New Year's Eve activities for your special needs child

Enjoy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with your children. Here are some activities that also can work on other skill sets.

If your child has a hard time understanding yesterday and tomorrow, chances are the big change to a new year will also be confusing. New year's eve is a fun way to help children understand the concept of time. We can count down the days to the New Year. We can count down the hours and even the minutes leading up to midnight. 

Young children can still go through the count down. Just celebrate at an earlier hour.  When counting down the minutes, have your child pay attention to how long a minute feels.  What does five minutes feel like? Try practicing an activity (eg. jumping jacks, dancing) for each minute to keep them interested.

Here are some fun activities other moms have done to count down the hours leading up to the New Year.  (click link below)

http://www.oneplaceforspecialneeds.com/main/resources.html#tab=resource_online&text=new+year+countdown

Teach reflection through time capsules
A great way to get your children to reflect on their time spent is by creating a time capsule. The best method takes some planning. Have you and your child put into a jar or box, items and photos from key events during the year.  On New Year's eve or on New Year's day, go through the box and relive those memories.

Or on New Year's eve, help your child create a memory string of the highlights of the year. Another idea is to have your child fill out a questionnaire or survey about the year. It can become a fun family tradition to read these sheets and see how their answers have changed over the years.  Here are links to doing each of these activities.

Work on fine motor with noise makers
Have your child practice fine motor skills with a fun craft. Your child can sort and pick up small objects to create noise makers that will be used in celebrating the New Year. Then further use their skills in holding on and shaking their creations. Here are a couple variations on making your own.  (see link below)
(http://www.oneplaceforspecialneeds.com/main/resources.html#tab=resource_online&text=new+year+noise+makers)

(Source: oneplaceforspecialneeds.com)