Gratitude is an emotion we should express throughout the year. The days leading up to Thanksgiving, though, are an excellent opportunity to reinforce the practice of giving thanks and schedule some fun activities with your children to promote gratitude. Here are some suggestions for holding a “Gratitude Week” prior to Thanksgiving to dedicate one activity per day to remind kids of the many blessings and people that surround and support them.

Although many of us might be fresh out of ideas of ways to keep our children entertained during this pandemic, brace yourselves – winter break is nearly here, and more down time is around the corner. 

If we rewind the clock, surely we all remember looking forward to blocks of time off from school. So, with our own happy memories of days off from school in mind, it’s time to make our own children’s days off from school just as memorable. 

As COVID-19 quickly spread throughout U.S. communities in the beginning of 2020, social distancing orders forced family and friends to get creative and tech savvy in order to stay connected with one another. Now, for at least another four weeks in the state of New Jersey, residents have been ordered by Governor Murphy to stay at home and schools will continue remote learning until at least May 15, 2020. So, with an even longer extended period at home now, you might be looking for new and fun ways to keep connected while physically apart from friends and family outside your immediate quarantine crew. 

School is out for the day and you have super energetic children in your car on the way to ... where? When the kids don't have any organized sports, dance or music classes after school, you still have quite a few hours to kill in between pick-up and dinnertime. Depending on your type of child, or their particular mood on a given day, it's good to have a few ideas in your back pocket that are both high-energy or relaxing, mentally stimulating and educational, or just plain fun. 

 Winter is coming and the temperature is dropping. In an effort to battle the cold weather blues, we've provided you with a list of our favorite things to do with children in the Summit, NJ area this winter. This list will be updated as we hear of more events throughout the season! Have an event you think should be included in our list? Email the details to communications@oakknoll.org for consideration.