Making Christmas meaningful for children.
Many families have their own traditions around Christmas time and for many it is a time for reflection and celebration however, it can also be a very busy, tiring and fraught time with ‘getting new toys’ being at the forefront of what Christmas is all about so here are a few ideas to make the festive period more meaningful for children.
- Get them to help with the shopping (if you can find time!) they can find the different things you need for Christmas dinner.
- Get children to help set the table – has everyone got a fork, a knife, a spoon? Count the chairs etc.
- Choose something to include in a charity collection e.g. foodbank/homeless charity (they usually have large crates for donations at the supermarkets or you could make up a bag for the charity shop).
- Talk about something you could ‘give’ to someone else without it costing any money e.g. a smile, kind words, tidying up.
- Reflect on the best things about Christmas and Boxing day without mentioning presents!
- Think about people who help us over Christmas (nurses, firefighters, police, charity workers.) Talk about them or even better give them a pack of mince pies.
- Find out about traditions in different countries.
- Start a new family tradition: invite your neighbours to come and share a mince pie, go and look at Christmas lights, go for a walk on Christmas Eve or make some decorations together.
But most of all, we wish you a most wonderful Christmas, take good care! From all at Truro Nursery School.