Christmas Tips and Activities

Thank you for checking out EJ’s Christmas page! Here you will find tips, activities, social stories, and coloring pages to help celebrate this wonderful Holiday.

Click the buttons below to check out some helpful guides, tips, and activities, written by some of our speech language pathologists and occupational therapists.

Keep reading below for general tips and links to some more activities by other great creators.

Tips

Christmas is an exciting time, but the season brings about a lot of change. During the Holidays, routines are broken, schedules change, unexpected visitors pop in, and there is a whole myriad of new sights and sounds all around. This can be a sensory overload for just about everybody, but especially for the little ones.

The best way to prevent an overload or outburst is to prepare. Explain the changes in routine, but also emphasize what will stay the same. If you know your child has certain triggers, prepare other family members by explaining the situation and your child’s behaviors. For example, if bright, flashing Christmas lights are too much for your child, ask your family members to turn off the decorative lights that might be on their Christmas trees or around their house. If your child has a certain diet, make sure those foods are available for them

Use visual aids such as activity icons, calendars, or social stories (some are listed below!). Teach your child how to properly react in different situations. Walk them through a script or social story to desensitize and prepare them for new social situations, like what to do in case they receive a gift they don’t like.

Go through change with your child. If you are decorating the house, have your child help you. Understand their boundaries, and think about what might be disruptive to them. It might be too much to have a motion-activated talking Santa because it’s too loud or distracting. You know your child best, so try to anticipate what might be difficult for them to handle in the upcoming season and work through the changes with them. Get them involved in the Holiday activities. Have them help with baking, wrapping presents, or making cards.

When there is a lot going on, make sure your child knows that it’s okay for them to take a break. Have a quiet space available for them to go to escape the sensory overload. This could be their bedroom or a study. If you are going out somewhere, make sure to let them know it’s okay to step out for a minute. Have proper communication. Each child communicates differently, so be receptive to what your child is trying to say(both verbally and nonverbally) Have a script ready for them to help them learn how to communicate their need. This could be done through a story or video. For example, help them understand that it’s okay to ask to step out if it’s too loud or bright.

Check out these other great resources for more holiday tips:

“Holiday Tips,” by Autism Society

“Christmas Tips for Autistic People and Their Families,” by the National Autistic Society

“How to Handle the Holidays,” by Occupational Therapy Australia

Activities

Occupational Therapy

The OT Toolbox has a whole calendar filled with Occupational Therapy Christmas activities. These are all super fun activities that help address many skill sets, such as fine and gross motor skills.

Some activities mentioned on the calendar are making salt dough gingerbread men or dyed paper snowflakes. Recipes included!

Check out the calendar and activity page here.

Speech Therapy

For Christmas activities that help with speech and language practice, take a look at Tree Activities provided by Speech Therapy Talk Services.

Use your actual Christmas Tree or the printout provided on their website to work on speech tasks from the toddler to elementary level. Do this even while decorating your Christmas tree! It’s a great way to involve your kids and reinforce the skills they’ve been working on in therapy.

Physical Therapy

There are a ton of fun activities to do that help your child with their balance, coordination, and overall gross motor skills.

Therapy and Wellness Connection lists a bunch of fun, Christmas-Themed ideas to help get your child moving. Some fun ideas include doing a Freeze dance with Christmas music or playing “Santa Says.” Check out their post here to get more detailed instructions on how to play these games and more.