The holiday season can often be filled with a lot of sensory stimulation!
Decorations around the house, lights, music, changing schedules, busy kitchens and homes, family gatherings, and a lot of excitement. Here are a few ways to help your kiddo during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season (and beyond!).
1. Visual Schedules
Print or draw pictures of things that you will be doing. Providing a visual for your child can help them to regulate and ease transitions. Use the visual schedule to recap about what’s going to happen. First breakfast, then baking cookies, after movement break, last clean up!
A visual schedule can be more or less detailed depending on what works best for your child. Visual schedules can also be a great aid to caretakers. Having lots of indoor time? Schedule a movement break. Run, play, dance, or do some heavy lifting! Going to visit family and notice your child gets worn down socializing? Schedule some quiet time. Drawing quietly, reading a book, sensory play with a rice bin or playdough, or just inviting your child time for quiet independent play.
2. Visual Timers
The holiday season comes with a LOT of transitions to and from various places, activities, and people! Verbal warnings prior to these transitions are wonderful, but a visual timer can be a helpful extra support by allowing kids to continually check in with the remaining time and physically see the time run out. There are many free options on the app store to explore!
3. Tasks vs. Waiting
Children have a much easier time waiting for something when they have an activity to occupy them, rather than sitting and doing nothing. Give your child a special chair to sit in, or task them with figuring out how many push-ups they can do, ask them to draw a picture of what they want, or bring along a preferred toy.
4. Movement Breaks
Let kids get their wiggles out with some heavy work and physical activity prior to meal times, or let them help set the table and carry the heavy stuff (with assistance, of course!).
5. Unwrapped Toys
Take your children’s toys out of their containers and packaging and then wrap them in an accessible bag or box! Sometimes kids have a hard time understanding waiting to unwrap the gift, only to then have to wait longer to get it set up out of the box. This frustration can often result in tantrums or upset. By unboxing the toy and removing fussy packaging, your child can unwrap their gift and play immediately!