Activities for Advent with a Toddler

I had a conversation with a friend whose big kids is the same age as my babies.  She talked about wanting to start Advent traditions with her daughter and expressed interest in my activity Advent calendar.  Upon further discussion, however, it became abundantly clear that my plans are for ages 3 and up.  So what to do with your toddler?

If you've got older kids, I'd suggest scaling down or scaffolding their activities so the littlest can participate.  Clearly parties and outings can involve everyone, even babies can listen to Christmas music, and books can be leveled for your audience.  Crafts can be simplified and oriented more towards process than product (I've cut paper wreaths, you can put on stickers however you like or use bingo dabbers to paint "ornaments" on them.  Here are pine cones, glue, and glitter: perhaps you'd like to combine them?)  Games can be about playing with the components, instead of actually playing the game.  Honestly, my littlest littles like to be involved, even if they have no idea what's going on.  Case in point; L says "knock knock, wha-hoo!" and then laughs hysterically.

If your only kids are under three, maybe a sensory themed activity every day is your best bet.  Introduce the material, let your little explore, and enjoy watching or playing along.  To that end, here are a few ideas:

Twenty-Five Sensory Suggestions for Advent

See
Lit candles (again, please supervise closely!  A two year old might be able to blow candles out.)
Christmas lights hung in the neighborhood (I would probably just take a walk before or after dinner some night)

Hear
Recorded Christmas music
Jingle bells
Caregiver singing
Salvation Army bell ringer

Smell/Taste
Cinnamon play-dough (or a chunk of cookie dough)
Cinnamon sticks
Pumpkin puree (with spices already mixed in or on the side)
Seasonal drink (eggnog, hot chocolate, apple cider, or cinnamon tea)
Candy cane
Pine branches

Touch/Play
Tinsel or Garland
Unbreakable ornaments
A pile of pine needles or a pine branch and pine cones
Miniature tree with unbreakable ornaments to decorate and undecorate
Wooden or plastic nativity scene
Straw + box + doll = manger
String of Christmas lights plugged in (with close supervision, of course)
Wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows
Snow (or fake snow)
Toy reindeer or a horse and sleigh or a toy Santa Clause
Unlit candles (scented ones would be fun)
White fur, faux fur, or a Santa hat and beard
Advent wreath with fake candles (here's an example, but you could certainly DIY something different)

Activity Advent Calendar

You're possibly already familiar with the chocolate Advent calendar: a piece of cardboard with little doors numbered 1 through 25, behind each of which rests a piece of chocolate.  The idea is that you open one door each day of December leading up to Christmas.  When I was a child, we also had an Advent calendar with a little bear whom you moved each day to a new "room" of his fabric banner house.

For the past 4 years, we've done an activity Advent calendar, where each day of December has a special activity planned.  There are a million pinterest-worthy ways to set one of these up, but ours is just index cards in pockets.  I've worked hard to make the activities not about sweet treats and either 1) something we would be doing anyway or 2) something that can be done at home without disrupting the schedule.  We also acknowledge Hanukkah in our celebration every year.  Mostly because we like playing Dreidel, and the story of Hanukkah is a great story.  We're not Jewish, though, so we don't light a menorah.

One thing to make the activities work for me: I plan the month in advance, but I write each card the night before.  This has two advantages.  First, it lets me rearrange things as necessary.  Second, it reminds me of anything I need to get organized for the next day's activity treat.

December 2015 Activity Advent Calendar

1- Start Christmas crafts for family gifts

2- Set up Nativity scene

3- Make paper snowflakes

4- Christmas Lights bubble bath (light candles on the counter and put glow sticks in the tub)

5- Joyful Traditions (our town tree lighting ceremony)

6- Buy Christmas tree

7- Play Dreidel

8- Read Hanukkah Stories (I check these out from the library in advance)

9- Decorate our tree

10- Sesame Street Christmas videos on YouTube

11- Tell holiday jokes

12- See the lights at a local park

13- Church Christmas party

14- Christmas song sing-along

15- Christmas for animals (we smear pine cones with peanut butter and roll in birdseed, then hang them with ribbon from our trees outside)

16- Read Christmas Stories by the Christmas tree

17- The Gibbon's holiday concert

18- Support group Christmas party

19- Watch a Christmas movie

20- Children's Christmas program at church

21- Make snowman pancakes

22- Pajama Dance Party

23- Board Game night

24- Midnight service at church

25- Merry Christmas!

