20 Fun Activities To Do With Your Child With Down Syndrome To Get In The Holiday Spirit
As a Mom of a child with Down Syndrome the holiday season is a magical time. Despite being a teenager Max’s pure joy for all things Christmas warms my heart and keeps things fun for the entire family.
One of the great things about the holidays is a lot of the activities people do to get in the holiday spirit and celebrate the season are things he’s super interested in and people of all ages are willing to do.
As Max has become older the gap between his interests and the interests of his peers, including his siblings, has widened and become much more apparent. At times it can be difficult to bridge the gap.
During Christmas adults, teens, and kids are all eager participants in decorating gingerbread houses, baking cookies, watching holiday movies, and whatnot. Teens who typically would be too cool for crafts are on board with making Christmas ornaments because well…it’s Christmas!
We definitely capitalize on this! It makes the holiday season fun and creates fabulous memories for everyone. A bonus is a lot of the activities we do to get in the holiday spirit improves skills your child may be working on!
If you’re looking for ideas for fun holiday festivities and activities to include your child with Down Syndrome then look no further!
Hey Mama Bears, full disclosure here. There are affiliate links in this post so if you click on the link and buy the product I will earn a small commission. Now that we’re clear on that let’s get back to rocking life with special needs!
Holiday Activities To Do With Your Child With Down Syndrome
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit #1: Decorate A Gingerbread House
Every Christmas Eve we decorate a gingerbread house. Often we will each get our own mini-house or we’ll pair up and decorate a larger house.
I have made gingerbread in the past but it’s such a busy time I’ve found it’s easier to buy kits.
A lot of our kids are prone to developing problems with gluten so I was super excited when I found this gluten free gingerbread kit!
The frosting and decorations included in these kits are never enough though so I always make additional frosting and buy additional candy to decorate.
If constructing gingerbread houses is a bit too much then decorate gingerbread people instead!
If your crew is competitive you could have a gingerbread house decorating contest.
If you’re part of the Mama Bear Crew you’ll find gingerbread house competition printables you can print out and hand out as rewards.
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: This is a great activity to develop OT skills and strengthen those hand muscles. It’s also a great opportunity to work on speech and understanding prepositions like “on” “under” “in front of”. Example: “Put the gumdrop on top of the roof.”
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit #2: Decorate Your Home For The Holidays While Listening To Christmas Music.
No matter how old they become, my kids cannot wait to decorate our home for Christmas! Everyone helps out and it takes an entire afternoon or evening to do.
We blast Christmas music and dance while we trim the tree, decorate the mantle, and place Christmas decor throughout the house.
Here are a few of our favorite Christmas songs to listen to…
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: This activity is a great opportunity for your child to work on following directions as you decorate your home.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit #3: Christmas Karaoke
Grab a karaoke machine, dim the lights, set out some snacks, and use the Christmas music list above to have a fun night of Christmas karaoke! You can invite family and friends over or keep it low key.
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Singing is a great way to help your child work on pronunciation.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit #4: Watch Christmas Movies While Drinking Hot Cocoa And Eating Popcorn
Friday night is movie night for our crew! We all look forward to it and one of my absolute favorite things in the world is watching holiday movies in the glow of Christmas lights with my family. Extra bonus if there’s softly falling snow outside the windows!
We start watching Christmas movies in November and all through the month of December. A Christmas Story is saved for Christmas Eve every year.
Even though I’ve watched these movies a bajillion times they never get old when I’m watching them with my family surrounding me!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: This is a great way to bond as a family.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit #5: Go Sledding Or Snow Tubing
Grab a sled and get outside! Great exercise and a lot of fun! Who doesn’t love zipping down hills with the wind in their face?
Yes, it may be cold but that makes the hot cocoa you’ll drink afterwards even more delicious!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: A great activity to work on those gross motor skills and increase strength.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit #6: Sponsor A Family In Need
During the holidays there are always local programs where you can sponsor a family in need. Usually you can pick up a card with some basic family info such as how many people are in the family, their ages, sizes for clothing, and wish list for toys etc.
As a family, adopt a family. Together pick out a family to sponsor, go shopping, wrap the presents, and drop them off.. This is a great way to come together to help others in need.
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: This is an opportunity to work on many skills such as decision making (deciding which family to sponsor and which gifts to buy), budgeting (deciding on how much money to spend and then buying gifts within budget), social skills (going to the store, picking out items, buying items), OT skills (wrapping the presents), as well as learning the importance of giving back.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit #7: Bake Cookies
I can’t recall a Christmas where I didn’t bake cookies for Christmas day or to give as gifts. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without baking cookies!
Baking with your child with Down Syndrome has a lot of benefits too. Max is very motivated to read a recipe, follow the directions, and measure appropriately!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Baking works on so many skills such as reading because you have to read the recipes, following the directions of the recipes, math (measuring), and OT skills (pouring, stirring, etc).
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 8: Put Together A Holiday Themed Puzzle
Buy a holiday themed puzzle and on December 1st as a family, start putting it together when you have time. If you have an extra table or desk where it can be left out that’s fabulous. If you don’t, get out a card table and get it set up.
