| Suggested Song | "Tradition" from Fiddler On The Roof; Change the words to fit your family | |
| Suggested Snack | A snack your families had growing up that you might not have often now. We might have cinnamon toast or Scottish Date Nut cookies. Also, gingerbread cookies. |
| Monday | Apple cinnamon ornaments (NON-edible, but smell good). Making, but not painting. Supplies: apple sauce, a lot of cinnamon, white glue, plastic wrap, wax paper, straw, string or yarn, cookie cutters, rolling pin, paints, crayons, markers. Active moment: dancing. Overview: To introduce the song tradition, watch it and dance to it. Practice the grapevine step beforehand (demonstrated for kids here after a short commercial). This could lead to a good family discussion about your traditions. | |
| Tuesday | Homemade moon sand. I do these in my kitchen for easy clean-up. We are going to change the recipe from apple to gingerbread sand. Supplies: play sand, corn starch, water, scent (ginger?), powdered paint (crushed sidewalk chalk). Active moment: Tell a funny family story and then act it out together. | |
| Wednesday | Decorate and hang Non-edible apple cinnamon ornaments. Make some to put on gifts for the neighbors. Supplies: apple cinnamon ornaments from Monday, string or yarn, paints, crayons markers. Cooking: gingerbread cookies. Save some to decorate tomorrow. Disclaimer: I've never made either of these recipes. Option 1. Said to have not as strong of a gingerbread flavor and does not require molasses. Supplies: Cook and server butterscotch pudding mix, butter, brown sugar, egg, flour, soda, ginger, cinnamon. Option 2. Flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, unsalted butter, dark brown sugar, egg, molasses, vanilla, lemon zest (optional). | |
| Thursday | Decorate gingerbread cookies. Supplies: icing, plastic bag, scissors, candies (optional). Can practice decorating these adorable play dough mats first, with play dough or icing. (They also have a lot of other cute, free items.) Wrap and deliver to neighbors. Active moment: walking or even carefully skipping to deliver the cookies to the neighbors. | |
| Friday | Gingerbread man story. Preparation: practice telling the story and don't forget to start with "A long time ago...". If you want visual aids to tell it on a flannel board or with puppets, you could prepare these. Talk about how it is a story that has been passed down from one generation to the next, just like some of your family traditions have been passed down. Active moment: Gingerbread man activity. Talk about and practice how each of the different characters in the story might have chased the gingerbread man (ex: old man bent over and shaking fist, old woman holding skirts up, pig on all fours snorting, etc...) then take turns being the gingerbread man (boy, girl) and the character discussed and chasing each other around. Could even add characters for a variety of ways to chase, such as a turkey that waddles and flaps, a snake that slithers, etc... Let them come up with the animals. Decorate Christmas letters. Supplies: Christmas letters to send, markers or crayons, cards to put the letters in. I'm sending out Christmas cards with letters this year. Really I am. Since my color printer is out of ink, I'm going to let the kids decorate the back of the letters I'm sending out to add a bit of color. I'll also tell them how my grandmas and their grandmas have all had the tradition of mailing out Christmas cards. |
