Holiday Activities for Children

Do you have kids who want to help and be involved with holiday preparations? Are they bored and need something to keep them occupied? Here are some ideas to help. Use them as a starting point and go where the inspiration takes you.

The holidays are a fabulous time to get together with family and share food, fun and memories. This is not always an easy task with several children under foot. On the big day, while you are busy preparing the meal and other things, keep the kids busy doing things they enjoy. If you have a budding chef(s) in the family, let them help out in the kitchen. You can assign age appropriate chores and supervise as necessary. Little ones can help arrange relish and vegetable trays, get things from the fridge or pantry and help set the table. Older children can help cook and do more difficult things. If you would rather not have them in the kitchen, plan activities in another room of the house. There are many websites with free holiday print-ables and craft ideas. All you need to do is search for free print-ables and you will get a long list to choose from. There are many talented children who would love to show off their abilities. Allow the older children to supervise and give them some guidelines. Perhaps, for Thanksgiving, they could prepare a play or write poems, stories or songs about what they are grateful for to perform for the adults. Christmas Day, they could do a play about the meaning of Christmas or sing carols. With a little planning, you can keep them busy for hours.

Cards are usually one of the first things that need to be done. If they are not mailed out early, they will not make it to your friends and relatives by Christmas. Not only do they need to be done first, but they can be time consuming. When you are constantly being interrupted, a relatively simple chore can take forever. If the kids are involved, they might get done faster. Usually, you wouldn't want your children filling out cards, but if they are old enough and have legible handwriting, they could do it for you. Another solution would be to have them help make the cards. You can print coloring book outlined Christmas cards and let the kids color them. Another tip would be to recycle cards you have received in the past years. Simply cut the front of the card off and glue it to a folded piece of construction paper. They might also enjoy making cards for their friends. While they are busy doing that, you can print your labels and get the envelopes ready.

Shopping and gift wrapping are never easy with the kids, but, if you have to take them with you, give them some money to buy gifts for others or have them help you decide what to purchase. Kids really enjoy being involved in the whole process. When gift wrapping, they can wrap the presents they bought for others or help you wrap. Little ones are very good at handing you pieces of tape, scissors, gift tags and a pen.

Baking is one thing that I really enjoy during the holidays. My kids enjoy helping, but they can make it more difficult. If your kids are like mine, here are some ideas to keep them busy. You can have them help stir batter or pie filling. Sprinkling colored sugars on cookies is something all ages love to do. If you give homemade gifts, kids love to help arrange things on platters or in baskets.

My kids love to help decorate the house for the holidays. They help put ornaments on the tree, set out the nativity set and other seasonal items. We make it a fun night by listening to carols, having holiday snacks and drinking hot chocolate or cider. Once everything is done, we sit back and enjoy our beautifully decorated home.

Don't forget to have a few nights off during the holidays. There is so much to get done, but we don't have to be busy all the time. Schedule a movie night. Order pizza and watch some holiday classic movies, or whatever movie you enjoy. Take some nights to see the light displays in your areas. Many areas collect money for a charity, so you can see the amazing lights and help a good cause. There are many holiday events that you could see, such as plays and concerts. Lastly, in the midst of doing things for people, don't forget to spend time with them. We don't have them forever, and we need to take every opportunity to let them know that we love them. Time, not things, is one of the best ways to do this. Have a great holiday season!