Here is a List of basic inexpensive Christmas themed activities to consider using with your child this year:
1 Coloring sheets and other crafts based on child’s interests.
2 Make a sensory bucket. Consider dollar tree items that are Christmas themed that go along with the story (a train, cotton balls for snow, a small tree figurine etc, a green pom pom with eyes to make the grinch, red and green spiral noodles, etc)
3 Act out a story or scene from a movie. Dress up as a character, work on taking turns talking (not interrupting) and staying on topic about the information from the story/Christmas movie.
4 Make your own Christmas story together! Illustrate it too, if you’d like! Be sure to include important elements like: Characters, settings, a main idea, feelings/emotions characters have along the way, a few fun details or steps (example: 1st they gathered lights, then they put them on a tree, and after that they put on ornaments that were red and white), and a conclusion.
5 Compare and contrast Christmas items to other items. Example: a Christmas tree and a palm tree, or a sleigh and a car. How are they the same? How are they different?
6 Develop some routines related to Christmas, such as signing a Christmas song every time you leave the house or ride in the car. Pause the music or stop singing, to see if your child will continue and use verbal words/targets on their own.
7 Work on amounts by placing items in a stocking, having the child count out those items (such as toy coal, reindeer toys, or soft ornaments without hooks that are safe). Once all items are out ask them for “one, some, all” etc.
8 Us a Christmas box with a lid or top (rip/cut off the bottom or just make a slit so it can be opened if you’d like). Place items “in, on, under, behind, next to the box” or even move the box and name where it’s located such as “behind the couch, under the table, in front of the tv,” etc. To work on understanding positional words.
9 Think of songs that use your kids articulation sounds: if your child works on R sounds, consider practicing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”
10 Work on following directions, following a schedule (using pictures for each step if needed), showing understanding of action words (stir, pour, pat, sprinkle, etc), and engage in hands on sensory input by letting your child help you with a simple Christmas recipe.
11 Match and sort items (all snowflakes in one area, all Santa hats in another). All green items go on a green paper with a tree drawn on it, or on the red paper with the stock ing drawn on it)
12 Work on negations. Examples: which Christmas bag has “no” toy, which toy is “not” in a bag, which bag is “not” red, etc). It’s easier and more basic if you have at least three bags, and two are the same and one is different. Such as having two bags with a toy inside, but one is empty. Two bags are red but one bag is blue.
Emily Gantt Cantrell, M.Ed, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist