Happy New Year!
Today our What to Read Wednesday topic is of course New Year's book favorites. But our link up is for anything family friendly and reading related, so don't forget to check that out at the end of the post.
New Year's Celebration with Littles
Our kids are still little, and making it to midnight is hard. Here are some great ideas for celebrating with littles (without killing your bedtime schedule for the next week):
- Celebrate ahead of time. – Set your clocks ahead so that you can celebrate midnight at 9 or 10pm. You might even look up last year's ball-falling video on youtube and countdown together as you watch it.
- Build anticipation with a count down – I have seen some families with a fun new activity bag to open each hour from dinner to midnight. Or they play games or have treasure hunts.
- Make it fancy – I have known others who go all out on a fancy dinner complete with (plastic) champaign flute glasses filled with punch (equal parts grape juice and 7-up).
- Make it fun and memorable – You would be surprised how much some of those seemingly insignificant “little” things are such a BIG DEAL in making significant memories with your little people. Confetti, balloons, party hats, horns, kazoos, rest assured that any extra effort will be appreciated. Do it now, and enjoy the fun (before they hit the teen years and wouldn't be caught in a paper hat and sparklers if you paid them $100!)
Here are our favorite New Year's Books and some activities that may go along with them too. You can click on the book cover to see a preview or purchase the book on Amazon.
Our Favorite Books for the New Year
Squirrel's New Year's Resolution by Pat Miller – cute illustrations by Kathi Ember tell the tale of a Squirrell learning what a resolution is and how to make one. A great teaching tool if you're going to talk with your kids about goals for this year and how to make them.
P. Bear's New Year's Party: A Counting Book by Paul Owen Lewis – whimsical illustrations help your little one count down till New Years with P. Bear and his friends. Uses a clock. Great for introducing the count down idea.
New Year's Day (Holiday Histories Series) by Kathryn Imler – Answers the questions: How did people tell time before clocks were made? How did January get its name? How did January 1 become the first day of the new year? This would be great for a family trivia quiz or game.
Link Up Announcements:
- This list has our topics for 2015, but you don't have to stick to that, anything reading and family related is welcome
- Our hosts will still share a themed selection each week, but our link up will be for anything literature related and family friendly – always.
- If you'd like to join us as a co-host in the new year, please contact Katie.
Tara @ Embark on the Journey
{Facebook} {Pinterest} {Twitter}