World Clock 

Have your children at the stroke of midnight find out what time it is in other cities around the world. Some city suggestions are: Wellington, Sydney, Bangkok, Tokyo, Beijing, New Delhi, Israel, Moscow, Rio Janeiro, Anchorage, Honolulu, Samoa, Seattle, Dallas, Denver, Mexico City, Nairobi,  Kinshasa, Berlin, Rome, Hong Kong, etc.

2008 Calendar

Have kids make their own calendar for the new year.

New Year's Poetry 

Have the kids write a New Year's poem with each line starting off with the letters in New Year's. For example, the first line would start with a N, the second line would start with a E, etc.

Family Time Capsule 

This is an idea which makes a super family project - and tradition! Get the kids to make a "time capsule" for the year ahead, and fill it, together, as the year goes on - with photos, ticket stubs, copies of certificates won, birthday cards, writing samples, and anything else with meaning to your family. At the end of the year store it away safely and make a new time capsule for the year ahead. You will have a memory-filled container for each year which you will all treasure in the future.

You will need:
A used large snack tub
Paint
PVA (white) glue
Decorations (sequins, ribbons, lace etc)

Instructions:
Rinse out your snack tub. When the tub is dry, paint it. Tip: Mix a small amount of glue into the paint to help preserve it.

When the paint is dry, paint the tub with a layer of PVA glue. Stick on your decorations. We used shiny numbers to add the date and sequin stars to embellish.

Now you can either fill your tub with precious mementos from now (photos etc) or you can keep it open and add to it through out the year (tickets, certificates etc) before putting it away safely to be opened in the future.

New Year's Head Band 

You will need:
An inexpensive hair band
Sparkly pipe cleaners
Shiny card
Glitter glue
Glue

 

Instructions: Cut four stars from the card. On to each star write a number 2 - 0 - 0 - 8 with glitter glue. Glue the 2 star to one end of a pipe cleaner, and one 0 star to the other. Glue the other two stars onto opposite ends of another pipe cleaner. Cover the hair band in glue. Wrap the centre of the pipe cleaners tightly around the band, making sure the numbers are arranged in the right order. Make sure you leave the band to dry before wearing!