Christmas Crafting with Baker Ross

There is one thing that always keeps the girls busy on cold, rainy days – that is crafting. Getting creative kept us going through TWO lockdowns. They absolutely love getting creative, making things and drawing, we spend HOURS a week at the table and have art folders brimming with so much ‘work’ I don’t know where to store it, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I have happy memories of making, sticking, cutting and creating as a child, so I think I like to think the girls have inherited my creative side too. In today’s post I wanted to talk all about the christmas crafting sets we love from Baker Ross plus I’ve shared a few tips of how I manage crafting with two small toddlers.

I know a lot of you don’t like a mess (it’s the most common DM I get when I put pictures of crafts up!) plus it’s tricky when you have multiple children to supervise – but trust me, with Baker Ross kits and these tips it’ll be a breeze. I’ve also got an amazing discount code for Baker Ross to share with you, so keep reading!

I first discovered Baker Ross at the beginning of this year and I’m on my fourth or fifth order now, these kits are LIFESAVERS. Look out the window and see it’s raining? No problem if you know you’ve got a little stash of kits hiding away in a cupboard, ready to pop out and surprise your little ones. They really do take your Christmas crafting to the next level, plus they are so easy to do as everything you’ll need is usually included within the set.

Baker Ross are a crafts company to inspire your little ones creativity. They sell a wide range of activities which are perfect from small toddlers right to school aged children, plus lots to keep adults busy too with a wide range for adults crafting like paints, canvases, DIY projects.

The kits work with a wide range of materials from stickers, gemstones, ceramic, wood, fabrics, shells, stones, pom poms and more! Baker Ross have great collections for each season, usually, I’ll buy a box of Easter crafts, Halloween crafts and currently we are in festive season so it’s Christmas crafting time! Also, I love their brilliant kits which have everything you need to create different crafts with ease and minimal mess – I always end up popping a few other bits in my basket like pens, stickers, paper, card and more. I honestly want to order it ALL.

I also feel like Baker Ross gave me the confidence to start crafting with both girls. At the start of the year I would wait for Pearl’s nap to get crafting materials out as I felt I couldn’t handle two small children covered in glitter running about putting their hands on my white walls, but with Baker Ross it just isn’t that messy, so it’s so much more manageable when you have more than one child!

FEELING FESTIVE!

In the run up to Christmas this year, we’ve already been getting our craft on and making some lovely christmas decorations, wreaths, candle holders and more. The Baker Ross range is so diverse which I really love as each kit is so different to the next.

The first kit the girls really enjoyed is the Santa and Elf Baubles.

In this kit, the star baubles are already created but it comes with pre-cut sticky pieces to create the perfect Santa and Elf baubles. The girls loved choosing which head, belt, gloves and boots would go with which character. The stickers are thick and easy to handle, so this was easy even for Pearl who is the younger of the two girls. The best thing is that you get to make keepsake pieces to hang on your own tree and treasure for years to come!

The next set we tried was the Christmas Tree Ceramic Tea Light Holders. These can be coloured with the Multi-purpose Deco Pens.

Both Violet and Pearl took to colouring their trees, adding different colours for decorations and the star on the top. I found that using pens worked so much better than paint as they were able to keep the colours seperate – quite often when we have made something like this before we’ve just ended up with the entire thing being brown but the pens really helped them get a range of colours onto the piece with ease. This is a lovely festive decoration that can be used for years and is best used with LED battery operated tea lights for safety around little ones.

Another favourite kit in our house are the Snowflake Christmas tree stacking decorations.

This kit comes with a variety of snowflakes, beads and bells to thread onto pipecleaners to make a sweet Christmas decoration. This one held the girls attention the longest as they LOVED threading the beads on, although it became clear that they weren’t making Christmas decorations they wanted to wear them as bracelets! By the end of it they were wearing the whole set and whizzing around the room with their ‘snowflake Elsa powers’, so it just shows you how versatile these sets can be!

BENEFITS OF CRAFTING WITH LITTLE ONES

Not only is crafting and creating with little ones super fun and enjoyable, but there are also a range of benefits too:

Builds on their fine motor skills
Enhances children’s hand-eye coordination and builds upon their manual dexterity.
A great way to discuss various shapes, colours, sizes and textures.
It teaches them to be creative – they can experiment and use their imagination whilst exploring the materials.
It’s an outlet for them to express themselves.
It helps them to work together and be a team – often crafting can be a time to be sociable and work together, especially Christmas crafting when you put the tunes on!

TIPS FOR CRAFTING WITH LITTLE ONES

When I think of crafting with little ones, my initial thought is – MESS. Can I handle it? Usually the answer is no, I’ve made the mistake of creating activities that take me longer to clean up than the girls actually played with (don’t talk to me about rainbow rice or slime!) but after nearly 4 years of trial and error, I think I’ve got my crafting technique down to a fine art!

BE PREPARED – Preparation is key, organising what we are going to do the night before is often the best technique, but if it’s a spur of the moment craft session then Baker Ross kits are brilliant as you’ll already have everything you need.
COVER THE FLOOR – We use a big weaning splash mat on the floor when we do anything messy like painting – this also collects everything up and allows me to tip it all into the bin.
GO WITH THE FLOW – You’ll have your activity ready and have explained it to your toddler on what to do, yet they go ahead and do the opposite! It can be easy to get frustrated when they don’t follow the instructions, but try to go with the flow and remember that they are expressing their creativity how they see fit. If they want to paint that star black, go for it! Want to put a boot on santas head, go for it! Let them express themselves!
MODEL THE TECHNIQUE YOURSELF – Children might not have seen how to do this technique before so I find it’s always best to sit and do the crafting activity together with them, make one yourself and they will soon look to you and copy.
LEAVE THE MESS UNTIL LATER – One thing I’m guilty of is tidying up as they go along. It’s so tempting to do, but then you find yourself tidying and not really being present and missing all the fun. Just ignore the mess and sort it later.
GO MESS FREE – if you really can’t stand mess and have no time to prepare crafting activities go mess-free with a Baker Ross kit like the Christmas Jumper Decoration Kits – the tidy up is minimal!

Are you looking forward to getting creative this Christmas? You can order Christmas activity kits from Baker Ross here using my discount code of CHRISTMAS20FREE which gets you free delivery on orders (min £20) valid until 15/12/2020.

Enjoy!