Holiday Central
Your one-stop shop for everything you and your family need to have the happiest of holidays. Get recipes, homemade gift ideas, decorations for every special occasion this holiday season.
Homemade Decorations
Make a bright wreath ornament in this fun sensory activity. Made from common household ingredients, the textured dough is fun to squish between little fingers.
Want to add a bit of holiday sparkle to a bland patio or dinner table? Just add Christmas lights to Mason jars!
These spaghetti ornaments take seconds to make and are a great festive addition to a tree, gift or window display.
The fragrant scent of this traditional holiday decoration fills the air and evokes thoughts of crisp autumn days and warm holiday cheer.
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Holiday Recipes
If you love the idea of handing out holiday tins of homemade cookies but your baking skills are non-existent, gourmet caramel apples are the perfect solution.
Get your kid into the holiday spirit by showing him how to bake soft, chewy, and sugary gingerbread cookies!
Marbled candy canes are a traditional winter festival gift that looks good poking out of the top of a Christmas stocking, tied to a tree with ribbon, or adorning a beautifully ...
Freshly brewed apple cider is a perennial favorite for the winter holidays, and it's the rare beverage that will please both kids and adults.
Homemade Gifts
Explore your kitchen and create a delicious holiday fudge that your child can share with friends and family!
The elegance of a glitter vase will rival the flowers inside it! Help your child craft this artsy gift as a special gift for a loved one.
Is there anything more enticing to a young child than a snow globe? Here's a snow globe that your kids can not only play with, they can make it themselves!
You can buy fancy gift tins for your homemade cookies this year, but if you've got a curious kid, why not try this inexpensive, easy and truly adorable version?
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Smart Stuff: Our Essential Gift Guide
Kwanzaa Activities
This mkeka, or Kwanzaa mat, is one of the seven symbols of Kwanzaa. Celebrate this tradition by weaving your own version out of an ordinary paper bag.
The Kinara is the seven-candle holder that represents an African family's heritage. Explore a new cultural tradition with this fast-paced Kinara game!
The Swahili Sankofa embodies three concepts: honoring the past, finding your purpose in the present, and discovering your destiny.
Even the littlest kids can participate in the Kwanzaa celebration with this clever flameless Kinara.
Make this delicious coconut cream pie recipe this Kwanzaa, and teach your kids the meaning of this important African American holiday. This easy tropical recipe is delicious ...
Brighten your home with hand-made Kwanzaa decorations, colored by you and your little ones! These cut-outs can serve as a great tabletop decoration.
Help your child stay on top of holiday homework.
Often, homework assigned over winter break is thematically linked to the holidays. When this occurs, children and parents should take advantage of the opportunity to work together on the homework.
Introduce your child to the true meaning of the season.
Encourage your child to hold a holiday game party (card games, board games) for her friends. Admission can be a food, clothing, or toy item to be donated to a designated charity.
Create new traditions.
Despite what we often expect, many family members welcome change. Creating new traditions can be an enlivening process that respects whats come before, but generates new forms of celebration reflecting the needs of the present.
Involve your child in planning the holiday celebrations.
Children appreciate being given choices and when they participate they are more likely to be cooperative.
Help your child stay academically motivated.
Parents can help children take control of their learning by giving them choices. Children can choose which homework assignments to do first, whether they will play before or after their homework, and how many breaks they will take and when.
Let go of unworkable expectations.
If the family has little to spend on the holidays, the parents can set a tone of adventure, and let the children know what will be special about this holiday, and what to expect.
Encourage reading to prevent holiday brain drain.
Have your children read holiday cards when they are received in the mail, and let them write a message in outgoing cards.
Realize that holidays are never picture perfect.
Expect that you and other people will experience a range of emotions over the holiday season.
Great Holiday Reads
Based on the best-selling PBS program, this book follows Caillou as he discovers the holiday customs of other little boys and girls from around the globe. Perfect for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
When the first snow falls, snow women, snow men and snow children come out for a special party. Children will delight in the lively illustrations that help to tell this magical story. Perfect for beginning readers in first and second grade.
This simple retelling of the Hanukkah story brings the holiday to life for children ages kindergarten through second grade. It features colorful, step-page illustration of the Temple of Jerusalem.
This little book manages to parody the notion of the holiday miracle, without dampening the joviality of the season. Engaging, clever and laugh out loud funny, this is a great holiday read for kids and adults of all ages.
