Celebrate the New Year with The Night Before New Year’s!

Posted by Dec 27, 2016 Book Based Activities, Books, Holidays

The year is coming to an end and a new one is around the corner! There are so many great ways to include kids in the New Years celebrations, and many great books to teach them about the holiday. Whether they are staying up to count down with you, or counting down to noon instead, there are many ways to get them involved in the holiday!

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The Night Before New Year’s by Natasha Wing is a fun addition to the Night Before series. The book follows a family as they close out the year and prepare to welcome the new one. They shop for party supplies, have a feast, make resolutions and play games. This is a great jumping off point for planning your celebrations with your kids.

Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution by Pat Miller tells the story of Squirrel and his friends as they prepare their resolutions for the new year. While the other animals are starting to work on their resolutions, Squirrel is trying to figure out what to choose. As Squirrel helps all of the animals with their resolutions, they help him to see that he is great at helping others. This is a great book for introducing kids to making New Year’s resolutions, especially if they are uncertain about how to make them.

Resolutions – Start the year out by making resolutions for the new year together. Discuss ways that you can make yourselves better and ways that you can help others. Come up with ideas that you can do together to make changes or give to others around you. This will help you to stick with them!

Remember the Year – This is a tradition my husband and I started a few years ago and it is always a fun part of our New Year’s celebration. Throughout the year, we write out memories that we want to remember from the year on small scraps of paper. Movies we saw, places we went, things we did, funny moments, etc. On New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, we take time to open all of the memories and read them out loud so we can remember all of the good times we had. I can’t wait to continue this tradition with our daughter when she is old enough to understand! At the beginning of the year, set up a Year Jar somewhere in your home. Put out paper and pens near it so you will have easy access when a memory strikes you!

New Year’s Sensory Table – Set up a sensory bin with New Year’s supplies for little kids to explore. This could include streamers, foam or plastic numbers, confetti (if you are daring), noisemakers, or anything else you may find. The blog LIttle Bins for Little Hands has a great plan for a New Year’s Discovery Bottle for Kids if you want to contain the exploration.

Get ready to ring in the new year!

Crafty Hats and Noisemakers – Get your party supplies ready to ring in the New Year! There are so many ways to create your own hats and noisemakers using things you have around your home. Set up a craft area with various supplies and encourage kids to make their own!

Some ideas to get them started:

  • Glue two paper plates together around the edges and fill with beads or dried beans.
  • Use up your Christmas jingle bells by attaching them to popsicle sticks to make your own shakers.
  • Poke holes in the sides of a paper bowl. Tie both ends of a piece of string onto the holes, creating a hat. Kids can attach feathers, streamers, confetti, sequins, or other craft supplies..

Ball Drop Number Line – Are your kids staying up for the New Year, or are you counting down earlier in the day? Have kids create a fun ball drop countdown of their own to help them count down the hours! Cut a long strip of paper, or glue several sheets end to end. Write the hours you want to count down in big numbers down the strip (this could be as small as 3, 2, 1, or as many hours as you would like). Have kids decorate the number line. Cut out a giant “ball” and have them decorate this as well. Using tape or sticky-tack, attach the ball to the top of the line. As the hours tick away, have the kids move the ball down lower until it is the new year!

Knock the Hat Off – This is a fun New Year’s Game that the whole family can play! Set up a party hat on a table top or furniture edge. Give kids a party blower and see if they can knock the hat off using only the tip of the blower. You can also line up several party hats, divide into teams, and see who can blow their hats off the edge the fastest!

Do you have New Years plans with your kids? Have you discussed resolutions with them? Share in the comments!

 

38 comments on “Celebrate the New Year with The Night Before New Year’s!”

    • I can’t imagine letting my daughter stay up for many years, so we will definitely be utilizing some activities during the day instead!

  15. I really like the Remember the Year activity. I have a horrible memory so I think this would honestly be helpful (and maybe hilarious). We did what? When? I don’t remember that…

    Writing memories down is a great idea for some many reasons!

  16. That book sounds so cute!
    These activities look like they’re so much fun.
    My little man is just old enough to really grasp that there is a celebration going on and that things are different, so I’m able to do more with him this year!

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