Five Tips for Holiday Fun from SmartSitters
The end-of-year holidays are a time to spend with family and friends—doing arts and crafts, baking, and just enjoying each other’s company! From making your own stockings to painting dreidels to building snowmen in Central Park, there are hundreds of fun holiday ideas out there, and it can be tricky to know which ideas your children are going to enjoy most. To solve that problem, our SmartSitters have been tested out five tips to guarantee holiday fun!
Give a Framed Picture for a Holiday Gift
SmartSitter Carly D. loves creating gifts with the children she nannies while she’s SmartSitting in December. She recommends setting up a fun photoshoot to take a cute or silly picture as a family. You can then go on an adventure to print the picture and pick up a frame. Instead of a photo, you can also encourage your children to create artwork to frame. Take this project to the next level by creating a frame with some popsicle sticks you can decorate as a family.
Bake, Bake, and Bake Some More
The holidays are a great time to get those kiddos in the kitchen! Baking is a fun way to incorporate math, science, tactile learning, and practical skills in an entertaining activity for everyone. SmartSitter Carson C. always loves baking with children, but especially during the holidays! Gingerbread houses are particularly fun because there’s aspects of the craft that are fun for everyone—baking, building, decorating, or playing house afterwards with all the decorated gingerbread-people!
Put on a Holiday Concert
SmartSitter Adrienne Y. once got a whole apartment floor of kiddos together for a fun holiday concert for parents and friends! This idea is fun for groups of all sizes, whether it’s parent-child or SmartSitter-child duets to the biggest group you can find. Printing out holiday carols online is easy, and it helps to sprinkle in some new ones and some old favorites. Practice singing and learning new songs together, and you’ll create lasting memories for the participants and audience. Talk about holiday spirit!
Give a Gift that Keeps on Giving
We all have someone in our life who can be tricky to buy the perfect gift for. SmartSitter Ashley L. had a suggestion we love: make a donation to a charity in their name! This is a great way to teach your children about what the holiday season means and how to make it special for everyone. Do a little research on some interesting organizations to share with your children and spread the joy this holiday season.
Make a Time Capsule
SmartSitter Claire G. shared her fun holiday activity—time capsules! Have your children come up with their favorite things from this past year. Maybe the best snack they ate, their favorite toy, the best field trip they went on, where they went on vacation, their favorite park, anything that was special to them this year! Depending on their ages and interests, your child can draw pictures of their favorite things while you write captions or they can write their own answers down! Collect all the pictures in a container and decorate the box on the outside with notes that provide a specific date when the box can be opened, such as December 2024. In five years, your child can relive their favorite memories and see what they still love!
The holidays are a special time to spend time with family and the ones you love. We’d love to see how your family is enjoying the holiday season, so make sure to tag SmartSitting in your Facebook and Instagram posts for us to view and share your posts on our channels. Want more activity ideas for your family? Make sure you sign up for our newsletter for all the latest info coming from our team!