuddle our children or carry them in slings not designed to support both baby and parent...

Article continued..

Grandparents Day

Grandparents' Day is on 9th September 2007. We have lots of ideas to help your children to make their grandparents' day special, including crafts, coloring pages and printables!

"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children."Alex Haley

Grandparents Day at Activity Village

Yoga for Kids

We enjoyed this video on Yoga for Kids - hope you do too. Please remember not to let your kids browse video hosting websites unsupervised.

Movie reviews

If you are ever unsure whether you should let your children watch the latest film at the cinema or on rental, then check out this website:

Kids-In-Mind: Movie Ratings That Actually Work

It includes amazingly detailed reviews of many films, rating them for sex and nudity, violence and gore and profanity. (Check out the Ratings FAQ for detailed explanations of how these are assessed.) This can then help you determine whether the film is suitable for your children to watch. A very useful resource.

On-line drawing lessons

We just came across these wonderful on-line drawing videos by the well-known author and artist, Jan Brett. They are very detailed and may provide great inspiration for an older child. My 9 year old especially loved the Dolphin video.

Jan Brett's videos

Beanbag Games And Activities - fun ideas!

We have compiled a collection of ideas for keeping the kids busy with beanbags - from make your own games to tests of skill and challenges. Brilliant for a bored afternoon!

Beanbag Games