BEAD IT, LUCIA

Our kids love crafting with Hama fuse beads, and their December creations often get an honorary place on their own little trees. Last year I made these Lucia ornaments for our youngest, a quick and easy project. If you want to make your own, just enlarge the picture, they're easy to copy.

GAME ON

I love gifting Scandinavian Memo games, especially during Christmas. It's a subtle introduction to Scandinavia through characters, objects and colour, and at the same time its an invitation to engage with other family members, rather than watch a screen during down time. The brilliance of games where you have to find matching pairs is that all ages, and languages, can play together.

There is an amazing range of memo games available in most book stores and online in Sweden. Barnbokhandeln.com is one of my favourites and dangerously wonderful to browse.
IMAGES: PRODUCT IMAGES BARNBOKHANDELN

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TREASURE HUNT

Planning a family weekend in Scandinavia? Fall is the ultimate time to enjoy the thousands of sculptures that grace the streets and parks of Scandinavian cities.

In spring there is a busy liveliness in the parks. Birds chirping, children running, and the sharp rays that awaken green life bursting from every branch. But in fall, the pace slows down. The rustling of leaves in deep ochre, blood red and moss green, the scaly bark of trees, provide a rich backdrop for sculptures who seem to come alive in the glow of the low afternoon sun. The seasonal difference is so transforming that even children find it a fun outing to discover sculptures on a city walk.

Next weekend we're circling destinations on a map and will let the kids navigate us around Oslo. We'll enjoy a hot drink and baked treat on a bench in one of the many parks. A great way to get to know a city as a family.
IMAGE: MORTEN F, SCULPTURE AT TROSTERUD IN OSLO, OCT 12 2014, VIA FLICKR

THE BEST DICE GAME EVER

This is the perfect ace up your sleeve for impromptu game nights, a sleepover, youth activities, family reunions, or the event that usually involves all of the above: Christmas at your house. Works equally great with a big bar, pralines, wrapped pieces, or a pile of M&M's. Try it tonight and thank me later.

Supplies needed: chocolate stash, five dice, a pen.

Play Yahtzee according to your regular rules, but the player with the highest score per set (house, straights etc.) gets one piece of chocolate. If players get an equal score in a set, neither gets chocolate. The final winner with the highest score, gets what's left of the chocolate pile.

It sounds ridiculously simple, and it is! But because you can play strategically to limit the other players' gains (by aiming for equal scores as someone else) it quickly becomes a lively competition for chocolate!

IMAGE: PHOTOGRAPHER HANS OLOFSSON VIA FLICKR

OH LITTLE TOWN OF GINGERBREAD

This is a great alternative for those who feel that the making of a gingerbread house requires too much parental supervision. Bake cookies and let the kiddies loose with bags of frosting, candy and streusel. Lay flat on a big platter or make a little cottage by attaching to gingerbread bases with melted sugar after kids have gone to bed. Pepparkaksformar City from ICA MAXI. 

IMAGE: PRODUCT IMAGE ICA MAXI WEB SHOP