Christmas activities engage young minds

Keep kids in the spirit with kid Christmas activities that engage their minds.

Christmas crafts for instance, can keep them busy by turning the home into a winter wonderland. Seeing their efforts on display is always a bonus.

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Holiday tree safety tip

Prevent tree accidents, screw a hook into a wall stud and secure the hook with fishing line or sturdy string to your Christmas tree

Making a reindeer snack

Make a snack for reindeer. Take 1 cup of oatmeal, 1 tbsp brown sugar & 1 tbs cinnamon, add colored sugar just before spreading on front lawn

Holiday decoration tip

Lollipops can line the edge of your sidewalk! Place 8 inch white Styrofoam circles onto 36in wooden slats. Cover lollipops w/red cellophane

Camping out for Christmas

Children love to ‘camp out’ so consider sleeping in sleeping bags in front of the Christmas tree one night.

Paper Christmas tree

Let the kids make their own Christmas tree. Find some wall space, get a nice sized roll of paper and paint, color or draw a tree.

Presents that will help with development

Develop small motor skills with toys like stacking toys, wooden puzzles, shape sorters & pop up toys that little fingers can manipulate

Holiday ornament tip

Put aside fragile ornaments from exploring tots. The bottom half of the tree should be decorated in paper, plastic, cloth or yarn ornaments

Toddler gift tip

Looking for a good gift for your toddler? Develop their musical skills with instruments like maracas, drums and xylophones

Electricity and kids

Do not leave children unsupervised around any kind of electrical lighting or open flame.

Santa and kids

Most young children are afraid of Santa at first. How you react is the key to her overcoming her fears.

Including toddlers in Holiday activities

Try as much as possible to include your toddlers in holiday activities. At this age they like to “help”, and if you include them in what you are doing it often reduces the possibility of temper tantrums.

Holiday Hazards

Take an inventory of potential hazards you have in your home after decorating and pay special attention to electrical decorations. Christmas lights hung or strung across a wall or window are no exception. These may be low enough for a small child to grab before you can notice.

Christmas Tree Safety

To keep your child from getting to the Christmas tree, place it inside of a large play yard and scoot the tree toward the wall out of reach.

Shopping Tip

Play scavenger hunt when shopping. Kids loves stickers, so when she finds an item on the list she gets a sticker. She has fun, and you get your shopping done.

Holiday Spending Money for kids

Give your kids their own budget. Spending their own money on small, thoughtful gifts helps children to understand buying.

Swapping out DVD’s for the holidays

The holidays are a great time to introduce new DVD’s and CD’s to your toddlers. Yes, Elmo has a decent Christmas DVD. It’s a nice change to the other two Elmo movies they watch every day.

Creating Holiday Potpourri

Make holiday Potpourri by punching holes in a couple of oranges with a fork and fill the holes with whole cloves. Arrange in a basket or bowl along with cinnamon sticks, rosemary, anise, & pine cones for a fragrant display.

Lighting the tree

Use LED lights that burn cool so your child does not get burnt if they should grab a Christmas light inadvertently. source

Pen in your tree

Put a play yard around the christmas tree to keep little ones from getting into trouble. source