RDI Outside of the Home

our favorite holiday activities - week 4

SPREADING CHRISTMAS CHEER THROUGH RDI

This week we are encouraging you to do some RDI outside of the home to spread some Christmas cheer to those around you. Here are some ideas:

- Christmas Caroling: You could visit family members, neighbors, or a local rest home to sing together. Make sure to have a big enough group to ensure that both you and your child will be comfortable standing and singing together.

- Take a gift to someone: You could take a gift to a family member, neighbor, or friend, and visit them at their home. Encourage your child to sit by you on the couch as you visit together.

- Visit a loved one: Christmas is the perfect time of year to spend time with those you love. Take your children to visit someone who is dear to your heart and allow them the chance to meet him/her.

- Find Christmas Lights: Take your child on a drive to find local Christmas lights, or downtown to Temple Square to walk around and look at the lights. Use this opportunity to share the experience with your child and enjoy spending time together.

Please remember that suggested activity ideas cater to different children with varying RDI needs. Choose which activity fits your child and your family situation, and then adapt the activity specifically for your own child. We would love to hear how the activity went for your family!

Gardner Villiage WitchFest

Have you ever been to Gardner Village? During the entire month of October they have witches that are out on display scattered around Gardner Village for the public to enjoy for free. This is a perfect opportunity to take your child on a "RDI field trip" that you can both enjoy.

Gardner Village

1100 West 7800 South

West Jordan, Utah

Once you're there, how do you make this experience into RDI so that it is different from any normal day outing? Here are two ways to assure a productive experience:

1. Plan ahead - As you're planning this outing, the most important thing to think about it time. Make sure that you schedule out a couple of hours free so that the time you spend together is not rushed, and you can just enjoy the moment. This will have a HUGE effect on how productive your outing will be. If your child feels rushed or that he/she is just there for a "quick look" at the witches, your overall experience will be a lot different than if you plan to calmly enjoy this experience. You may not use all of the time that you have set aside to look at witches, but think of what else you could do with your child to fill the remaining time.

2. Go with a purpose - As you're preparing for this RDI field trip with your child, have a "rough draft" plan in mind of what you think might be the most successful with your child. With your plan being a "rough draft," it will often change and that's okay.

RDI "rough draft" ideas:
- Walk around together and talk about the different things you see. Point out interesting things and interesting people that you see to your child. Also, discuss past events that may connect to what you are currently seeing. (ex: That witch looks just like Grandma did last year in her costume at our Halloween party. Grandma had on purple striped socks just like that witch does!)

- Witch scavenger hunt. Once you arrive at Gardner Village, pick up the scavenger hunt list and see if you and your child can find all of the witches together. Make this an activity of you two walking around working together.

- Walk around and take pictures with each witch. Bring a camera with you on your field trip, and take pictures with each witch. When you get home, print out the pictures, and make a book with your child to remember the fun experiences that you had together. Use colored paper, scissors, glue, tape, markers, and any other fun craft supplies.

We hope you enjoy your RDI field trip this month with your child. If you'd like to share your experience with us, we would love to hear about it!