How to Teach Your Child to Share Christmas Joy at a Local Nursing Home

Sharing the joys of Christmas with residents of a nursing home is a great way to teach children about sharing and caring.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Your children and a few of their friends
• Baskets (one for each station of the nursing home)
• Christmas Bows
• Colored, round Christmas ornaments
• Paint Pens or Markers
• Red and Green Material (thick material works best)
• Twist Ties or Red and Green Pipe Cleaners
• Santa Hats

1. Visit your local nursing home to make arrangements for a visit. Ask for a list of the patients’ first names for each patient by station.
2. Purchase supplies: a basket for each station, enough ornaments for each patient to have one, Christmas bows, red and green felt, paint pens and markers.
3. Invite your child’s friends over for the morning or afternoon.
4. Divide the children into groups – one group per basket. If possible, invite a parent for each group in order to help the children prepare the baskets and ornaments.
5. Help the children line the baskets with layers of red or green material. Let the children fluff up the material so that the ornaments are resting safely amid the material.
6. Tie bows to the sides and handle of the basket. Small bows can be placed around the top edge of the basket and along the handle. If you use larger bows, place one on each side of the basket and one on top of handle. Bows can be secured with twist ties or red and green pipe cleaners.
7. Have children write a name on each ornament using the list of names and a paint pen or marker.
8. Once ornaments are decorated and paint is dry, help children place them in the baskets. (Be sure to write the station number on the basket)
9. Practice singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.
10. You can plan the visit to the nursing home for the same day or a different day – whatever is best for your schedule. Either carpool to the nursing home or have the children’s parents meet you in front of the nursing home. Ask children to wear Christmas colors and don their Santa hats.
11. After checking in at the front desk of the nursing home, visit each station. Let the children sing to the patients and present each one with a personalized ornament. Encourage the children to visit with the patients once the ornaments have been given out.

Tips & Warnings

• Once your children have visited the nursing home and found new friends, they may want to visit throughout the year.
• Visiting a nursing home with your child throughout the year is a great way to teach them empathy and compassion for others.
• Before visiting the nursing home, talk with children about why people live in nursing homes and why it is important to visit.
• Warn children that some residents may not know what they are saying so that children do not become frightened during the visit.

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