We recently featured some helpful tips for making mealtimes go smoothly during the holidays. Every child can benefit from our mindfulness this time of year, and one way to help your kids is to include them in the meal preparation!

Build your own monster while engaging in developmental activities!

Work on gross motor skills, balance, coordination, endurance, stamina, and core strength with this spooky exercise!

Get into the Halloween spirit with this slimy DIY sensory bin!

This sensory bin helps kids work on fine motor skills with pinching, pouring and scooping. Develop language skills by describing the items in the bin.

Set up a spooky canvas for your kids to make their own Halloween art!

This craft focuses on developing gross motor skills like crossing the midline, shoulder and elbow strength and stability, and wrist and pencil grasp.

Use your hands and simple supplies for an easy Mother’s Day surprise! This fun craft focuses on the development of fine motor skills to cut, write, trace and fold the paper. Children work on visual motor skills and sequencing to create this craft.

Use a simple stencil to create festive sidewalk fun. Children use fine motor skills to cut, trace, and smudge chalk. Work on visual motor skills with tracing and cutting while practicing accuracy and identification of colors.

This activity utilizes fine motor skills to cut, write, and fold the paper while making the beard. Children use visual motor skills with sequencing and learning the letters to spell their name or vocabulary words.

In addition to developing gross motor skills, this game does so much more! This game can aid in all of the following: Auditory processing to follow instructions, impulse control, attention to task, all motor coordination/motor planning, body awareness, dynamic standing balance, concepts (like play the bagpipes), bilateral integration, and more.

Bring in the luck with this festive holiday play idea! Use household items or find holiday decorations to include in your St. Patrick’s Day sensory bin. This activity utilizes fine motor skills with pinching, pouring, and scooping. Language skills are used to describe the items in the bin.

Print the digital download of snowflake cut-outs, each featuring a different word related to Christmas or winter, and the winter wonderland scene (option: open this scene on a tablet, TV, or computer screen).

This craft aids in fine motor dexterity and strength, pincer grasp development, line awareness, scissor skills, problem solving, and executive functioning to follow directions and sequencing.

Learning letters is a great way to prepare for school and increase auditory processing, language development and associations, as well as visual motor integration to identify and appropriately draw letters.

This activity focuses on articulation, language processing, and following directions. These activities include a visual motor component to throw the snowball and attempt to knock over cups or hit the target.

Get active at home during the holidays. Download these free templates to make your own ornament numbers.

Decorative and Developmental! Click the button on the image to download a printable page of instructions to do this fun festive craft at home! Making these gingerbread men or snowmen can help enhance imaginative play through pretend!

Fun and Functional Snowman Name Chain! Learning letters, how to spell your name, and the letter formation to write each letter are all functional benefits of this fun activity!

Playful Practice: This activity is great for visual-motor integration and fine motor grasp to hold the writing utensil for appropriately tracing both hands. Additionally, cutting requires the use of the intrinsic hand musculature and builds strength. Click the image to download a printable version to do at home!

Santa Says Printable holiday game: This game not only aids in gross motor development but so much more! Download this game and learn about all the different ways this fun and festive game can help your child’s development.

Share the love this season and ensure everyone you know has an opportunity to be mindful.