Waiting for Santa? Five Fun Activities to Keep your Child Busy over the Holidays

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by Merely Me
Monday, December 21, 2009

So your tree has been trimmed, the gifts have been wrapped, and the rush to get everything done is finally subsiding.  Now the waiting begins.  You may be feeling a greater sense of calm this week but your child with special needs may be winding up with anxiety as the big day approaches.  How do you help your child to wait for what may be one of the most exciting days in a kid's life?  Here are five fun activities to help ease this transition to Christmas.

1.    Make a time capsule ornament:  We have done this at home and it was a big hit with my kids.  What you do is have your child write or dictate what they hope the future will be like in five or ten years from now on a small piece of paper.  Roll the paper up and tie it with a ribbon.  Place their prediction inside a clear glass ornament (you can buy these at the craft store or sometimes even the dollar store).  Then attach a note to a tag on the ornament that says "Do not open until..." and provide a date when the future predictions are supposed to come true.  You can also make a regular time capsule from a jar or a cardboard tube container.  Have your child take a current photo of their self, gather news articles from the day or week, write lists of their favorite music, movies, and video games and put all of these things into your container.  Make sure to write the current date and also a date of when to open the time capsule.  Store it away where you have your keepsakes and memories.  It is guaranteed to be a special memory to share when the kids get older.

2.   Get out your old photographs.  Everybody has a box of old photos which are duplicates or ones that didn't make the cut to be scanned or put into a photo album.  It can be fun to revisit memories with your child and you can also use these old photos for craft projects.  Get a big piece of poster board and label it "Our Family" and allow your child to create a collage with the photos.  Another thing you can do is to cut out photos of family members, glue them onto sturdy cardboard, laminate them, and place them into old game piece holders.  Your child now has game pieces which look like the people in your family.  He or she can then create their own game with poster board.  Draw a path of squares or circles with a start and finish.  They can make the game interesting by writing things like "Go back two spaces" or "Trade places with someone else on the board."  Add some dice and you are ready to go! 

3.   Guinness Book of World Records Family Style:   Have your own silly contests of who can win a staring battle without laughing, who can recite the most tongue twisters without messing up, or who can keep a balloon up in the air without it falling to the ground.  Write down the results and try to beat your scores next year. 

4.   Make a family movie:  Yes people still do this!  Let your kids take control of the camera for awhile and see the world from their perspective.  The theme of the movie can be family bloopers, silly pets, or you can even put on costumes and act out your favorite movie.  Creativity is the key here.  Let it run wild.