I think the coming weeks will be mentally a challenge for me. Christmas is, of course, a time that is steeped in traditions and every family has one or two traditions of their own that really mark Christmas for them. For us, we hold traditions around the buying of the Christmas tree, letters to Father Christmas and of course the main days of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
This year has to look very different. So no home ed nativity, no house full of children making Christmas Crafts and a very different build up of the general Christmas chatter and excitement.
But it doesn’t mean that all of Christmas must be cancelled. There are plenty of things that can be done online, and I’m sharing here some of the things that I have planned for December time.
Christmas Craft Along
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have spotted the craft bags that I was making up a few weeks ago for some of the children’s friends. Last year I had a house full of children making a range of Christmas crafts and I wanted, somehow, to replicate that.
I ordered some bits and pieces from Baker Ross and planned three crafts. The first is for the children to create a star wreath, the second is for them to create a robin tree decoration and the third is to make a nutcracker.
The first two I have provided the materials for and I have asked that they do this ahead of our zoom meet to show to their friends on the call. It’s been really lovely seeing the children make their bits and pieces up.
During the zoom call I am going to talk the children through making a Nutcracker – using this tutorial from RedTed Art.
I don’t know how it will go, but I am sure it will be fun and there’s quite a few families joining in this one so hopefully it will be enjoyable.
Christmas Talent
We are going to have an online Christmas talent show – anything goes! They can sing a song, read a poem, play a tune, tell a joke, share a make. Absolutely anything.
H has his ‘talent’ act prepared and the other two are thinking about what they might do. Really looking forward to this one and celebrating the children and their many many talents. It will be lovely to see what they get up to.
Christmas around the World
Christmas around the world is always a fun topic. We did this last year and I was lots of fun as we learnt about Mexico and the Phillippines and made some crafts associated with this.
This year I have arranged a zoom call and my plan is to ask the children if they know of how other countries mark Christmas and how it differs to the UK.
We will also touch upon some of our own individual family traditions whilst acknowledging that, this year, they must look a little different.
Secret Santa
Some of the children are taking part in a secret santa style swap. Children that are taking part have been matched using a random number generator. Each child will make their recipient a card and enclose a small gift. We have asked the children to include a positive message about their recipient. We have a planned opening zoom call for the week before Christmas and I look forward to seeing their cards and creationg
Christingle
Running an online Christingle Making session is easy to do. I plan to drop the candle and ribbon with families ahead of the date we meet on zoom and they just need to provide the sweets and orange. We will talk a little about the origin of the Christingle and its meaning as well as what a traditional Christingle service would look like. A few of the children may well have attended Christingle services in past years.
Christmas Bingo
Bingo games are really easy to do on zoom. I bought a bulk pack of Bingo games from a TPT seller a couple of months ago. I will print the Bingo boards from anyone attending (I usually do two boards per child). We like to think of funny thing to shout instead of Bingo, so for Thanskgiving we shouted ‘Turkey’. For Christmas we might shout Ho Ho Ho or similar; we can get the children to think of what they want to shout.
Christmas Party
Whilst it isn’t the same as having a face to face party; we have a Christmas party themed zoom planned for 23 December. I plan to drop small packs off with each family taking part. I’ll include some small craft items, a Christmas card and a treat or two. We will probably play some games and maybe show off our trees and decorations. It will be very informal and hopefully fun and we may well end with a sing along if I can convince the other families to take part.
Christmas 2020 is going to be very different, but I plan to embrace it and zoom all the way this year!
