by Tiffany Kwong, Operations Manager
I love when the holiday season starts to creep in. 聽Leaves begin to change color, harvest wreaths adorn entryways, and suddenly all of your favorite treats are now apple- or pumpkin-spice flavored. 聽For me, this is the time of year when I begin to see more of my immediate and extended family–a time when we get together to create new memories. 聽In our growing family, we鈥檝e incorporated a number of new activities into our festivities over the years. 聽Introducing different activities can be a wonderful way to engage with your loved ones (young and old) and change the pace of the day. 聽Some of these activities have stuck and have become a part of our holiday tapestry like cookie baking and decorating, board game tournaments, and holiday-related arts and crafts. While others have not–like waiting in lines for Black Friday deals. 聽If you鈥檙e looking for kid-friendly ideas that you can bring to your Thanksgiving table this year, here are a handful of suggestions:
Write holiday haikus
Challenge your kids and other family members to find their inner poet and write a haiku or two! 聽Haikus are easy to compose with only three lines, following a 5-7-5 syllable count. 聽They can be humorous and lighthearted, and are fun to share in a group. 聽I鈥檓 no wordsmith, but here a few of my own haikus to inspire you:
We cherish the times
Loved ones around the table
Gathered for the feast.
Thanks to be given
For the food, the family,
And our full bellies.
Mashed spuds and stuffing
Cranberry sauce and spiced pie
Happiness…nap time.
Junior Chef
Encourage your kids to take ownership of a specific task or dish for the day. 聽My favorite childhood memories revolve around food and being in the kitchen. 聽Simple, but important tasks were given to me like stringing the green beans, adding a blanket of marshmallows to the sweet potatoes, combining the wet and dry ingredients to the cookie batter, and making homemade cranberry sauce. 聽These assignments always provided opportunities for me to learn something new and became a source of pride for my contribution to the table.
Put your thinking caps on
If you and your kids have some down-time and enjoying solving logic problems, here are a couple of Thanksgiving-themed logic problems you can do together:
Go mad for holiday Mad Libs
If logic problems are not your forte, have fun coming up with creative nouns, verbs, and adjectives with instead. You can even challenge your kids to create their own Mad Libs!
What are you thankful for?
Finally, I鈥檓 sure many families incorporate this tradition in their holiday already, but I find it to be incredibly rewarding when everyone around the table shares what they are grateful for. 聽It鈥檚 a time for reflection, hope, and gratitude. 聽The Minds in Bloom website has to help guide families with younger children.
What kinds of activities do you do in your household? 聽Feel free to share in the comments section below!
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