Winter break can be a great time for kids to celebrate holidays. During the break, there can also be lots of fun opportunities to practice skills that will keep kids ready to go back to school after the holidays! Check out our suggestions for exercising a range of holiday skills.
Literacy Skills
- Stories about all of the different holidays celebrated across this season can be fun to read together
- Kids love to help read recipes and make delicious holiday goodies and special foods
- Reading gift tags can be a special job for the smallest helpers
Writing Skills
- Children can help to write holiday cards, letters, and thank you notes for gifts
- Filling out gift cards is a great way to practice writing
- Parents can always help by writing out names and/or words for children to copy
Number Skills
- There are so many things to practice counting during the holidays: lights, candles, gifts, decorations
- Also shapes: stars, trees, boxes, decorations-name them all!
- For older kids, you can make up math problems like: what happens if you have 3 cookies/candy canes/latkes and eat one?
Social Emotional Skills
- A lot of exciting things happen during the holidays and this can be a great time for practicing ways to calm excitement: for example, kids can see how softly they can whisper or how slowly they can move; try a dance party in sloooooow motion or singing super softly
- There can be a lot of waiting for exciting things; practice ways to use distraction while waiting. Can kids make up fun stories while they are waiting to open presents? Or new songs while they are in the car on the way to see family members?
- There are lots of feelings around holiday times; kids can practice watching people around them and guessing their feelings. What might have made that person feel that way? Make up a story about their day.
- Practice helping, taking turns, and sharing during activities like baking cookies, wrapping gifts, and decorating.
As with all learning activities, the more fun, the better! Enjoy the holidays!
