Preparing holidays and handling the impatience of children during your childcare is possible. Mômji gives you some ideas!
Children love the festive season and are always really impatient to receive gifts, seeing their extended family and eating well. But waiting for most of December can feel truly lengthy for them.
Mômji has come up with a few ideas for activities that will help them wait during your childcare, and cultivate the magic of Christmas together.
Advent Calendar
To wait for Christmas, one of the most efficient ways to improve children's patience is to count days with them. This is why they usually get an Advent calendar on the first of December.
As well as offering a little moment of joy every day, it acts as a countdown to the almost month-long wait, which can seem very long, especially for the little ones.
You can DIY one thanks to our tutorial, available here. Parents can fill the boxes with wrapped chocolates, small decorations that will go on the Christmas tree, a keyring or toys.
By counting the days one after the other, children become more aware of how much time goes by and is left before the big day.
Letter to Santa Claus
When they have to wait until the holiday, kids become really excited. To canalize it, why not put it in writing on a pretty letter for Santa? With a white sheet of paper, colored markers and a nice hot chocolate, writing it together will make the wait feel shorter.
The older kids will can write it on their own, and you should help the youngest to put it down on paper. Remind children to add greetings, as they are the key to be in the good graces of the bearded man in red and white.
To make it unique and recognizable among all the letters sent by the other kids, you can decorate it together. Make them draw a Christmas tree, gifts, mittens and Santa's hat. They even can guide him by drawing the toys that they want.
Explain to them that, more than just giving good ideas to Santa Claus, this letter will give him the greatest joy.
Give help to Santa
On Christmas, children receive presents, but they can also offer some. With them, you can imagine little surprises that they can give to their parents, siblings, friends or any Christmas Eve guests.
Draw up a list of ideas that you can handcraft together, or that they can suggest to their parents. During your next childcare, you will be able to plan a special time to realize those little gifts.
In the Mômji December pedagogy, you'll find our activity for creating a Christmas card. It's ideal for accompanying presents with a kind word.
With their kind thought, explain to them that they're helping Santa out, so that he can finish his round of presents on time!
Christmas cooking
To ease the wait, a moment in the kitchen is ideal. The festive season has its classic recipes, and Christmas shortbread is one of them. Cinnamon, vanilla or chocolate, these little pastries are always a hit.
An even simpler recipe is for chocolate mendiants. A little melted chocolate, a few nuts or candied fruits and you're done.
The child you're looking after can put them on the table on Christmas Eve, in pretty gift bags, or under the tree with a glass of milk, to give Santa a well-deserved break during his trip around the world on the 25th.
Add nursery rhyme time to your routine
What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than with music? Together, you'll (re)discover the classics of the festive season, like “Deck the Halls” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.
For nannies in Immersion Childcare, it's another opportunity for the children to learn new vocabulary by listening to these songs in your native language with you. Nannies on Initiation care, meanwhile, can be accompanied by the December pedagogy’s song: Jingle Bells.
It's easy to introduce listening and learning these nursery rhymes during snack time or free play sessions. By singing them together, you'll add a touch of musical fun and warmth to the anticipation of the big day.
With these few tips in hand, you've got everything you need to help the kids look forward to Christmas while you're on call. All you have to do is wait together until the holidays!
