30 Days of Christmas Series

I am so excited to be part of Crafty Night Owl’s 30 Days of Christmas series!

Christmas Reading Activities - Keep Moving Forward with me

Isn’t there something magical about reading under the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree? It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. Now that I have three children of my own, I love recreating that love of learning during the holidays. As you can see from my pumpkin math for Halloween and pop it sight word games for the Fourth of July,  every holiday is an excuse to learning something fun in a new way!

Christmas Book Countdown - Keep Moving Forward With Me

One of my favorite literary traditions for the holiday season is to individually wrap 24 days worth of Christmas books. My children love unwrapping presents and they love reading stories so it is something they look forward to every night. Each year we add a new book to our collection and then I supplement the days that are left from the library. My library only allows two children’s holiday books out at a time, so I put myself on the hold list for some of our favorites. By the time we have read our first two, the next two are typically ready. Get yourself on the hold lists now!

How to make a snow flake - Keep Moving Forward With Me

On some of the days, we pair a craft with the book. Love these pics from two years ago of my then four-year-old silly Lily making snowflakes to go along with her Christmas book. Dying that I don’t know the name of the book to share it with you all! Anyone recognize the snowflake instruction page, pretty please?

Here are some of our favorite books that we will be reading this year:

The Polar Express is one of our absolute favorites. On the day we read this book, we like to watch the movie and have a hot chocolate night as well. Sometimes we put together a sensory bin with bells and other Christmas items to go along as well.

My children adore the book Snowmen at Night. The perfect activity for this book is – you guessed it – going outside and making snowmen! This year we are going to play a roll a snowman activity, too. It is simple, fast, and easy! You assign a snow man body part to a number on the dice and make a key – this would be great for an older child to do for you. Once the key is made, you give each child a dice and with each roll they add a new snow man part until they’ve made an entire snowman. Simple way to add a little math and art into reading time.

I love the illustrations in There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve. The poetic rhymes in this book match the beauty of the water color illustrations. I may let my children create their own water color Christmas masterpieces on the day we read this lovely book.

 

What Christmas books do you read in your family?

What are your favorite holiday traditions?


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11 Comments

vinma · November 22, 2013 at 5:29 am

I haven’t started much of a tradition with my kids yet for Christmas season.. They are still small and it simply didn’t occur to me to do something special for them during this season. I think your idea is awesome! wrapping individual presents for the 24 days sounds like something they would adore and get excited about. Thanks so much! Happy Holidays!

Deb · November 22, 2013 at 5:39 am

Aw, when I saw the snowflakes your daughter was holding, it made me smile… my daughter and I started making cutout snowflakes when she was about age 4, and we still do it every year, and she’s now 16! Love the idea of giving the books each night before Christmas… although we didn’t do that, my daughter did always get many new books. Thank you for sharing this special post. 😉

Lauren Stevens · November 22, 2013 at 5:55 am

I absolutely LOVE this idea! I started buying Christmas books before my son was born because they are so special. Christmas books were wonderful gifts for me as a child, especially since they were packed away with the ornaments and only around for a month every year — I can still remember them!

Summer · November 22, 2013 at 7:09 am

How fun! We love reading the Polar Express here and then watch the movie – I love all of your ideas!

Lady of Perpetual Chaos · November 22, 2013 at 9:26 am

Last year my girls favorite was Llama Llama Holiday Drama. This year I’m hoping to get Tallulah’s Nutcracker since my girls are in the Nutcracker this year. We love Christmas books!

Savannah miller · November 22, 2013 at 11:27 am

Right now I have been reading The First Christmas Night to them and my youngest just got a Bubble Guppies Christmas book so I have a feeling we will be reading that now too 🙂

I have a couple Christmas books I just have to get the rest out. I never heard of the Snowman at Night book before! It sounds like a great kids books maybe I will get it for my kiddos 🙂

Monica · November 21, 2014 at 9:25 am

Oh how wonderful! I would love to incorporate such an exciting holiday tradition.. My children also love reading (and opening presents!) and this is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing.

Sunny · November 21, 2014 at 9:56 am

I LOVE the Polar Express. We read that EVERY single year.

Kelly {the Centsible Life} · November 21, 2014 at 11:00 am

We love reading Christmas books, but since my kids are older we don’t get to do it quite as often.

Fab Friday Linky Party - Summer Scraps · October 13, 2014 at 7:43 am

[…] Christmas Reading Activities from Keep Moving Forward With Me […]

Fab Friday Linky Party - Summer Scraps · October 13, 2014 at 7:43 am

[…] Christmas Reading Activities from Keep Moving Forward With Me […]

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