SEL Activities for Connecting with Kids Over the Holidays

I love Christmas and Christmas movies. When my kids were little, we would spend weekends cuddling up on the couch, enjoying family and films. Tim Allen’s Santa Clause movies, the classic cartoon, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, The Year Without A Santa Claus with Heat Miser, and Cold Miser and It’s A Wonderful Life are some of our favorites. One of the lines from Polar Express hit home. The Conductor said, “Sometimes seeing is believing, and sometimes believing is seeing.”  Let’s examine SEL Activities for Connecting with Kids Over the Holidays.

I’ve spent the last twenty-five years of my life teaching, writing, speaking, and singing about things that cannot be seen. Courage and standing up for what is right do not come in a cereal box at the grocery store. I can’t take a vitamin for honesty, speaking, and acting truthfully. Kindness is treating others how I want to be treated, and it’s not machine-washable like my favorite pair of jeans.

But these ideals are real. I have experienced first-hand the power of forgiveness, letting go of anger over a wrong. Respect, valuing myself and others, responsibility, and owning what I do and say have changed my life. These intangibles have made every day more tangible.

As Renee Descartes wrote, “Cogito, ergo sum.” The translation from Latin to English is “I think, therefore I am.” What I think and what I believe shape who I am. So when my son asked me a few years ago if I still believe in Santa, I answered with an emphatic “Yes.” Why, might you ask? Because I believe in a world of giving and receiving. I believe in faith, hope, and love…in a big world.

Here are some tips for enjoying the holidays with your little ones:

1. Bake cookies together. – Give your children a choice between sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies. Have fun mixing ingredients and making a mess. Clean up together.

2. Create gift bags for your neighbors. – Invite your children to decorate small paper bags. Fill each bag with cookies and a hand-crafted note.

3. Read Christmas stories. – Cuddle up on the couch and share your childhood favorites with your kiddos.

Reading suggestions:

A Small Miracle by Peter Collington

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

The Nativity by Julie Vivas

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