School break is here and those kiddos of yours are bored! Here are a few simple ways we enjoy holiday break with our kiddos that won't break the bank and will keep everyone sane ;)
Read together
Remember that trip to the library? Well here is one of the times it comes in handy! I love finding seasonal books to read. 1000 Hours Outside has one of my favorite lists to get inspiration from each month. Snuggle up in that fort you built and read with your kiddos. Even if you choose to skip the library and the fort reading with your kids is so good for them. You get physical contact of snuggling as well as all of the benefits that come with reading out loud to them. If you have older kids who can read have them take turns reading out loud to you! Another great time to have your kids read aloud to you is while you are cooking. I love my daughter grabbing a book and sitting in a chair reading to me while I make dinner or bake a treat.
Christmas Movie Marathon
Another great way to use the fort is for a Christmas Movie Marathon! Again, your local library will likely have some great options for you to check out. If not there are tons of options online for streaming. We love doing the Christmas Classics with Rudolph, Frosty and Jack Frost. We also love Rise of the Guardians, which might not be a traditional Christmas movie, but we love it during the holidays! The Grinch of course is a classic along with The Santa Claus (and they have so many sequels to it that you can have a whole marathon with just those).
Homemade playdough
This is such a simple activity that you can do again and again using ingredients you likely have on hand! My kids love making this with me and then have a blast playing with it for days. If you keep it in Tupperware or Ziploc bags it will last for 3+ months.
Some of our favorite kid craft items to keep on hand!
Play Dough: (Homemade or store bought) using playdough toys or even cookie cutters kids can spend so much time playing with this! Modeling Clay: Basically the same thing as playdough, but modeling clay has the ability to dry and not crumble. Beads: I usually keep beads, string, pipe cleaners, clips, and chains for the kids to be able to make all kinds of projects with. Earrings, Necklaces, Bracelets, and Key Chains are some of their favorites to make. Perler Beads: We got a bucket of beads three years ago and my kids use them all the time. We still have at least half of a bucket! There are all kinds of trays you can get. My kids love making key chains from these and my ten year old is learning how to make 3D things with them now! Paint: These kids paint everything. Paper painting with water colors. Painting birdhouse gourds from the garden to create little houses for birds. Painting rocks to hide at the park or in the garden. I got them smocks and paint cups last year to help keep the mess from spreading everywhere. When it is nice enough they paint outside so I don't have to worry about it getting on my kitchen table. Yarn: My oldest daughter knows how tocrochet and my five year old has learned finger weaving and she got the Melissa and Doug weaving loom last year. We keep yarn on hand for the two of them when they want to do handiwork projects!
Bake a treat
My kids spend a lot of time in the kitchen with me. I love to cook and bake and naturally they are curious as to what I am doing. From the time they are able to stand they get up on the step stool watching and helping with tasks that are away from the heat. Dumping, pouring, stirring, kneading. They love it all! As they get older and are able to follow directions they learn how to find ingredients in the fridge and pantry, measure correctly, crack an egg, and stand assisted at the stove to stir with help. When they show that they are able to be responsible around the hot surfaces I allow them to help pour and mix on the stove top. By age seven my oldest was able to cook several things on her own and now at ten she loves having baking days where she kicks me out of the kitchen and whips up all kinds of treats! She loves picking cookbooks out at the library to try new recipes. She knows how to search for what we have on hand to make recipes without me needing to make a trip to the store and she also knows how to plan ahead and write out a list of things she needs me to pick up on my next grocery trip. I think every parent should make it a habit to bring their kiddos in the kitchen and teach them valuable skills! If you have multiples you can have them take turns being in the kitchen, this will help reduce your stress and the risk of someone getting hurt. As they get more used to being in the kitchen you can have them take turns watching and helping.
Do a family puzzle, play games or build something together
There are so many options when it comes to this! My ten and five year olds will sit down and work on a 500 piece puzzle with me. My five and four year olds will work on anything under 100 pieces with me. I love getting a big puzzle project going with the older girls and having my son sit with us and build Legos. Legos and Magna Tiles are toys that I feel we will have in our home for years! There are so many things you can build with them and they really do entertain kids for hours. Especially if you get them started by helping to build something. You can find Lego books at the library or online that have directions on how to build various creations.