In case you don't have as many parties as we do this year, our backup activities are:

• drink tea from the fancy china cups
• wrap presents together
• decorate bedrooms for Christmas
• carol for our neighbors
• dress up and take glamorous photos,
• a winter scavenger hunt in the back yard.  

Of course, if you had fewer parties, you could spare a few extra sweet treats, and then you might want to bake cookies, decorate a gingerbread house, or drink hot cocoa.

Any other great ideas?  I'd love your suggestions.

Totally Not Jewish Sukkot

Happy Sukkot!  Which you probably don't celebrate, because even most Jews don't make a big deal out of this Jewish holiday.  However, Sukkot is definitely my favorite holiday, so I'm going to fill you in on it!  As you know, I am totally an expert on things and stuff, so you can totally trust me, despite the fact that I have never actually talked to anyone Jewish about Sukkot.  I did read a lot of websites and probably 5 or 6 books, though. 

First, the pilgrims probably based the first Thanksgiving on the holiday of Sukkot, so that's historically interesting.  A better place to start eh discussion, though, is with Passover.  I know a lot of churches are celebrating Passover these days, and the same way that Passover is analogous to Christ's death, Sukkot is analogous to His birth.  When Paul talks about Christ coming to "dwell" with us, he uses the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for "dwelling," the noun form of which is the word sukkah.  A physical place for dwelling.  Christ came, Paul tells us, to sukkah with us. 

Why do I think you should get in on the Sukkot celebrating thing?  First, you may be well enough aware that Christmas and its various trappings are rooted in paganism, so celebrating a nice traditional Christmas doesn't do much to explain the continuity of God's story over generations of human history.  Now, I'm not suggesting that you get rid of all of the fun of Christmas.  We love our holidays around here, no matter where they grew from.  But if you are interested in the arc of God's story over the course of history, Sukkot helps tell the narrative in a way Christmas doesn't.

Aside from the relevance to everyone interested in Christ as the Messiah, Sukkot is a good time.  Imagine all the good parts of Christmas, without the pressure of gifts or expectations.  Imagine a holiday that lasts a week, so you can celebrate with your mom's side today, your dad's side tomorrow, his parents the next day,  just your kids the day after that, and your friends on the weekend.  Nobody's feelings are hurt!  Also, remember that nobody expects you to be celebrating anyway, so they won't be offended if you skip them.

So how do you get started?  Build a sukkah!  Then decorate it!  Think of it as your Christmas tree, only you picnic and camp inside of it. 

Lent With Little Children

The Munchkin is three this year, and The Baby is, of course, a baby.  But I feel like three is old enough to start doing something meaningful for Lent.  Last year I felt like two was old enough to start doing something for Lent, but I was overwhelmed enough with school and work and pregnancy tiredness that we didn't actually get "something" off the ground.

The Hubby and I have historically given something up.  Memorable years include the year we gave up buying things and going to retail stores (we cheated by using a gas card, but I still had to get to work).  And the year we gave up meat (funny enough, that was the year our pastor served bacon during the Easter Sunday service).  But since having kids, I've done less dramatic things, like last year when I gave up Facebook before 9:00 pm.  Don't laugh!  It was a sacrifice for me.  We also occasionally take something on.  Last year instead of checking facebook, I did the divine hours.

This year, as a family, we're giving up TV and videos.  Including YouTube.  While The Munchkin doesn't watch much TV, he loves YouTube, and probably twice a week we watch a few videos after breakfast.  And The Hubby and I spend a good number of evenings on Hulu.  We've also taken on a memory verse.  Just one, but that's enough for The Munchkin.

I'm working on figuring out how to rotate a picture with this program... Forgive me.

Here's our tactile, visual Lenten calendar.  The Munchkin painted construction paper, and we punched out the flowers together.  We have one flower for each day of Lent.  Each night at dinner, The Munchkin will take one flower off of the window and put it in the jar.  Then The Hubby will lead a responsive reading of the memory verse: 1 John 4:10.

What are you doing for Lent this year?