Are your kids counting down the days to winter break? While it might be a much-needed vacation from school for children, it can often be overwhelming for parents. Not only do you want to keep the kids entertained, or at least engaged with something other than electronics, but you want to help them keep their brains sharp and learning even when they are not in school.

How to Entertain Your Kids Over Holiday Break

At Jaycees Early Learning Center, we provide affordable child care in Fort Washington, MD with a structured learning approach. Many of the fun programs and activities we offer are designed to help promote a child’s physical and mental development. To help parents in our community this holiday break, we are going to share some simple and effective ways to ensure your kids are staying busying and learning even when they are not in school!

Bake Cookies Together

The holiday season seems to always involve baking delicious Christmas cookies, making them a perfect time to teach your children about the joys and excitement of baking! Children of all ages can participate in different, age-appropriate steps. And there’s always an instant-gratification reward at the end, whether you get to immediately lick the bowl or can wait a few minutes longer until a warm cookie comes out of the oven. Check out some age-specific tasks your child make be able to help with.

Toddlers

Make the cookie dough ahead of time and let your little one help roll the dough for shaping. Or have the cookies already baked and let your toddler decorate with their favorite color sprinkles and icing.

Preschoolers

Pre-k children can help measure out ingredients by putting a little extra of whatever you need (flour, sugar, baking powder, etc.) in a large bowl and then let them scoop using appropriate-sized measuring cups and spoons. With parental assistance, preschoolers can also use a hand mixer or a larger spoon to mix all the ingredients together. Preschoolers will also enjoy cutting out cookie shapes and helping to decorate.

School-Aged

School-aged children will be able to have a bit more freedom in the kitchen. When baking festive cookies, let them measure out and mix all of the ingredients, helping them when needed. They can form, cut, or shape the dough and place it on baking sheets. And, with supervision, older children can even put the cookies in the oven and remove them, just make sure they are using oven mitts! Another perk, older children will be able to help with clean up! Let them wipe counters, do dishes, or assign them other tasks to clean up after the fun (and mess) has been had.

Make Time To Read

Far too often children spend their holiday break in front of the television or using their electronics. Make sure to set some time aside during the break for some reading. As you probably already know, there are a number of festive holiday books that are appropriate to read to your kids during this time of year, and that number seems to grow exponentially each year. Whether you set some time aside to read to your kids or — if they are old enough — have them read on their own, it can really help keep their brains sharp!

Acts of Kindness

Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of the holiday season is the sense of kindness and generosity. For parents that want to teach younger children acts of kindness, there are a variety of activities that create the opportunity, such as volunteering at the local food bank, shoveling snow for elderly neighbors, and donating toys!

Do Arts and Crafts

At Jaycees Early Learning Center, we use positive guidance techniques in an age-appropriate setting to promote the social, emotional, language, physical, and cognitive development of infants, three year old, four year old, and school-aged children. One of the best ways to get younger children’s creativity flowing and help to foster these skills is by finding the right arts and craft projects. Whether that means creating homemade Christmas cards, working on a coloring book, or even playing with building blocks, it is important to find an activity that keeps your child engaged throughout the process.

Are You Searching For an Early Learning Center in Fort Washington?

If you are in need of child care this holiday season or throughout the rest of the year, consider Jaycees Early Learning Center in Fort Washington. At our early learning center, it is our goal to provide the children of our community with the tools and skills they need to continue to learn and grow. With a clean, safe, and secure environment and affordable daycare services, you will find that Jaycees Early Learning Center is the ideal choice for your child.