Board games are our Family Night activity of choice. They are also great for siblings to play together without needing a parent right there. We have a wide array of games for various ages and for how many people are needed to play. If you really wanna surprise your kids, play a game of hide-n-seek! They will love trying to find mom and if you bring your coffee you will even get a few minutes of piece on your own to enjoy it!
Get outside
If the weather is nice enough I suggest getting outside! This might be playing in your own yard, going to the park, taking a walk or even bring bikes if there is a walking trail your kids can ride on. The fresh air and sunshine will do everyone good. If it's warm enough I like to pack lunch and some books. We make it a picnic and read while everyone is eating. Even if the weather isn't the warmest you can still bundle up and get outside. My kids love making leaf piles to jump in and I'm pretty sure all kids love snow! And if you have hot cocoa after to warm everyone up that's even more fun :)
The best part about 90% of these activities is they can be as hands on as you want. If you need a mental and physical break then initiate the activity like building a fort and sit back for a moment of peace on your own. Take the kids to the library and give them the parameters of where they are able to explore. Take a seat where you can see/hear them and relax for a few minutes. Grab a book and head to the park. Set a timer and tell them that you aren't playing chase or pushing anyone on the swing until the timer goes off. Enjoy reading for a bit while the kids play. Enjoy your time with the kids on their holiday vacation as much as you can!
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I created a simple little coloring book for the kiddos this year. I really wanted very basic Christmas themed pages for them to doodle on. My oldest can use her fine markers and add details if she'd like, my middle can take the individual pages and use glue to add glitter galore, while the youngest can use chunky crayons and color away happily! They are versatile for everyone :)
You are welcome to pick and choose the pages you'd like to print or print off the entire thing for a full set of holiday themed coloring pages.
Here are some of my kiddos favorite coloring tools and materials for coloring pages!
PS If your printer takes thicker paper my daughter really enjoys me printing pages like this on multi-media paper and then she can use watercolor, artist pencils, etc to color them in!
ENJOY!
The ADVENTure
I love the idea of spreading out the message of Christmas throughout all of December. Christmas is a big thing in America, but typically the message you see is about presents and buying things. I have a different message for our kids. The message of Christ being born for them. So I decided to take the everyday sights and sounds of Christmas and find ways that we could use them to point back to the true meaning of Christmas. For our advent we use a Christmas tree. Ours is a small table top faux tree that goes in our nook. This is where we bring the elf into our Holiday Season too. Each day he brings a small item for their tree and a verse that is tied to various themes.
Here is an example of what my advent cards look like! They have a theme and a verse to tie our holiday traditions back to Jesus. I usually read the verse and then we talk about it before we do our activity, read our book or hang our new ornament, etc.
I'm challenging you to help your holidays be more than just a time of buying and giving presents, but to find ways to point your kids back to Jesus throughout all of your holiday traditions!
A holiday traditions that we have kept up on *most years* is wrapping one book a night to use during our advent time! The kids enjoy opening a new book each night and I enjoy it NOT being candy or some crazy craft/activity we have to do each night. So for the years we want something a little more slow paced, a simple story each night is quick and easy to manage.
Here is a list of Christmas Holiday themed books we can't WAIT to add to our collection. Bear Stays Up for Christmas Dasher: How a Brave Lilttle Doe Changed Christmas Construction Site on Christmas Night A Royal Christmas to Remember Merry Christmas Amelia Bedilia Jesus, God's Great Gift Level 2 The Legend of the Christmas Cookie How to Catch a Snowman
There are SOOOO many more to add, but these are at the top of our list this year.
I typically try to choose timeless pieces that our family will love reading again and again. Occasionally I do add ones that my kids will really enjoy now, even though I know won't last forever. You can find so many of these books at Christian Book or Amazon. Have you read any of these? What do your kiddos think of them? Do you have any other "must have" holiday reads to suggest? We'd love to hear from you below! Check out this post about how I transform our kids nook into a Holiday themed space and display our Christmas books just for the kiddos!
