It's almost Christmas!! Well not really, but it's getting a lot closer, a lot faster. We still have to write our letter to Santa and I need to plan Christmas Eve and Day meals. Yes I know when I said we split our holidays that it gives me two months to plan....I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't working this year. Ok, it was also procrastination. One day I'll get that monster off my shoulder for good. The first things I needed to do this month were the general meal planning and our countdown.
We take every chance we can get to teach Bubba good manners and social skills. Seeing as how he doesn't always catch on to those on his own all the time, it helps to reinforce and remind him. For our Christmas Countdown this year (you know, the construction paper chain links you get to rip off each night?) I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to throw some skills building in. I like that, while it is fun, he also learns good values at the same time. And maybe make a few more friends along the way! He was super excited at the idea. Especially when I explained that each night when we take off a link we would be putting it in a jar to set out for Santa with the milk and cookies. At first he had asked what Santa would do with them and I said I wasn't sure (hadn't thought that far ahead yet, I suppose). He exclaimed that Santa would want to keep them "for memories". I told him that's a great idea! I think he might write a little note to Bubba too :-) For this project all you'll need are a few supplies you probably already have in the house. Here's what we did:
25 DAYS OF GOOD DEEDS (Christmas Countdown)
Supplies
Red and Green Construction Paper
Glue
Tape
Scissors
Marker
Jar (plastic or glass)
Optional Decorations
Instructions
1. Cut out 12 strips (about 1-2 inches wide) red and 12 strips green construction paper. Think of what the top of your chain will be (Bubba wanted a Christmas tree) and cut out those pieces as well.
2. Using the marker, write one good deed on each strip of colored paper. This is the fun part; it doesn't have to be anything in particular, just something nice you can do for someone else each day. It could be anything from smiling at someone to volunteering at a local shelter or soup kitchen!
3. Glue the header decorations into place and tape the links together, in an alternating color pattern, with the last one being at the base of the top decoration.
4. Decorate your jar! You can do this anyway you like, we just put a label saying "25 Days of Good Deeds" on the front and placed little pieces of yellow "confetti paper" around the sides.
5. Hang it up!
We added ours to our Holiday Wall downstairs, so everyone can see it. Bubba is reminded each day about the links and is excited and motivated to do each one! He did a great job coming up with ideas, and they will only keep evolving through the years. I'm trying to think of something fun to do with the links after Santa sees them, maybe like a giant framed poster board of the best ones, or that sort of thing. That way when Bubba and future Pioneer Kids are older, we can all look back at the good deeds.
I hope you have fun with this one! Do you do something similar? What sort of arts and crafts tradition do you do at home? I'd love to hear!