Help Focus on Giving This Season

We love reading the tale of the Grinch each year, and how his heart magically transforms from greedy to full of gratitude. But real life isn’t as easy as standing at the tip of Mount Crumpit and hearing the Whos voices to bring about a change of heart. Every day when we get the mail there are advertisements pulling kids’ eyes to the pictures of toys they never knew they couldn’t live without. The Oohs and Aahs start to resound a little louder during the Christmas season, and I fear that our own little Grinch’s will appear if we’re not careful about falling into the traps of “the gimmies”. So in every effort to keep the real spirit of Christmas in our home, we use the following ways to focus on the things we give of ourselves.

Printable Christmas Crafts and Activities

To Help Keep the Spirit of Christmas Alive

Tree of Gifts – Print this learning activity and bring the spirit of Christmas to your home. The idea behind this growing craft is simple – by the time Christmas morning rolls around, the Tree of Gifts should be filled, both on the branches and beneath the boughs, with the gifts we give that can’t really be wrapped and topped with a bow, and those we receive from family, friends, and faith.

Elf in Training – I love the magical idea of elves – helpful, swift, and plentiful beings who could assist with tasks of all kinds and able to bring so much joy to so many children. Help get your kids excited about helping others by enlisting them as Elves in Training.

Print these “official” badges (use a sticker maker or just print and use a piece of tape) and give one to each child.

Print a list for your Elf in Training and fill it in with practical and helpful tasks to get your little elf in the spirit of doing this Christmas season. You could include things like:

• Read the Christmas story to a younger sibling.
• Help mom bake cookies.
• Make a Christmas card for Grandma.
• Help my neighbor shovel snow.

You can even use this idea of Elf in Training for the week, encouraging your kids to help a little bit more, and then celebrate with a family night of Reindeer Games.

Reindeer Fun & Games

• Paint a small paper plate brown and let dry. Make antler handprints with your kids by lightly covering the palms and fingers with brown paint, then pressing these onto sheets of white paper. When the prints dry, cut them out and glue them to the plate (the reindeer’s head) as antlers. Top it off with googly eyes and a red pom-pom nose.
• Watch the movie Elf as a family.
• Print this page and have your kids get creative describing how they would spend their day as an elf (younger kids can just draw themselves as an elf). Don’t be afraid to get into the action with your own dreams.
• Take a candy cane (wrapped) and hide in somewhere in a designated room of the house (i.e. living room). Then have the kids start seeking for the candy treat, and signal them that they are getting close by ringing sleigh bells – the close the kids get to the prize, the louder you can ring the bell.
• Read the Elves and the Shoemaker (before you watch the movie version with the kids).

As excited as the kids get this time of year, just try to remember that they really will remember the time and the things that we do with and for them more than the things we wrap as gifts and put under the tree.