Merry belated Christmas!
This past holiday season was a special one as my kids are finally at an age where they understand what’s going on and we are able to experience the magic of things anew through their eyes. It’s wonderful! This month we’ve been busy trying to squeeze in fun activities for the kids (in the midst of our current 2 year sleep regression craze.. zZZ), while also trying to “prepare Him room” in our hearts during this Advent and Christmas season. Even though this last month has been a little bit of a blur and I’ve felt like a hot mess 98% of the time, we’ve tried our best to capture the little moments here and there to teach our kids about the greatest gift we have been given in Jesus, while also making fun memories together as a family and cultivating traditions in our home that I hope to keep in the years to come.
As my kids get older, I’m finding that there are so many opportunities to do fun things and create new memories as a family. I am horrible at planning things ahead, but I tried to think of a few fun things to do with them this holiday season and here are some of our favorite activities of this month! I loved them because they are easy to prep, not too costly and provides opportunity for us to engage with them!
Put together a snack box for the delivery man!
This is something I’ve been meaning to do for years so I was so happy that we were finally able to put this together! It was even more special because we were able to involve the kids and use it as an opportunity to bless someone else as a family. It all started with a video my sister posted on her instagram story of a delivery man coming across a box full of goodies for them to enjoy on their front porch. Asher LOVED seeing how happy and excited the delivery man was because of the surprise and asked if we could do it too!
The next day, we went out to find some goodies to put out. We cut a box open and made a sign and set it out. Asher waited eagerly by the door that first day, he was so excited for someone to take a snack. He even made a sign: WE GAV IOU SNAC (“we gave you snacks”)
Build Gum Drop Structures and Houses!
This one was so fun and so easy!
I just grabbed a container of gumdrops (also called spice drops) at the market – they sell them everywhere! – and got a pack of toothpicks and let them build away. I had to demonstrate and help a ton in the beginning, but after a while they were able to do most of building themselves and had so much fun!
This is a great STEM activity for kids. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills. These types of activities challenge kids to create, solve problems, innovate, etc. There are a ton of easy-to-prep STEM activities out there and we really enjoy doing them at home!
Even this little one was really getting into it! She started off well in the beginning and then decided to go a different route and create something that resembled a torture chamber..
These holiday colored gumdrops are fun to do during this season, but off-season, this kind of activity can be done with anything you have lying around. I’m thinking of using some leftover mini-marshmallows to repeat this activity sometime next month!
Snow sensory play
Sensory play and creating sensory bins are one of my favorite things and I think it’s a really fun, open-ended way for kids to play. It is super easy to put together and the “snow” provides even more opportunities to stretch their imagination while they play!
I had them choose 3-4 toys each from their toy bin (no electronic or battery-powered ones, obviously!) I gave them a couple of measuring cups, buckets, etc and let them go at it!
It’s amazing because this activity really encourages independent play! You can encourage them to think of different stories or scenarios and have them engage with the story as they play. (Keep it simple: These animals and dinosaurs are so hot in the sun so they are cooling off with the snow! Let’s make big piles and try to cover them up!”) It was a fun activity for them and provided me some quiet time, too!
I’d say that’s a win for everyone!
Hoping we can repeat some of these activities next year and looking forward to thinking of new ideas for next year!
life with the tsengs 