Extend Christmas into January with these 5 ‘post Christmas’ activities
Christmas is a fun and exciting time of the year that the children will love to talk about when returning to nursery. It is a good idea to continue to follow the children’s interests and continue with Christmas themed activities after the festive period to enable all children to meet their next steps.
Practitioners can be keen to have all Christmas activities completed in time for Christmas; however there are some activities that can be kept until after the children have experienced Christmas and are keen to talk about it.
Here are 5 great ‘post Christmas’ activities that can be offered to the children in January;
Collecting old Christmas cards
January will usually involve taking down all the Christmas cards you have received throughout December, but rather than putting these in the bin they can be used at nursery! Ask your children to bring in all of their old Christmas cards and encourage the children to practise their scissor control cutting out the picture on the front. The children will love talking about the cards and the pictures that they recognise. For any cards left over, some big chain supermarkets have started collecting and recycling Christmas cards in order to plant trees. You can find out more about this scheme here.
Junk modelling
Christmas will often bring lots of empty cardboard boxes and containers. This is a great time to build up your junk modelling resources and bring out the children’s creativity. What fantastic structures can the children make using lots of different resources? Providing paper and pencils can enable the children to plan and put their ideas onto paper. You may find that this activity will encourage the children to talk about the presents that Father Christmas brought them.
Thank you letters to Santa
Many children will have the experience of writing letters to Father Christmas prior to Christmas day however it is a great idea to encourage the children to write thank you letters afterwards too! This enables the children to think about what presents they have received over Christmas and develop their personal and emotional development through using their manners and thanking others for their gifts. Thank you letters or cards can also be made for family and friends.
Show and tell
Children will be very excited to come back after the Christmas holidays and tell everyone what they have been up to. Show and tell gives every child the opportunity to be involved and listen to one another, sharing experiences and developing social skills. The children could bring in one item from home to talk about and show their friends.
New Year resolutions
New resolutions are not only for adults to make. Sometimes it can help children to think about their behaviour or what they have done and how they can change. It may be something simple such as sitting nicely at lunch time or always sharing with their friends; however it may be a goal that the child wants to achieve such as helping out someone that needs their help. Random Acts of Kindness are a great way to teach children about being kind and friendly towards others. This can be discussed in small groups or as a whole group at circle time. The children could draw some lovely pictures of their “new year resolutions.”