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Snow at Christmas?  Not in NZ!  A Kiwi Christmas comes in the middle of summer.   It’s when people discard jumpers and sweatshirts for t-shirts, jeans and trousers for shorts and skirts.  Out come ice-blocks, sunhats, sandals, and sun block lotion.   Yet most of the imagery and stories of Christmas come from Europe where Christmas means snow, reindeer, hot cooked food, scarves and hats.

In NZ, for children the first signs of Christmas approaching are typically the appearance of decorations and Christmas trees in shopping malls from mid November.  By the first week of December children know or hear that Christmas time is approaching and will ask questions such as “how many more days till  Christmas?” and thinking of what presents they are hoping they will get.  So by early December for children you need to have some ideas up your sleeve and activites to do.

To help you we give a stack of ideas for how you might approach Christmas and practical fun and learning activities below.  Most are possible for parents and children to do at home or for groups of children and teachers in early childhood services.

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