Christmas is a magical time of year for children of all ages. For small children who are excited over the arrival of Santa Claus, waiting until the twenty-fifth day of December can be unbearable, Parents can help ease a young child's impatience by creating fun Christmas countdown activities that a child can help with every day of December until Christmas morning.
Christmas Chain
Creating a construction paper Christmas chain helps small children see that the wait until Christmas gets shorter and shorter each and every day. To make a Christmas chain cut red and green construction paper into strips that are three inches wide and six inches long. Form a chain out of the red and green strips and tape the chain to a living room, dining room, or kitchen wall. Each morning let a child rip a construction paper link off of the chain, and as an added learning activity have him count the links remaining. When more than one child is in the household assign each child a color and the child with the color of the bottom link gets to rip the link off in the morning.
25 Candy Cane Ornaments
Have children count out five large candy canes and place them in a cup in a visible area. Each morning a candy cane can be taken from the cup and placed on the Christmas tree. When one candy cane is left in the cup it is Christmas Eve and children can leave this remaining candy cane underneath the Christmas tree as a special gift for Santa.
Snowball Calendar
A snowball calendar is a craft project that teaches kids about the days of the week and helps them countdown to Christmas. On a large piece of green poster board take twenty-five two inch by two inch squares of red construction paper in rows of seven. Have children say the names of the days of the weeks as each day is labeled at the top of the calendar. Children can also count up to twenty five as each day of the month up until Christmas day is labeled. Once the calendar is made, each morning a child can glue a cotton ball to the construction paper that represents that day of the week. By the time it is Christmas morning the poster board is covered in snowballs.
Realistically, no matter what activities a parent does with a child, the child is still going to wake up many mornings wanting Christmas to be that day. Christmas countdown projects can help a child have fun while teaching her about delayed gratification. The Christmas season is magical for children and parents. Singing Christmas songs, making cookies, reading stories, and engaging in any number of fun Christmas activities can make the wait for Christmas easier.
Join the Conversation