Out here on the east coast its been raining for a couple of days. If it keeps raining and snowing, how will Santa travel safely to all of the houses and keep the presents dry? Ask your kids these questions and set their imaginations on fire! What if it’s windy? What if it’s really hot or freezing, how can they help Santa? Time to take the excitement of the holiday and pent up energy from being inside for too long and put it to good use with these ideas:

• Use free drawing websites like: Sketch & Paint  and  Qeeky Paint to draw a new sleigh. Use the “print screen” button on your computer to copy the picture and paste into any other program.
• Use presentation software installed on your computer to create slides of Santa’s journey through the weather. Set the slide to transition every 2-4 seconds to make it look more like a cartoon. Use the recording feature within the software programs to explain what is being built, add some of their own music or read a favorite or self-written poem. (You can also use the default apps on your phone or download a free one.)
• Use craft items, boxes and blankets in your house to create the sleigh. Have one child be the “reporter”, one acts as Santa and a third child record while they discuss the new sleigh or the final preparations for the big travel. (Have them watch a weather report as a sample.)
• Remember that you have many tools in your house to do these options such as a smart phone, digital camera, computer, and all those left over craft items.

Your children, and their friends, can create pictures, videos, newscasts that will keep them happily busy but will also capture them at their wonderful ages.