The “witching” hour

November 12th, 2009 | Author: Shannon

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When my son was a baby 5-8pm at night was a time I tried to “get through” as quickly and methodically as possibly. As he grows that time is easier to handle, this past summer I’d send him outside to get vegetables for dinner, or play in his sandbox; now it’s DARK at 4:45pm and I’ve been brainstorming how to make this time work for our whole family. Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with for 5 o’clock blues with tired toddlers and preschoolers.

1) Make place cards for Thanksgiving dinner. Use card stock (or for the especially green mama use old paper bags) and pictures from catalogues or stickers or print out pictures of family members coming to the big feast, paste these items on the cards. Family members are sure to give the children lots of compliments!

2) Find some grape vines and make wreathes by weaving the vines in and out of each other. Using a glue gun, add shells, small rocks, driftwood, family photos, pine cones… use your imagination. Or find bittersweet, or evergreens to add to the wreath and then use for holiday decorations.

3) Paint on flat(ish) stones collected earlier in the day from stream or pond or the ocean. Paint as many as possible, then divide into groups of ten, put in bags and give away as “worry” stones to all your relatives. Or for smaller rocks make ornaments for the tree by gluing on a string loop.

4) Make Christmas tree ornaments. Growing up my family had a tradition and each year a family member had the responsibility of picking a theme for the tree- one year my brother and father made gingerbread men from thin pieces of wood using a jig saw and a cookie cutter outline. Another year we made tissue paper roses. It’s so fun to be creative and personal with these ornaments! Make extra to give away!

5) Make a menorah and candles. Drill eight holes in a sturdy branch, cut a flat bottom and voila! Purchase beeswax and candle wick. Melt the wax in a double boiler, tie the wick to a stick, weight the wick down, then dunk the wax- over and over and over again till the candles are big enough to fit in the holes of your menorah (more details on candle dipping).

Fun is the most important ingredient! Any of these activities serve as wonderful together time and prepare everyone for the joy of the holiday season.

What do you do as the nights come on earlier? Which other activities are fun to do with children?

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