Activities Toddlers Can Do with Jingle Bells

Jingle to the Beat

• Give your toddler jingle bell shaker instruments and teach him how to shake them during the song "Jingle Bells." Emphasize shaking them to the rhythm and beats of the song. Once he has mastered the classic, try other holiday songs as well, such as "Here Comes Santa Claus" and "Jingle Bell Rock," allowing him to hear different rhythms and shake the jingle bells to various beats. You don't have to stick to holiday songs, however. Try having your toddler shake the jingle bells to the beats of his favorite nursery rhyme songs or TV show jingles he may be familiar with.

Jingle and Play

• Incorporate jingle bells into games your toddler loves to play. For example, you could play jingle freeze dance by giving her either the traditional jingle bell instruments or jingle bell bracelets you can find in some toy stores. When the music plays, your tot must dance and shake her bells. When the music stops, she must freeze. You can also play a game where one child is blindfolded and has to try to find another child only by the sound of the jingle bells she is shaking. If you have a large number of toddlers together, gather them in a circle with one child in the middle. The child in the middle closes her eyes and someone takes a jingle bell shaker from her hands. She must then try to guess who took the shaker.

Homemade Jingle Bells

• Help your toddler create his own jingle bell shakers using individual bells you can find at any craft store. To make a jingle bell shaker, have your toddler decorate the outside of a paper cup, then poke a hole in the bottom of it. Guide him in stringing two or three individual jingle bells onto a pipe cleaner, pushing them to the center. Bring the ends of the pipe cleaner together and stick them through the hole inside of the cup, twisting the ends shut on the outside. You can also try making jingle bell bracelets by stringing several jingle bells onto a pipe cleaner, or make jingle bell necklaces by attaching a few bells to woven string.

Story-Time Jingles

• Add a little jingling fun to holiday story time. Read books with your toddler that mention or are in some way related to jingle bells and have her shake her own jingle bells each time you read the words "jingle" and "bell." Some books that mention jingle bells include "Jingle Bells," by Nick Butterworth, about two mice who scheme to avoid a cat who is ruining their Christmas, and "The Christmas Magic," by Lauren Thompson, which follows Santa's preparations for his journey to drop presents around the world. You can also read any children's book that brings the song "Jingle Bells" to life through colorful, kid-friendly illustrations.