Christmas Activities to Help Give Back!

Fun and Fellowship with Your Little One This Christmas

The holiday season is a wonderful time for both giving and receiving, and like many other holidays around this time of year, that’s a huge part of Christmas! Whether you participate in the religious aspects of Christmas or not, it’s an amazing opportunity to spend quality time with your loved ones and to give back to the people around you, your family, as well as your community!  Below, we’ve included lots of fun crafts and social emotional learning activities that will not only give you and your little one an amazing opportunity to bond together with family activities, but will encourage some giving back during this special time of year:

1. Christmas Cookies for the Community: One of the best ways to spend time with your little one while encouraging them to be altruistic during the holidays is to engage with your community in a small and simple way! Baking cookies and having your little one help deliver them to people in your neighborhood or other community centers is a fun social emotional learning activity and a wonderful way to remind them that the holiday season is all about giving, not receiving! Ask your little one to choose their favorite treat to share, and help them whip up a yummy batch to share with the world through this special holiday activity for kids. 
2. Write Cards for Loved Ones: Another fantastic way for your little one to remember the importance of giving and sharing love is to ask them to write cards for their loved ones. This social emotional learning activity can be for relatives, friends, or both! By asking them to sit down and share their feelings with the people close to them, you will help them to be more generous and open with their feelings and love — what a great holiday activity for kids!
3. Encourage Homemade Gifts: Sure, it’s nice to receive something store bought every once in a while, but it is so much more meaningful when your little one helps make a gift by hand! It’ll really show them how much fun it is to put effort and love into gift-giving, and the recipients are sure to love them, too. You can try decorating tote bags or hand towels, building a mini scrapbook, or painting a lovely canvas. No matter what, your little one will have a good time working on this holiday activity for kids, and they will be so excited to share their gift with their loved one!
4. Count Down the Days with Good Deeds: A great social emotional learning activity to help encourage your little one to be generous this holiday season is to build a DIY advent calendar using good deeds to help count down the days til Christmas! Use a posterboard and sticky notes to create a makeshift calendar, and write down tiny good deeds on each post-it. These deeds can be as simple as bringing flowers to a teacher, baking something nice for a loved one, or bringing someone a hot drink on a snowy day. No matter what, though, all these good deeds (which can also be family activities) will remind your little one of the importance of giving back to those in their life! 

It’s normal for your little one to get excited about gifts and presents this holiday season. With that said, it’s the best time of year to really encourage giving back to the community, especially through holiday activities for kids, and is a great way to set up a practice of giving back year-round! Try Our Online Preschool for FREE! Playgarden Prep offers numerous educational videos from real teachers, and numerous DIY projects to do with your little one as family activities that support early learning and development.

OTHER HOLIDAY ARTICLES:

• How to Keep Your Little One Learning Through the Holidays
• Educational Hanukkah Activities for Little Ones
• DIY New Years Crafts for You and Your Little One
• How to Celebrate Lunar New Year for Kids