Feathers in Our Nest

My niece and two nephews are coming to visit next week!  They are 2, 4, and 4, respectively.  I want them to have a great time at our house, so I’ve come up with some fun activities for them to do while they’re here.  Maybe some of these ideas will help you as you plan activities for the children at your Christmas gatherings!

– Play-dough
I may be inviting a small mess here, but I’m making some homemade play-dough for the kids to play with at the kitchen table.  I’m going to make red and green and give them Christmas cookie cutters to use to make pretend cookies.  Play-dough is really easy to make, and I’m hoping it will keep them busy for a little while!

– Tree-trimming
We have a small (4′) Christmas tree that we are setting up in our dining room this year.  I thought it would be fun to let the kids decorate it!  I bought some non-breakable ornaments from the Dollar Tree (plastic candy canes, gold jingle bells, etc.) for them to use.

– Christmas books
I don’t have many children’s Christmas books yet, so I’m going to check out a bunch from the library and leave them in a big basket in the living room.  (My mom used to set such “book traps” when we were young, and I know that played a part in all of us becoming avid readers!)

– Gingerbread men/women sandwiches
One of my nephews eats PB&J almost exclusively 🙂 but I thought he might like making his sandwich more “festive” by cutting it out with a large gingerbread man cookie cutter.

– Coloring books
I haven’t come across any Christmas coloring books at the Dollar Tree yet this year, but I hope to pick up a few when I do.  If not, I’ll just print out some pages and provide crayons so the kids can color pictures for us.

– Cookie decorating
If we get really brave, maybe we’ll let the kids decorate some Christmas sugar cookies!  I always loved doing that as a child.  I’ll put icing in little bottles and have sugar/candy for them to sprinkle on the cookies.

I think those are all the ideas I have so far.  If you still need inspiration, there are tons of frugal craft ideas on this blog!

I want to hear from you…
How do you make the kids’ table fun at your family gatherings?