New Year's Eve with kids 2-3 years old - it's possible!
At the end of last year, I started thinking hard about how I could have a fun New Year's Eve with kids two, two and a half, and three years old. By that time, my daughter was barely two years old, and my lively and active nephews were also very tiny. A lot of worries for the children flashed through my head: is it worth celebrating this holiday together, will they be able to wait for the chimes without being capricious, without sleep, what kind of entertainment program to come up with for them, menus, gifts... Finally, if we remember about adults: will they be able to sit at festive table when there are three kids in the house at once?
And yet, despite some doubts, it was decided that my sister with her husband and two sons would come to visit us on New Year's Eve.
First of all, I decided to prepare gifts. I bought a lot of books on New Year's themes and a couple of educational games (for my nephews and, of course, for my baby). After purchasing some wrapping film, I wrapped my baby's gifts in pink paper and the boys' gifts in green paper. And using a stencil, I cut out and pasted ducks and bears onto gift packages. I did this mostly for my daughter, since at that time she did not know the names of the flowers, but she could immediately determine that the duckling was a gift for her, and the bear was for her brothers.
Then I instructed my sister to teach the children everyone’s favorite “A Christmas Tree was Born in the Forest” and a couple of rhymes for the holiday. My daughter and I only got through the first verse and chorus (I sang this song everywhere so that the child would remember).
A separate item included outfits for our children. It was decided to dress the boys as pirates, and I prepared a beautiful dress and bunny ears for my daughter.
That's all about the preparation - nothing special or complicated, just pleasant troubles!
And the New Year's Eve itself (from 19.00 until the chimes) flew by in one breath, fun and surprisingly carefree! The children didn’t have any whims, it seemed to me that if they gave them free rein, they were ready to outlast the adults that night!
After spending the old year at the festive table, while the children frolicked on their own, we kicked the kids and their dads into the next room, and we ourselves laid out the gifts under the tree. And then they all danced together and sang a song about a Christmas tree. Oh, how the children tried, seeing a bunch of gifts under the tree! My daughter, surprisingly, also sang the song drawn out. Then, after singing a song, dancing or reading a poem, the kids came up and took their gifts. Well, after that we forgot about the children for almost 40 minutes while they enthusiastically rustled the wrappers and looked at what was inside.
Then we played a little game for the children, giving them candy from the gift sets. The winner was the one who opened the most candies. Of course, friendship won! Everyone was great, they all did it well and received a whistle as a gift. Again, we weren't worried about the kids being bored for about half an hour, although the whistling could be heard throughout the room!
Closer to midnight, we all gathered at the table, had another snack, made wishes while the chimes struck and lit the sparklers.
This is how wonderfully we celebrated the New Year 2022! And without children, I remember that the time until 12 at night usually dragged on slowly and boringly...
We went with our daughter and husband to see off the guests. Outside, the sky was full of colorful fireworks, the weather was mild and pleasant. The mood is great! After a short walk, I put my little baby to bed. The sister and her husband soon returned to the festive table (leaving their children with their grandmother). And then there was a gambling game of backgammon and trick-or-treating to the soft sound of songs from “Blue Light” on TV...
General recommendations for choosing poems
New Year's poems for children aged 2–3 years are chosen to be simple and short (one quatrain). They should not contain unclear words or complex grammatical structures. While some children in the nursery group still barely speak (especially boys), others do it quite well and are already showing the ability to read expressively, while also having a good memory. Such children can be given poetic works of a larger volume, but at the same time easy to remember.
You need to keep in mind that even if the baby has learned the poem well, at the matinee he may refuse to recite it - he may become confused and even cry. There is nothing terrible here - it’s just a feature of age.
While some kindergarten students speak poorly and may be shy at a matinee, others are very relaxed and recite poetry wonderfully