Winter is one of my favorite seasons for so many reasons! The temperatures change and things start to slow down outside. The garden chores taper off and, though I LOVE being outside, everyone starts spending more time inside. Winter also means Christmas decorations come out, the fire inside is lit and our home feels so cozy with all the twinkling lights and the warm fire glow.
We enjoy various holiday traditions and activities but one of my personal favorites has become our kids holiday nook. I have a designated spot in my living room that is the kids nook year round. During the winter it is transformed into our Holiday nook!
The goal when choosing which items to put in your nook is to find things that will work for whatever age range of kids you have. Remember each year you can add and remove what doesn't work for your family anymore! Books
Here are some books we hope to add to our nook this year!
Some years when I'm looking for a simple advent activity each advent day (December 1st - 24th for us) gets a new book for the kids to open. I wrap them up in holiday themed wrapping paper and stack them all on the shelf. When I'm feeling really adventurous, I will correlate specific themed books with any holiday activities we have planned for various days (I usually label these on the back with the date or a brief title to remind me what it's for). When I am feeling really simple or we already have enough holiday *cheer* going on, I simply put new books out on the shelf and have the kids alternate who chooses our book to read each night. Really the delivery method ebs and flows with what works best for us from year to year! Puzzles & Games
I love to rotate a variety of difficulty with our puzzles and games that way there is something for the whole family to enjoy throughout the season. Sometimes I keep certain games or puzzles put away and swap them out later. That way the interest and newness sticks around for a while!
Toys & Dress Up
Christmas Activities
The Elf
The Elf on the Shelf has become a BIG thing for many families. I'm sure you have seen some form of the Elf and his adventures during the holidays. For us the Elf is a helper. He usually arrives shortly after Thanksgiving (the day after if I remember him or at least by the first of December)! We read the Elf book and remind the kids of his name and the rule (don't touch the elf). Throughout his time with us he helps spread the message of Christmas. He brings them notes, and sometimes surprises, that correlate to their advent each day. We do move him around the house finding new ways to pose him and every year it's a morning race to see who can find the Elf. It's a fun little tradition and even though we don't get too into all of the elves extras, we do enjoy the kids excitement as they find the elf and see what message he is bringing each day.
The ADVENTure
I love the idea of spreading the message of Christmas throughout all of December. Christmas is a big thing in America, but typically the message you see is about presents and buying things. I have a different message for our kids. The message of Christ being born for them. So I decided to take the everyday sights and sounds of Christmas and find ways that we could use them to point back to the true meaning of Christmas. For our advent we use a Christmas tree. A small table top faux tree that goes in our kid's nook. This is where we bring the elf in. Each day he brings a small item and a verse that is tied to various themes. Sometimes it is something we will be doing that day. For example if we planned a family drive to see the Christmas lights that night, then the Elf would bring the kids and strand of lights (or a small bulb ornament) for their tree and a verse about Jesus being the light of the world. We talk about how Christmas lights remind us of how Jesus lights up our lives. Other times it's a message and we might have a book to go along with the theme. An example of this would be a small candy cane to hang on their tree. We'll read The Legend of the Candy Cane and talk about the different ways a candy cane can represent Jesus. You could get as elaborate or as simple with this as you would like! The goal is that every time your kids step out of the door the sights and sounds of Christmas remind them of Christ. If you don't want to involve the elf you could use a simplemail box to put the items in for the kids advent. Each day they could open their mail box and your family could do the advent together. We often use both! The elf's message and surprise go inside the mailbox for the kids to find. All of their advent items go in the nook. The tree sits on the top shelf of the nook with the mailbox next to it. After we read the message and do the activity if there is one, the kids put the ornament on the tree. By Christmas it's fully decorated with the message of their Savior!
There are too many amazing nook items to name each individually, so be sure to check out our list of items that would make perfect additions to your holiday nook!
