How to Keep Children Occupied During Christmas Get-Togethers

At any family Christmas celebration, there is the annual challenge: how to keep the children happy and amused while the grownups are having their visit and the turkey is roasting in the oven? For the early part of the day the children will be engrossed with their new toys and presents and playing outdoors- with or without snow. But after the novelty wears off, it's a good idea to have some specific activities in mind which will keep them occupied and make them feel they're participating in the day's celebration.

Here are a few projects which can be adapted to the particular requirements of your day and the age range of the children. It's best to assemble all the things you'll need in advance, so you won't harass yourself and the children by a frantic last-minute search for materials.

Children love to draw, and it's a quiet activity. Give each child a gift of a set of assorted crayons and felt-tipped pens that come in a wide variety of colors. Preferably, choose the ones that are washable, just in case a little one decides to try his or her creative talents on your walls or on their clothes. Each child should also be given an ample supply of drawing paper. Once each child has been presented with their gifts, hold a drawing contest. Ask each child to draw his conception of how Santa Claus came down the chimney. Or, stretch out a length of brown butcher's paper (about ten feet) on a wall or on the floor and ask each child to draw a portion of a mural based on the Christmas story.

Early in the day, give the children a junior-sized Christmas tree that they will be in charge of decorating just the way they want to. The materials can be gift-wrapping leftovers - ribbons, gold stickers, tinfoil, spangles, paper and colored scotch tape. You can also offer a wide variety of crafting items, such as glue, dry beans, macaroni in various shapes and sizes, construction paper, scissors, and so forth. They might even choose to create their own ornaments if given the creative freedom to do so. Once the hand-made ornaments are complete, allow the children to hang them with traditional Christmas ornament hangers. With a dull needle and very heavy weight thread, they can also string popcorn and colored soda straws (cut in pieces about an inch in length) for the tree.

Another early-in-the-day project, and this one would be for the older children, is to ask them to help with dinner preparations. Allow them to cut butter pats, set the table, make a creative centerpiece, etc. or, have them make a centerpiece for their own separate table using some of the same materials they used to decorate the junior Christmas tree. You can also have sugar cookies ready for the oven and allow the children to decorate them with raisins, colored sprinkles, frosting, and other delicious tidbits.

Plan a "Paper Bag Skit" for later in the day. Divide the children into groups and give each a paper bag which you've filled in advance with odds and ends related to a Christmas theme (a Santa beard, a skater's helmet). Each group is then to make up a skit with a Christmas theme based on what is in the bag. They must use each item as a major prop.

Have on hand a supply of plain 8-by-10 paper and large envelopes, and encourage the children to write their thank-you notes for Christmas presents to out-of-town friends and relatives. You can also encourage them to write letters to Santa in thanks for the presents he sent them as well. Have a supply of stamps ready so that the notes can be addressed, stamped, and mailed by the children that very day. Allowing the children to put the letters in the mailbox themselves, if one is readily available, adds to the excitement. Younger children will continuously check the window, looking for the mail carrier to pick up his or her letter of thanks.