Hang Christmas lights
For many children, the Christmas lights mark the real start of advent. The visual support below shows hands hanging up a string of lights and turns decorating into a clear activity with a beginning and an end, instead of something that goes on around your child all weekend.
⚲Hang Christmas lights
Two hands hang a string of colorful lights. A ladder stands below.
About this visual support
The first weekend of advent can turn into a long chain of unplanned little projects: boxes come up from storage, cables tangle, someone hunts for the extension lead and the ladder stands in the middle of the room. For children who do best when they know what is happening, it quickly gets messy. When hanging the Christmas lights has its own picture in the schedule, it becomes a defined moment to look forward to.
Split the job into small steps your child can manage: fetch the box, count the bulbs, check they all work before the string goes up, and finally press the switch. That last step is often the best part, so save it for your child. The adult can handle the ladder and the high spots while your child holds the string and makes sure it does not get tangled.
A nice idea is to finish with a short moment where you turn off the ceiling light and just look at the lights. It gives the activity a calm ending and easily becomes a tradition your child remembers. The same picture can come back after Christmas, when the lights are taken down. In the Routined app you can add decorating as its own activity in the weekend schedule with each step in order. You can try the app for 14 days before deciding.
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