Our Mother Goose Time curriculum box was full of so many fun activities this month. We started to get back into the groove of things. Next month I will have to share some tips on how I go through the box to find the activities that will work for B-Mouse and the ones that will work from L-Bug! You can check out my post from last week to see how I created the perfect busy bags for L-Bug to do during quiet time. Shape PlayB-Mouse had a blast with these fun foam shapes! She is learning "in"... cleaning up toys by putting them in a bin, picking up her laundry and putting them into the basket, so naturally putting these foam shapes into the small bin was right on track to reinforce this topic! In they eyes of a toddler everything that goes in, must come out. Normally when I have her put things "in" I ask her not to dump them out because it's during clean up time. So B-Mouse was thrilled that she got to dump these little foam shapes all over the table! Some other ways I used the foam shapes with B-Mouse was to talk about colors! The hearts came in three colors: red, green and yellow. For older kiddos you could play a sorting game. You could have them sort the hearts by color into the three baskets. You could also have them sort the shapes by small or big. I didn't get to snap a picture, but L-Bug used the heart shapes on a pattern mat that came this month. Then she created patterns of her own! It was a great quite time activity for her to do :) WritingThere were so many great activities in this month's kit! L-Bug really loved practicing her cursive writing on the name tag. She started learning cursive this year during first grade. We've been using the New American Cursive book and it has been an amazing tear free tool! It has helped L-Bug grow to love cursive writing. For B-Mouse I wrote her name with a sharpie in print. Then I have her the name tag to let her color on. I kept pointing to the letters and saying their phonetic sound. I also helped her trace the letters in her name. She wasn't a big fan of mommy holding her crayon... we only got through three letters!
But she sure does love to color. One thing I love about our Mother Goose Time subscription is that the curriculum comes with just about everything we need. Aside from crayons, scissors, glue and simple items like that all of the other materials are prepped for you. Our curriculum box is used by a oNe YeAr old (yes B-Mouse had a birthday) and an almost sIx yEaR old (just a few more weeks, till L-Bug's birthday). We only need one curriculum kit because there are a lot of activities that B-Mouse just isn't quite old enough for. These adorable Make & Play activities are just one example of a project that she wouldn't quite get. However, they are the perfect quiet time, art activity for big sis to do! Since L-Bug is a first grader there are lots of things she can do on her own now. She loves art AND she loves imaginative play so these activities are fun for her. I've adapted the idea just a little bit so that she can do it more independently. Using the Make & Play activities I was able to set up enough busy bags for L-Bug to do all month long. I did this at the same time as I went through the curriculum setting up B-Mouse's activities. The only thing I needed that didn't come in the MGT box were ziplock bags. I used 1/2 gallon ziploc bags and everything fit perfectly. We have been just sticking the bags back into an art drawer once a project is done, that way I can reuse them when I set up for next month. I used the art materials from each Make& Play activity. The materials are all in the bag, but some "tools" may be missing. L-Bug has her own box of crayons, pencils, markers, scissors, glue, tape, etc... If she pulls out a busy bag she can take a look at the materials and the card and then decide how to make the project. By not putting all of the tools inside the busy bags L-Bug gets to be more creative. She has to use critical thinking and problem solving skills to think through how to do the project and what she will need to use. It is also really helpful to me because then I don't have to worry about adding anything later. Once these bags are set up they are done! Adding these cards from the "My Creative Mind" page into the busy bags had two purposes. 1) It made it easy for L-Bug to identify which busy bag went with which project. She just has to match the pictures. 2) L-Bug loves to read! She likes to reads what the card says. Every time she has finished a project she comes and tells me what she read on the card, what she can do with her project and we talk about the "ask me" prompt. The Make & Play cards (shown in bottom on left) I keep in a card box. When L-Bug is ready to do a quiet time art activity (usually when little sister is napping) she can look through the cards and then choose which one she wants to make. Inside of a reused school bus box I have all of the materials (along with a matching card from the "My Creative Mind" pages) inside of the busy bags! L-Bug looks through the Make & Play cards, decides which one she wants to do, then goes and finds the matching busy bag. Once L-Bug has finished her project and has gotten a chance to tell me all about it, we go to the monthly theme poster and I have her tell me which topic it would fall under. This helps bring the activity full circle and back into the thematic study. At the start of the month while I'm doing set up work for B-Mouse I chat with L-Bug about the theme for the month. I ask her questions to find out what her understanding of the weekly topics are. That way as I go through my lessons with B-Mouse I can gauge how to also include and challenge L-Bug. So far these busy bags have been a blast! B-Mouse takes her nap and I typically use that time to get cleaning done. So having a quiet activity that L-Bug can lead herself through is a win for this mama!
