This is the final part of my series of Christmas craft activities for toddlers. All week I’ve been sharing some creative play that my daughter has been taking part in, designed to allow her maximum opportunity to explore and discover, without too much intervention from me.

Now, strictly speaking, this activity doesn’t quite fit with my previous posts advocating for child-led free play, but I thought I’d throw it into the mix as I’m so glad I captured her one-year-old footprint as a Christmas keepsake for years to come. So here’s how I went about it; as a special momento I’d recommend giving it a go, but if you’re looking for some ideas for toddler-friendly creative play, you might also want to try out some of my other posts this week including Twinkle Star Wrapping Paper, Cinnamon Spice Tree Decorations, Peek-a-Boo Christmas Cards and Pretty Heart Charms.

Now, to the footprint!

You will need:

• Child-friendly brown paint for the footprint
  (for finishing touches, you’ll also need black, white and red paint for features, plus any other colours for decoration)
• A surface to paint on – we went to a paint a pot cafe, which is a great way to get your momento on a ceramic of some kind (lots of them do lovely baubles this time of year).  Alternatively, you could create Greetings Cards, gift tags, or frame the finished print for a Christmas picture to put up
• Paint brushes, or a flat surface to pour some paint onto (paper plates are good for this)
• Have wet wipes handy for a quick clean up!

The activity

Simple really, gently add brown paint to your child’s bare foot – using a paintbrush can make this easier (and be a nice sensory experience for little ones).  It can help to brush their feet with a clean paintbrush to begin with, just to get them used to the feeling.  Older children might happily step into the paint, in which case you might want to do this activity on the floor (with lots of newspaper in case they go a wandering off with their little painted foot!)

Now, for younger children, gently press your chosen keepsake against their foot to get the footprint.  Watch out for wriggling toes, you might get a few smudges, but a quick tidy up with a wet wipe before the paint dries will help here.  Again, older children will probably be quite content to step onto the surface themselves.

Be ready to clean the paint off their foot as soon as the desired number of prints have been achieved!

Then, its really about waiting for the paint to dry, before finishing the design.

To finish (do this bit without the kids)

Paint on eyes, antlers and, of course, the red nose!  You may also want to write a message, or the date the footprint was made, and if the mood takes you, add some final flourishes to pretty up the finished piece.

So there you have it, a week of simple activities to share with your toddler over the Christmas break.  If you enjoyed this or any of my other posts, please do share on social media using the buttons at the top of the page, and tag me @amylovestosew so I can find your children’s wonderful work (always a delight to see!)

Thanks for reading, and do sign up for updates – I’ll be officially launching my blog in the new year with a range of free tutorials, patterns and ideas for people who love sewing, so you’ll be the first to hear all about it!

In the meantime, have a wonderful, creative Christmas.

Amy