Keeping kids busy this
Christmas
The malls may be bursting with
happy Christmas um-pa-pa, but when your feet ache and your head hurts and the
kids are driving you crazy, it puts a damper on festivities. Holidays are so
much fun – for everybody it seems ….. but Mom.
With a bit of planning, it doesn’t
have to be this way. Use your resources, keep the kids busy, give them chores to
do, minimise fuss, kick off your shoes and say to hell with routine for a
while.
Resource other moms in your
neighbourhood or complex – offer to ‘entertain’ their kids one morning or
afternoon, and let them return the favour. This will give you the chance to do
shopping or Christmas preparations on your own.
Keeping the kids busy:
Make Christmas decorations. Don’t
have any ideas? Get a book from your local library or google.
Bake. Box cookies are so easy.
Make Christmas wrapping paper with
brown paper, potato stamps and poster paint.
Bring out the board games.
Make puppets from odd socks and sew
on buttons for eyes.
Clean unbroken toys that your kids
don’t play with anymore and give them to a charity or children’s home.
Get the kids to make Christmas
cards and cookies for grandparents or old folk in your neighbourhood.
Suitable toys for Christmas:
Babies to age 2. Tiny tots are more
interested in the wrapping and the box than the present! Toys of all shapes and
sizes should stimulate the senses: they must look bright, feel soft, smell good
and make a noise.
Age 2 – 3: Toddlers are learning to
think and figure things out for themselves. Simple shapes that fit into
one another, boxes that open and shut, objects that bob up and down.
Age 3 – 4: This age-group are
steady on their feet and have oodles of energy. They enjoy physical games like
running and jumping, pushing, pulling, scribbling, building, opening and
closing. Games like skittles and ball games, riding plastic ‘motor-bikes’,
pushing a pram, playing in a sand-pit or with water is just up their street.
Fine motor skills can be stimulated with simple wooden puzzles, paper and wax crayon
and finger paint.
Age 4 – 5: Toy shops are heaven for
this age group. From fantasy dressing-up clothes to leggo, dolls of every colour
and description, cars, trucks and aeroplanes, games and collectables. It’s best
to let your child choose their own toy, but give them a budget. It will teach
them to choose something they (you) can ‘afford’.
Age 6 – 8: This is when children’s
true talents begin to show – the academic boff, sporting girls and boys, the
readers or artists, the dancers and musicians. Their brains are literally adult
size (but far from mature) and connections are buzzing like the lights on a Christmas
tree. This is when children learn with amazing speed and accuracy. What you buy
your child this Christmas could well put him or her on a path for their future.
Not only an i-pad, a tablet or laptop, it could be a camera, a quality
key-board, a guitar or set of drums, a magician set or a pet.
Tips for toys this Christmas:
Don’t buy cheap
Remember the toy is for your child –
not you. Let your child choose.
Play should come from the child –
not the toy.
After the excitement of opening
presents is over, let your child play with one toy at a time. Discreetly hide a
few and bring these out when your child is bored and has forgotten about them –
on rainy days or when your child is sick.
