In the midst of a tremendously busy and often materialistic time of year, take time to plan special experiences for your child. Here are some Christmas projects and activities that will help make Christmas a special time.
- Contribute to missions. Give a special gift through your church to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. Encourage Children to save parts of their allowances, or invite them to do special chores for a small amount of money to share.
- Make an Advent banner. Make a large Jesus is Born! Banner for your front door. Use burlap and colorful felt for the wording. Use glue or Velcro to attach pieces of felt to the burlap. Use shapes of felt to symbolize the manger.
- Make a Christmas countdown chain. Use 25 strips of colorful paper glued or stapled together to make a chain. Hang on the wall. Number from the bottom up. Let your child cut off a chain link each day until he reaches December 25. Add Bible verses as you desire.
- Make greetings for nursing home patients. Trim last year’s Christmas card designs and messages so you can reuse the pictures and wording. Paste them on white, green, or red cards or construction paper. Print personalized special greetings and sign each card. Check with the nursing home regarding a time to visit.
- Make cookies for homebound adults. As a family, bake a variety of cookies for a homebound adult or a person in a care facility. Make bookmarks. The child may choose the color of construction paper. Cut a strip about 2-by-9 inches. Your child can decorate with crayons, small pictures cut from old Christmas cards, or Christmas seals.
- Make Christmas placemats. On assorted colors of 9-by-18-inch pieces of construction paper, draw Christmas symbols, or select and paste covers of last year’s Christmas cards. Children’s pictures may be added. Use adhesive-backed paper or laminate to cover the complete place mats. Trim in a zigzag pattern, leaving an edge of about one inch.
- Make bird treats. Melt suet in a heavy saucepan. Stir in chopped raisins, broken nuts, sunflower seeds, mixed birdseed, and meat drippings. Ladle the mixture in muffin tins lined with paper liners or foil. Place the tins in refrigerator overnight to garden. Anchor to a bird feeder tray with soft peanut bitter or to the side of the feeder with wire. (Alternate: add peanut butter to pine cones and tie them on a tree or shrub outside a window or on your porch.)
This article provided courtesy of LifeWay Christian Resources