So, I will admit.... I feel like I have seriously slacked this time around. This was one of the first sensory activities I have really set up for B-Mouse to do! Just another reminder of why I decided to start this tot-school journey again. I love that the Mother Goose Time curriculum has started incorporating STEAM Stations! We had activities similar to this before, but I love that they mindfully incorporate activities that lead the kids to learn about the world around them in a hands on way.
Before realizing that the shapes were hiding in the grains B-Mouse needed to taste test all of the grains. She spit out the oats and the rice, but was digging all around for the cheerios! And of course the shapes had to be tasted too.... It is very important to note that these manipulatives are meant for older children. If you are planning to do tot-school I highly suggest you keep a close eye on your little one while they are playing with any of the pieces. They are a choking hazard. Grain Discovery was a hit! It was fun to have some sensory time with B-Mouse. Here are some more fun snippets from the week! Coloring pages and the letter A. These card were meant to be turned into a booklet, but I know B-Mouse will pull them apart immediately.
If we can manage to keep the cards intact I am going to get a laminate roll and use them as matching cards. All of the letter A cards can get put in a pile :) ,,I was so excited when that little yellow school bus showed up on the front porch! L-Bug was so excited to dig into the box with me and start exploring all the materials. She was checking out the Getting Started guide and spotted an old friend. She said, "mom isn't this KK?"
We worked together on setting up our school area. It's fun to add a little character back into our school routine! Mother Goose has a bright sunny window to hang out in along with our alphabet grass, weather sign and number tree. L-Bug helped me cut all the grass and put it up.
We had one last addition to our school space and I had to snap a picture of it. Many of you may remember my DIY interactive magnet board from my FCC home. Well, we don't have as large of a space as we once did so I found this great magnetic board to put up! AND I am so in love with these amazing story time pieces. They are so cute and very sturdy! I know they will be a hit with B-Mouse.
After a nearly two year pause from Mother Goose Time, I am so excited to announce that we will be resuming our MGT journey. This time around is going to look different than before though. When we took our pause in early spring of 2017, I was closing up my Family Child Care Home and preparing our family for some big changes! Since that time, we moved (twice), got pregnant and had a baby (who is turning one in two weeks), began and finished Kindergarten with our oldest (and we are now in the last semester of her First Grade year)! So many changes.... Those of you who remember our start with Mother Goose Time remember the days before I had a part-day preschool. It was just a tiny-tot and I! L-Bug was the star of the show as we shared our experiences learning with Mother Goose Time. This time around L-Bug is a budding first grader. She started Kindergarten at 4 1/2 years old. She has continued to grow and learn in amazing ways! She is now in the last semester of her first grade year. She attends a rigorous private school where she goes to classes two days a week on campus and then has home studies the rest of the week. She is on track to complete this year with straight A's. I truly attribute a lot of her "advancements" to the fact that we started tot-school young. Mother Goose Time provided us with an amazing opportunity to foster a love for learning. Now that L-Bug is in the first grade I won't be using the Mother Goose Time curriculum for her main lesson plans. However, I have plans to incorporate some extra fun back into her lessons using MGT. We didn't start back up with MGT for L-Bug.
I can't wait to share this experience with you all. These are some adventures you don't want to miss!
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Disclaimer: I am an affiliate blogger. In some cases I will make a commission from external links leading to purchases. Thank you for your support to my blog! Your purchases help this mama stay at home with the kiddos and continue doing what we love.
Proud supporter of Mother Goose Time curriculum!All the posts in this blog are from real life experiences. We've taken the activities and materials provided in the Mother Goose Time curriculum and modified it in different ways to fit our lifestyle. Enjoy the read!
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December 2023
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