Holiday season is just around the corner, and so is the festive mood. It’s the perfect way to spend some quality time with the family – and of course, your children.

Toddlers especially look forward to making memories with their families, so you need to make the most of holiday season. You could spend the entire day binge-watching Christmas cartoons, but there are a lot more ways to have fun than staring at a screen all day.

Here are some fun-filled holiday activities you can do with your toddler – up to your heart’s content!

Bake together

This is perhaps the most family-friendly, fun activity you can do with your child. Spend the day planning a recipe, and then baking off together. Let your child handle some of the work by letting them do tasks like roll the dough, cut out star-shaped cookies, or even decorate all the Christmas-themed cupcakes.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can tag in with your toddler and create your own dessert recipe. Have your family be the “judges” and rate your creation!

Get crafty

Children in festive moods often feel the most creative – so why not let those ideas out through crafts?

Get all the supplies you need beforehand – papers, scissors, glue, ribbons, glitter and everything in between. Spend at least two hours everyday sitting with your toddler, and making artistic creations with them. You can do some finger-painting, potato stamps or sponge-painting, and frame your child’s work for the family to see. The possibilities are endless.

One other possibility is to make a collage out of photos taken from 2018. The process is simple: print out some family pictures, and let your child stick them to a larger piece of card sheet. They can decorate the entire thing however they want – glitter, stickers, markers or paint, it’s up to them. This is a fun way you and your child can reminiscence on some old but gold memories.

Singalong!

As discussed previously here, children have a natural affinity for music. Play some fun, upbeat tune, and your toddler will most probably sing or dance along.

You can bring that activity from your local nursery back to your home by holding your very own singalong family sessions. Put on your toddler’s favourite nursery rhymes, Christmas carols or the like on cellphone or television, and have them sing to it. Bringing in the entire family to these kinds of singalongs can make the entire ordeal a lot more precious.

Host your own puppet show

Monotony is your child’s worst enemy; the last thing you want is to have them get bored of holiday season after just a week. They want to experience different things constantly – so add your own flair by hosting a puppet show!

Start off by making little finger puppets for yourself and your child; let them decorate their favorite puppets themselves. Then set up your own theatre by cutting up and colouring a large cardboard box. After propping it on a chair, have your entire family sit around as the “audience” – and then run the show with your toddler. This is indirectly improving their self-confidence and self-expression – without them even knowing it!

Have Read-athons

It’s very easy to get into the festive mood so much that your toddler loses their interest in academics. Now we’re not telling you to bring out the text books – bring out some story books instead!

Every night, spend some time with your toddler reading a book. It can be something they’re familiar with, or something entirely new – that is up to you. Start off by narrating and explaining the story to them yourself. After a routine is set, have them try to read sentences themselves. Encountering new words and phrases to read helps improve their vocabulary and speaking skills.

This works best for toddlers who have a habit of reading because of their nursery policy. Nurseries in JVC (Jumeirah Village Circle) like Oakfield Early Learning Center make sure children learn how to enjoy story books by conducting regular reading sessions. The Library Room is equipped with an educational software that makes the entire narrating experience that much more effective.

Childhood is a phase of life that is often overlooked and underappreciated. As a parent, you’d want nothing more than to capture every precious moment and freeze it entirely. That’s not physically possible – however, the next best thing is to make some great memories with your little one.