Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet // Dutch Holiday season start // Kleurplaat & Kijkdoos

For non-Dutchies this might be a little bit of a strange post. Each year The Netherlands celebrates Sinterklaas the first week of December. It is quite similar to the well known Santa tradition in the US but our old white-bearded man comes from a typical Dutch heritage. He arrives on a boat with a dozen helpers that come and turn the dark November month into a sweet candy filled mayhem. Like Santa fills socks, Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet fills kids shoes with presents and candy.

Each year we try to create a cool freebie around this traditional Dutch holiday. This time of the year we need some cool crafty projects to work on while it is pouring out go sit down and have a nice crafty afternoon with your kids. This year we have a fun project to work on. A Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pier themed set of drawings your kids can color, cut and paste into their Sinterklaas paper Peepshow. Click on the image below and save the file to your desktop. Don't forget to send us your results!

This crafting set was originally made by me around 10 years ago for H&M Holland when I was still working for a design company that was hired to do all H&M's graphic design in The Netherlands. The original illustrations were made for them and this crafting project was a free giveaway they handed out to mommies and daddies shopping for their youngsters.

Happy easter // Things to do with your kids during Easter break

This weekend a big chunk of the world will be celebrating Easter and kids will be enjoying their spring break. This holiday is a good opportunity to celebrate and enjoy a fun day with the family. We have come up with some things to do with your little ones during Easter break.

1 // Decorate your home and bring a little spring inside your home
Go out and collect little sticks and stones during a spring hike. You can spray paint the sticks in matching interior colors and put them in a vase. Fill the bottom past of the vase with quirky shaped stones you all collected. You can choose to paint the stones, make little Easter and spring themed illustrations on them, dip dye them half way or make them match the sticks. Be creative!

2 // Make home-made Eater table decorations
You can purchase your easter decoration in the shop but it is much more fun to have a little crafting afternoon to make your Easter brunch a little more festive. Create some cute little Easter decoration with our Free Printable. Download the Easter pattern and cut them into little triangles. Glue them together with a little string of rope and hang them in your dining room. Enjoy!

3 // Hide & Seek Easter egg hunt
My favorite part of Easter, when I was a little girl, was the search for Easter eggs on our local play ground. Boil some eggs and hide them in your local park or garden. Get together with kids in the neighborhood and have a hide and seek party. You can make it a quest and create a fun adventurous trail to the eggs. The more the merrier! You can have a little ceremony for the first, second and third prize winners and have a picnic afterwards.

4 // Bake Easter themes cupcakes and snacks
This is a great activity for rainy days and can be done every day of the year. Bake some cupcakes and decorate them with Easter themed toppings. You don't have to make sweet cupcakes if you want to keep it healthy go for a savory version. You can fill the cups with veggies, spices and cheese. You can make bunny shaped cheese slices. Or make egg shaped meat balls in a salad leaf shell I bet your kids will love it.

5 // Easter Tote bags
Buy some plain linen totes and fabric paint. Maybe you have some left over fabric which you can use too. Let your kids create their own Easter bags they can later use for an egg hunt. With a some glue, scissors and paint you can have a fun crafty morning.

Hello Miss Tooth Fairy | Free printable postcard design for little toothless girls

Yes, another printable! We have had so many great reactions on the first one so here is another fun free printable. This time we have made a cute little Miss Tooth Fairy card for your little girl. Let your little girl communicate with her Tooth Fairy. Send the fairy some love and explain what to do with the tooth, maybe your girl had a special wish or use it as Tooth Fairy to send send a short message to your toothless little girl. Just click on the image to download the full size design. Have fun!

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> Happy spring & a quirky easter | Free printable poster and wrapping paper

We have been working on some seasonal themes. Easter is around the corner so we have decided to to put up these two cute free* printables on the blog for your easter home. You can frame, print your own little postcard, or make some cute little wrapping paper with it. Click on the image and download these cute sprint poster print designs for your own wall. Don't forget to send post a picture on our Little Smilemakers Studio facebook page when they are up!

artwork is prohibited for commercial use

> Print & Party: Cute illustrated cupcake tags for your kids birthday

Dutch winter seems to be never ending. It is snowing again. A good time to spend some creative hours in your kitchen making some delicious food!
Make your own home-made party accessories for birthdays or special kids days! There is nothing better that sharing a few minutes of baking with your kids in your own kitchen. Give them each a nice different flavour and mark them with your kiddies favorite animal. Click on the image and save the full sized printable tags on your computer.