Discovery Point Blog

December 20, 2015

Five Holiday-Themed Projects to Share with Your Toddlers This Year

The right holiday activities can inspire even the youngest children to join in your family celebrations. Educational and fun projects can help your child learn while he or she creates priceless keepsakes you and your family will treasure for years to come. At Discovery Point, we specialize in delivering the best educational experiences for toddlers and preschoolers at our child care facilities. Here are five holiday-themed educational activities you and your toddler can enjoy together.

Standout Cutouts

Cutting holiday shapes out of rugged cardboard and allowing your toddler to color, paint and paste glitter on these decorative designs can provide hours of fun during this joyous time of year. Making two of each shape and cutting lines to allow them to slide together can even produce a 3D effect to help you create beautiful homemade centerpieces for tables, mantelpieces and other areas of your home.

Felt and Flannel Board Designs

A felt board can be the perfect canvas for your child’s imagination this holiday season. Cutting out flannel ornaments, presents and Christmas lights in bright and festive colors and allowing your child to build his or her own holiday scene with these components can improve fine motor skills and creativity. Best of all, this activity can be repeated over and over with new cutouts and new designs for every day of the holiday vacation.

Finger Paint and Glitter

Depending on the space you have available, a roll of white butcher paper or a few pieces of colorful construction paper can allow your toddler to express his or her own artistic imagination with washable finger paints, glue and glitter. Little handprints will be treasured reminders of the holidays shared during these early years. Yarn can also be used to outline shapes or to add textural interest to these creations. Once finished, you can post these masterpieces on the refrigerator door or keep them safe in a scrapbook.

Sticker Stockings

Inexpensive felt stockings from a craft store are the basic building blocks for unique personalized Christmas stockings designed by your own toddler. Self-stick letters can allow your child to spell out his or her name. A sheet of holiday-themed stickers can allow even the youngest toddler to create a festive masterpiece he or she will be proud to hang by the fireplace on Christmas Eve. Buttons, rickrack and glitter can be glued onto the stocking for even greater holiday appeal.

Craft Stick Ornaments

A little glue, some pipe cleaners and a handful of craft sticks can be used to create cute and colorful ornaments for the holiday season. Some of the most popular ideas include the following:

  • Craft stick frames decorated with glitter and paint and used to surround pictures of your children for display on the family tree
  • Santa, snowman and elf characters made with crepe paper, glue and markers and finished with a loop of ribbon for hanging on the tree
  • The ever-popular reindeer ornament made with three craft sticks and adorned with googly eyes and a red nose

These craft stick creations can provide hours of fun for your child while challenging his or her imagination and creativity.

The child care experts at Discovery Point specialize in providing your toddler with engaging and educational activities designed to promote future academic success. These five projects can allow you to spend quality time with your child during the busy holiday season while creating unique keepsakes you will treasure for many years to come.