All children without exceptions love holiday season more than adults do. Small kids from 3 to 7 years old still believe in magic and fairy-tales. And actually this belongs to our responsibilities to create the festive and magical atmosphere, invent interesting activities and bring them nice presents so that every new holiday would be better than previous one.
Children from 3 to 7 are full of energy and you won`t have any problem thinking about how to entertain them. They will do everything – draw, sing, dance, create- with their parents. So here are some suggestions for you on how to spend holiday time with your kids merrily and with pleasure. But remember that these ideas are only the core and you can add and verify them as your fancy tells you.
1. Create crafts for presents
Crafts made by your children are something that you will treasure for years and your heart will fill with joy as you take it out after a few years and recollect that sweet time when your small kids where making it. Find some easy-to-make craft projects online or invent something by yourself for smaller kids. Take one a bit more difficult project for older kids and participate in making it as they will most obviously need your help and control. Crafts made by your children will make a perfect gift to present your family and close friends.
2. Learn and sing Christmas songs
To create a festive mood nothing can be better than Christmas songs. Enrich your playlist with a few simple but super cute Christmas songs which your kids would love. You can learn them together and sing as you drive them to school or while preparing dinner. From one point of view, it is fun and to the point and from the other, your kids will be practicing their singing, train their memory and enrich their vocabularies. Moreover, you can simply listen to holiday melodies instead of watching TV.
3. Make a gingerbread house
All children are fond of doing something themselves, they create, design and build. You may choose to make a gingerbread house at your kitchen, which is very popular in the holiday season. As an easier option for busy parents, you can find a gingerbread-making kit sold by grocery and craft stores. You can find there an instruction and you`ll be sure to manage perfectly well. A more challenging variant is to find the gingerbread recipe yourself and also search how to make a house of it online. As you buy all the necessary ingredients like candies or even graham crackers and frosting you will surely create a marvelous and unique house with your own decorations.
4. Create your own Christmas tree ornaments
Without doubt your kids would love to receive a make-your-own ornament kit as a present. They will draw, paint, design and show their own creativity creating an ornament, which will be standing conspicuously on your Christmas tree. This variant is also beneficial for parents as such kits come in numerous varieties, available in craft stores as well as online. Choose the best one which your children would love and rejoice at reasonable prices.
5. Wrap gifts together
Wrapping gifts at home with your kids is a great option on how to spend time together merrily. All you need is to supply them with all the necessary materials – scissors, wrapping paper, scotch tape, ribbons, and various decorations and of course boxes with gifts. Give them a small master-class to show how it is done on a pre-cut paper and let them try. Kids will have fun with you, believe me, and train the motor skills at the same time. Moreover, the granny will be happy to know they personally wrapped a present for her.
6. Make your own Christmas cards
Handmade cards bring more joy to the receiver as well as to the doer in comparison with bought in the store. So by some paper and create unique author`s Christmas cards. Your children will also show all of their creativity and draw nice pictures, write some poems and invent nice decorations. Drop in a stationary shop and you will find a lot of interesting things there, starting with the cardstock paper and markers finishing with ready-made decoration pieces. Anyway, online tutorials will teach you how to make a fantastic Christmas card out of impromptu means which you have at home.
7. Bake cookies together
Every child has his/her favorite kind of cookies so why not baking them together for a holiday? Choose the most suitable recipes as your kids are not chefs yet. They will need your supervision but don`t leave them doing nothing but watching you cooking. Your kids will love to take some responsibility and help you in the kitchen so involve them as much as you can. Mind that cookies made by yourself are twice delicious!
8. Perform a holiday show
Preschool kids always like to play and pretend to be actors so why not putting your own festive play or show. It is actually very easy. You`ll be surprised how enthusiastic and talented your kids are. Learn a few songs or dances or poems. Rehearse the play for some time before the actual day of the holiday and then surprise your guests by a fantastic performance. Everything depends on you and your creativity.
9. Drive around the neighborhood
Probably you have never thought of it as a way to spend time with your children, but it’s worth your attention. Family drives may be really interesting and funny. As you drive along the streets you can enjoy beautiful holiday lights which fill our heart with joy and anticipation of Christmas. From the other hand, you can discover some places you have been to. A carefully selected music will be just to the point.
10. Take some pictures together for a scrapbook
This activity is twice entertaining and fun. Taking photos is always merry and lively for kids as well as for parents. You will capture the most precious moments of your holidays together. And then you can gather altogether and create a fantastic scrapbook where you`ll store all the photos taken during the holiday seasons of the year. As the time passes you will have a lot of scrapbooks on the shelf, which will hold all the photos in order and they are always really fun and interesting to look through and to show to your friends.
We as parents should encourage and motivate our kids to develop their skills, acquire new ones and use all of their imagination and creativity. Holiday season is a great opportunity for you to spend more time with your kids then in ordinary days. So I think these tips will give you some new ideas on how to spend unforgettable holidays this year.