The holidays are a wonderful time to celebrate and incorporate the sights, sounds, tastes, and textures of the season into the children’s many activities. In the ABA program classroom, the sensory table is one of the favorite centers. Turning the table into a holiday sensory table, complete with tinsel, jingle bells and tiny, textured Christmas trees gave the children the opportunity to play with the different textures and sounds.
Other sensory holiday activities the children enjoyed were decorating sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles and then eating their yummy creations. Gingerbread houses are next on the list of things to decorate/eat! There’s nothing that excites the senses of a child like a visit from Santa. This year Santa brought his friends, Kat and Buddy the Elf, to surprise and delight the kids with gifts of small toys.
The holiday season is one of the best times of the year, filled with new experiences for the children to enjoy. Every morning during the holiday session, the children have a special group time where they listen and dance to Christmas music, have a bubble dance party and play instruments. This structured dance time allows the children to get the wiggles out and shake out some energy before settling into having fun with learning what season it is, what the weather is like outside, and what day of the week it is. It is a time for exploring new things, building friendships, learning, giving, and growing with the holiday spirit!
Happy Holidays from all the staff and children in the ABA program!
By Lynlea Southards, Program Coordinator
