Felt Santa Hats

In preparation for Christmas, I needed a pattern for Santa hats for my, I mean, Santa's little helpers. I couldn't find any patterns readily, so I made my own. You can too. These are my easy step-by-step instructions for sewing a felt Santa hat.

What you need:

* Red felt

* Whit felt

* Scissors

* Red thread

* Whit thread

* Needle or sewing machine

* Tape measure

* Pins

* Bell or white pompom

How you do it:

Measure two isoceles triangles out of the red felt. Each triangle must have a base of 12" and a height of 15". Cut them out and stitch the edges together, leaving the base open. Turn the triangles inside out so that the seams are on the inside.

Measure a long rectangle out of the white felt, 24" by 3". Fold in half and stitch the short edges together. Now fold the rectangle in half lengthways so that the stitched seam is on the inside.

Slip the base of the red triangle into the white rectangle base so that the open edges are together. Stitch the white felt onto the red felt.

Turn the white felt down and iron flat. Stitch a white pompom or silver bell on the end of the hat to finish it off.

Merry Christmas!

Balloon Buddies

Another very simple project! And one that inflates your inspiration to new heights!

What you will need:

Balloons.

Scraps of firm cardstock.

Scissors.

Permanent marker.

Pencils, crayons, kokis.

How to do it:

Draw two large ovals on the cardstock, slightly overlapping one another.

Detail and colour the ovals to resemble shoes - any kind you can think of: pumps, sneakers, boots, slippers, lace-ups, mary-janes.

Carefully cut out your prepared "shoes".

At the point where the ovals overlap, punch a small round hole.

Blow up the balloons and knot to close.

Using a permanent marker, draw faces on the balloons - human or animal, realistic or fantasy.

Slip the knot of the balloon through the hole in the cardstock from the detailed side.

Go on, create an entire Balloon Buddy Clan today!

Bird Feeder

This is a fun, and relatively quick activity which not only keeps little hands busy, but also enhances environmental awareness.

What you will need:

A pine cone. We picked ours up while out for a walk.

About 5 table-spoons of peanut butter, but it will depend on the size of your pine cone.

A knife or teaspoon for spreading.

A cup of bird seed.

String.

How to do it:

* Spread the peanut butter directly onto the pine-cone. Try to press it in between the branches of the pine cone to cover as much surface area as possible.

* Roll the peanut-buttery pine-cone directly in the bird seed. (This is a wonderful tactile experience as the bird seed quickly clings to the peanut butter - removing the stickiness - and creates a wonderfully smooth, yet bumpy texture on the pine cone. It's marvelous to run your fingers over!)

* Tie your length of string securely to the top of the pine cone.

* Choose a suitable branch from which to suspend your organic bird feeder and wait for your feathered friends to drop by...

Fun Spaghetti

I received this idea via a forwarded email, so I don't take responsibility for it, but I wanted to share it because it is a fun way to get the kids involved in the meal preparations. (The photos are my own original pics - just to prove that all ideas posted on the Vacation Station have been tried and tested by me and my crew!)

Quite simply, this is a fun way with an old favourite: Spaghetti and viennas.

You'll need:

Twice as many viennas as there are mouths to feed (two each).

Uncooked spaghetti.

Pot of boiling water (add oil and salt as you would when cooking any pasta)

How to do it:

Chop viennas into bite-size pieces.

Get the kids to push the spaghetti sticks through the viennas - about 6 or 7 sticks of spaghetti per piece of vienna.

Place the prepared spaghetti into the boiling water and cook as you would normal pasta.

Drain and serve!

This makes eating spaghetti a lot easier for little hands that usually lose the slippery strands from their forks - by stabbing the vienna onto your fork, you've got your spaghetti quite securely too!

Happy Banner

Ok, so this was a wild grab at something that turned out to be a greatly satisfying activity after all. The resulting effect was so gratifying, in fact, that we repeated this activity for a birthday party held later in the week, and had the same great results with the birthday girl's name. Try it over your kids' bedroom doors for fun.

The girls' dad had been away on business for a few days, and to welcome him home, they made him a happy banner.

They chose the word "DAD" for this banner. Each letter was traced onto an A4 page. The girls coloured and cut out each letter.

They cut strips of gift wrap ribbon and

attached the letters to the ribbon with tape.

A couple of extra strips of ribbon were twirled to add to the banner. (Run the blade of your scissors at an angle along gift wrap ribbon to make it really twirly).

Ribbons and letters were pasted up over the doorway that their daddy would come through.