Holidays bring a lot of excitement and energy. From the commercials for every toy under the sun to holiday movies and TV shows (I mean Hallmark starts Christmas movies in October), the ramped up energy is everywhere. You can’t go to the mall without being bombarded by Christmas music and decorations. There’s parades and cookie workshops to add to the festive atmosphere. All this stimulus is overwhelming for adults, so just imaging what children might be experiencing.

Children absorb the energy of the season, and under the best of circumstances, it can be more than they are able to understand and process. For young children, they may not even remember what the holidays are or what they are like. During this time of year, children frequently find it difficult to sleep. They experience emotions stronger than other times of the year, partly from not sleeping well and partly from all the excitement around them. Even if you try to keep your classroom low key, the rest of the world will provide the excitement.

You may notice that your children are pushing limits more, having more meltdowns and basically, being more emotional. Realizing this is going to happen, you can set up your daily activities to help mitigate the emotional responses.

Start from the child’s perspective. The child is saying without saying, “I’m feeling so much inside of me I don’t know how to handle it.” How do you feel when you’re excited about something? Have you ever had trouble falling asleep because of excitement or worry? You have developed skills for dealing with those emotions, and yet we still sometimes have difficulty controlling our feelings. Children don’t have years of experience with these emotions and they don’t have the skills to deal with them.

I’ve heard it said that when children have big feelings, we need to give them our calm. It becomes our role to create an environment that helps with the calm. You can think about the things that help you get through stressful situations and try to create some of those for your children. But since everyone is not alike, here are some things you can do that will help the children in your classroom handle the excitement of the holidays.

Start your day with a calming or mindful moment.
How your day starts can affect how your entire day goes. Try a short meditation or mindful moment before you start your day. Then give the children in your classroom the same opportunity. Plan a mindful moment at the beginning of your classroom day to start everyone on a calmer note,

Keep your classroom schedule as consistent as possible.
This is the time of year when many distractions and changes to our normal routines happen. Doing your best to keep your consistent schedule and routines help children feel safe and secure. When there are variations to your schedule, such as holidays, visitors, etc., inform the children well in advance (think days) and discuss what the children can expect that day. Keeping families informed of these changes can allow them to help the child with expectations and alleviate some of the fear of the unknown.

Provide additional movement and emotional release activities.
Since the children are full of extra energy at this time of the year, give them outlets for that energy. Maybe you can give extra time outside. Add more movement activities to your large group time. Create an obstacle course in one of the centers. Boxes make great additions to the classroom at this time. Playdough, water, and sand are all good emotional release activities,

Avoid or minimize the holiday related activities and projects.
Holiday related activities can up the energy and excitement in children. But they can also cause stress or distress to some children in your classroom. Not all children will celebrate the same holidays, if they celebrate at all. Religion, culture, economics, and family value systems all contribute to how families recognize holidays. Be aware of how the families of your children handle the holidays and be respectful of those traditions or values.

Listen to children and validate their feelings.
Probably the best and most effective action during this time, and anytime, is to take the time listen to your children. Listen for what they are not telling you. Listen for the emotions behind the stories. A child may be telling you about Santa coming down the chimney, but the child’s house doesn’t have a chimney. You can talk about how that may be confusing or even fearful that Santa just won’t come. Don’t invent feelings for the child, but validate feelings the child expresses.

Expect big emotions.
When you expect something, you can plan for it and prepare for it. So if you know this time of year will be more hectic, more trying, and more tiring, you can be prepared as well. Get plenty of sleep, plan something relaxing for after work or the weekend, and be kind to yourself. When you take care of yourself, you will be better prepared to handle those big emotions in children and you will have more calm to share with them,

I have always enjoyed decorating for the holidays. Some of my best memories are around the holidays. But they can also be hard times for people who have experienced loss. So, enjoy your holidays while you take into consideration how others may experience this time of year.