We put together this Charlie Brown Christmas puzzle a few years ago.
We found we had a lot of great conversations while working on it together!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: This is a great activity for your child with Down Syndrome as it helps with improving hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. It also improves skills such as remembering, matching, sorting, and problem-solving.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 9: Enjoy A Holiday Production
During the holidays community theaters will often put on holiday plays and musicals. Typically Max enjoys these productions. We’re fond of going to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra when they come to a city near us.
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Exposing your child to plays, musicals, and concerts helps your child learn social skills and promotes language development.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 10: Have A Family Slumber Party Under The Christmas Tree
What could be more magical than sleeping under a lit Christmas tree? As a child this would be THE BEST! You just can’t do it Christmas Eve night!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: This is a great way to build connections between you and your child and strengthen that parent/child bond.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 11: Make Room For New Toys
Most kids have toys they’ve outgrown, they never play with, or that are broken. With Santa on his way it’s important to make room for the new gifts he’s going to bring!
Have your children go through their toys or help you go through their toys and donate the ones they’ve outgrown or don’t play with and throw broken toys away.
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: This type of activity helps your child learn to sort and make decisions.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 12: Write A Letter To Santa
After going through their toys it’s the perfect time to sit down and write a letter to Santa that includes their wish list!
Writing a letter to Santa is a great opportunity and big motivator for your child with Down Syndrome to work on writing and spelling! They can add stickers or drawings to it too! Your child could also type a letter to Santa if needed!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Writing to Santa helps your child work on writing skills such as the proper way to hold a writing utensil, printing letters/writing words, writing left to right, as well as the proper way to compose a letter.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 13: Read Holiday Themed Books Together
In December be sure to ready fun holiday themed books before bed. As your kids become older you can read a page and then have them read a page.
If a beloved book has been made into a movie we love to read the book first and then watch the movie for a Friday night movie night!
Here are a few of our favorite Christmas themed books to read followed by watching the movie!
This I Spy Christmas themed book is great for improving working memory!
The Mathe crew are big fans of the Little Blue Truck series too!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Reading holiday themed books with your child will help them improve their reading and language skills.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 14: Volunteer Your Time
It’s the season of giving and nothing is more precious than giving your time towards a great cause.
As a family, find an opportunity to donate your time within your community. You can volunteer at a soup kitchen, make care packages for our soldiers, or make homemade Christmas cards and hand them out at a nursing home.
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Volunteering your time is a great opportunity for your child to improve social skills, strengthen your bond as a family, as well as teach your child about the values you hold as a family.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 15: Give Your Child Their Own Mini-Tree
Let your child have their own mini-Christmas tree in their bedroom. They can decorate it anyway they want with paper chains, homemade ornaments, etc or you can buy a tree that already comes with lights and a few ornaments like this one!
Just be sure this wouldn’t post a choking hazard to your kiddo. You know your child best and if it would be appropriate!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Allowing your child their own mini-tree in their bedroom they can decorate how they want encourages creativity and gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 16: Christmas Crafts
Get crafty! Make salt dough ornaments, Christmas paper chains, or candy cane pipe cleaner ornaments. Any Christmas craft will help get you into the holiday spirit!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Holiday crafts encourage creativity and improve fine motor skills!
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 17: Build A Snowman
Building a snowman is classic winter fun! It’s great exercise and a fun opportunity to enjoy the outdoors during winter when we tend to stay indoors.
If you don’t want to search the house trying to find things to decorate Frosty the Snowman with consider buying a snowman kit!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Building a snowman helps your child become stronger and improve gross motor skills. It also teaches them about teamwork.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 18: Cut Down Your Own Tree
We’ve always had an artificial tree. That's what I had growing up but I will admit, going out to a tree farm to find the perfect Christmas tree sounds pretty Christmas-y!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Another fun activity to get outside and build strength.
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit # 19: Visit Santa
Visiting Santa is very much in the spirit of the holiday! If your child with Down Syndrome becomes overwhelmed easily, consider visiting a sensory friendly Santa event.
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Visiting Santa helps work on social skills such as waiting in line and interacting with SANTA!
Holiday Activity To Get Into The Holiday Spirit #20: Holiday Light Tour
Put hot cocoa in a thermos, grab some snacks, pile into the car, and drive around the neighborhood oohing and aahing over all the Christmas lights!
Here’s a delicious recipe for homemade hot cocoa!
How This Holiday Activity Can Help Your Child With Down Syndrome: Another fun opportunity to strengthen that parent/child bond.
So there you have it Mama Bears!
20 fun activities to do with your child with Down Syndrome to get in the holiday spirit!
If you enjoyed this post then be sure to check out…
The Best Halloween Tips For Your Child With Down Syndrome
Dandelion Tribe Takeaway: There are lots of fun activities to do to get in the holiday spirit AND they work on various skills for your child with Down Syndrome!
Mama Bear Share: What holiday activities do you do?
