Between Christmas and NYE, I feel a level of exhaustion that only a mom knows. I have bought, wrapped, placed, and acted surprised when all the presents were open. I have prepped, baked, eaten, and cleaned a large meal. I have chased children around for days while hearing the echos of requests for new batteries or help working a new toy ringing in my ears.

I would love to celebrate New Year’s Eve traditions more with my family, but usually I am just not there mentally. But if 2020 has taught me anything, it is that my kids thrive on structure. When I have an activity, even a small one, ready to go after their snack/media time, we have a substantially better afternoon.

So I fought the exhaustion and put together a few easy (and I do mean EASY) New Year’s activities to do with preschoolers. Since we are on our ‘holiday break’ from homeschool, these activities are definitely more based in sensory play rather than lesson learning. Think bubbles and sparkle!

What can toddlers do on New Year’s Eve?

Let’s be real, I barely (if ever) make it to midnight on New Year’s Eve anymore. And I am not in the business of keeping my 3 and 4 year old up past their bedtime for all of our sanity. But celebrating the new year can be done throughout the day with a little creativity.

Bubble Countdown Scoop + Sort

Preschoolers are learning or perfecting the art of counting, which is a big part of New Year’s celebrations - the countdown to midnight. Here’s how I gave that concept a NYE spin and turned it into sensory play for preschoolers.

Materials: Large container, water, bubbles, numbered items, scooping utensils

First, set up a tub of water with bubbles.
Find anything in your home (that can get soaked) that has numbers on it. I used numbered plastic cookie cutters. Duplo Legos with numbers would work too.
Throw your items in the water.
Find ‘scoopers’ - I grabbed a plastic mug, an ice cream scoop and a noodle scooper.
Lay out numbers on the ground - whatever you’re counting down from.
Have the kids scoop the numbers out of the bubbles using the utensils and match them to the numbers on the ground.
Once they’re all matched, work on counting down - which was a new concept to my kids.
Then have a bubble party!

Baking Soda + Vinegar Fireworks

Materials: Small container (silicone baking cup), baking soda, glitter, vinegar, turkey baster/pipette/steady hand

Gather all your materials. Put a little bit of baking soda into your small container
Add glitter on top.
Squirt the glitter with vinegar using the turkery baster or pipette. Or just pour a small amount of vinegar using a steady hand.
Watch the reaction - it creates your own personal firework!

Skittles Rainbow Firework

Materials: Skittles, warm water, white plate

Create a circle using your Skittles. If you’re practicing patterns with your preschooler, give them an AB pattern to follow.
Have the kids hypothesize what they think will happen when the water hits the candy.
Slowly pour warm water into the center of the circle just until it reaches all the Skittles.
Watch the magic!

Shaving Cream Fireworks

Materials: Shallow container, shaving cream, food coloring, numbers, pipe cleaners, glitter (optional), paintbrush or stick-like tools

In a shallow container ( I used a baking pan), squirt globs of shaving cream.
Add food coloring and glitter to the shaving cream.
Have the kids use the tools and pipe cleaners to create what they think fireworks look like.
They can trace the numbers with the paintbrushes to countdown to fireworks!

Baby Fireworks Sensory Bag

We can’t forget about the littlest NYE celebrators! I made a simple sensory bag out of baby oil, food coloring, water, and glitter. ( I followed the instructions from this video.) I drew a small star on the bag and taped it to my child’s high chair. (PRO TIP: tape it on all sides - they will try to rip it up). This is a great sensory activity for babies that will occupy them in their highchair while you do the other activities with older kids.

And drumroll please…..

I have finally found a great use for all that Play Doh that has been mixed together. Make fireworks! Play Doh by itself is an incredible activity to develop dexterity in little fingers, but add some glitter to it or some pipe cleaners to create the lines of fireworks. Use Play Doh tools or some cookie cutters to make fun shapes. Grab a piece of black construction paper to act as the night’s sky and lay out your fireworks on that as mixed media art.

And there you have it. Ways to celebrate the concept of New Year’s Eve and Day with your preschoolers without the added exhaustion of keeping littles (or moms) up past bedtime.

Parenting

Happy New Year! Activities for Preschoolers