Blogmas Day 1: The Elf on the Shelf

Meet Coco, Nori’s Elf. Nori met her for the first time today and loved her. I am sure many of you know how the Elf of the Shelf works. The concept is that Santa’s Elf arrives in the house starting on December 1st or earlier if so, you please watching to see if your child is naughty or nice and leaves on Christmas Eve. You hide the Elf every night in a new place for your child to find. We have decided to do it with Nori this year since she is old enough to understand Christmas and majority of the activities. She still might not 100% get the naughty or nice thing because even when she knows something is wrong, she does it right in my face with no hesitation so yeah no I doubt that will work. However, I have decided to mix it up and turn it into learning activities, a scavenger hunt and other cool things she can do to get her in the holiday season. Below are a few ways that you can use your Elf on the Shelf.

Learning Activity

It does not have to be every day but a few days during the Coco’s 24 day stay, you can hide the Elf and provide your toddler with clues such as find the red circle or the Elf is hanging upside down near the green ball. This will reinforce the concepts you have been working on in a new way. In the case of older children try to strengthen their reading and comprehension skills by giving them clues that lead to more clues before the find the Elf.

Again, don’t feel like you have to make it educational everyday but mixing it in there a few times would be good for the little one.

Creative Set-Ups

It is nothing wrong with hiding the Elf in plain sight. You can have your child’s Elf at the table eating breakfast waiting for your child. In a pile of candy with its head sticking out, with a note that says thanks for sharing. There are costumes and props you can purchase for your Elf at places such as Target. You can even set up the Elf doing things you want to reinforce to your child like brushing their teeth in the morning, etc.

You can do whatever your mind can conceive and believe me your child will love it. It’s never too late to start the Elf tradition in your household.

24 Days Until Christmas!