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December Cultural Calendar Ideas

As we prepare for another great year – full of cultural teachings, discoveries, relationship building, connections, and support, we would like to close the year with wisdomfrom Nehiyaw Elder Don Campbell. 

Create your own moon graphic using the languages of your program! Download template here.

“December is referred to as Pawacakinasisi- Pisim, which means Frost-Exploding Trees, Moon and Blizzard Moon,” he begins. In his territory, trees would explode from being covered in brittle frost, ice and snow. 

When he was a child, much storytelling was shared by community members and Elders about when the visitors (Europeans) first came. “Indigenous people were confused as to why these people from far-off lands would have two big feasts within one month,” Christmas and New Year’s Day.

“The Cree named New Year’s Ocehtokisikaw, (Kissing Day) as they were in wonderment of everyone going out of their way to kiss each other more than usual,” he chuckles.

He explains how the Medicine Wheel teachings guide our steps, in rhythm with the season. “With the winter solstice approaching on December 21, the ground is covered in snow to let the earth have a break. This is a sign that we also need to slow things down and take a rest.” He explains, with the Medicine Wheel every season has a different type of wellness at the core of traditional teachings.  Winter focuses on mental health. 

While the holidays create a festive, busy atmosphere this time of year, winter is a time of rest and storytelling.

Grandpa Don reminds us to pace ourselves at this busy time and to focus on balance and caring for our mental health. Self-care, he reminds, includes being gentle with ourselves, along with taking care and looking out for each other.  

Thinking specifically of Don’s Medicine Wheel teachings let us reflect on the supports we provide in our programs. 

  • Does your program offer resources to families to practice mental health wellness at a time of year that has financial pressures and overburdened schedules? 
  • Do you provide activities and guest presenters at Family events and PAC meetings that help families gain the tools to practice mental wellness.?  
  • How does your program/host agency assist families with the pressures of the season of celebration? 
  • Do you provide an updated outreach list of where families can go to be proactive and gain help to prevent the stresses of the season? 

Most communities have a local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association. They are always willing to help and offer a wide range of resources such as: Mental Health First Aid, and guest presenters. They also provide online seminars on topics such as: Emotional Intelligence, How to Find Community Family Support. 

Newsletters, family empowerment and family advisory committees, and services such as one-time assistance for rental emergencies are all available through this National Organization.

To Find Out More: 

At AHS, not only do we support children and families, we also take extra care to support our Elders and community members. 

  • How does your site support Elders at this period? The season could have potential triggers that cause anxiety, depression and other negative results.  
  • What supports does your host agency offer and what supports are offered in your local community?

We recommend having information on hand and to provide in newsletters, online web pages, handouts and on Community Resource boards.

Resources for sharing:

Activity Ideas/ Program Planning:

In the spirit of the season activities that encourage practices of togetherness, gifting and sharing:

This month can be a fun and interactive month for children to be exposed to new experiences and teachings.  We have gathered ideas based on the upcoming season change and winter arrival – including scents, sounds, tastes and familiar textures and sights that the holiday season and winter solstice bring.  

Art Centre: 

Stock your art center up with the follow items for December: Blank cards,

  • Colourful envelopes, seasonal stickers
  • Bark, cedar, birch pieces
  • Recycled pictures of winter calendar scenes or seasonal cards,
  • Artificial snow confetti 
  • Seasonal stamps and stamp pads in a wide range of colours,
  • Blue, white, red, or green tissue paper, 
  • Cellophane, 
  • Yarn in various colours, 
  • Metallic foil, 
  • Paper dollies, 
  • Sparkly paints, 
  • Seasonal cookie cutters to dip in paint or to trace, 
  • Glue pots filled with glue, dyed seasonal colours, 
  • Scrap pieces of felt or duffle 

These are all items that can inspire creativity this month.  

Crafts:

Mason Jar gifts for Elders or family members – invite children fill up mason jars by using measuring cups. To make a favourite soup mix use a dried bean soup or a cookie recipe with ingredients, such as jumbo raisin cookies. Children can make brightly coloured tags to add to the jars and decorate the recipe cards. 

Baked Gifts – Children can also help make items such as molasses cookies, ginger snaps, and raisin Bannock for gifts. Have each child decorate their own treat box to fill with the items they have made. Boxes can include labels or recipes translated into traditional language. 

Bough or wreaths for household decorations – Spruce boughs or fir/pine wreaths can be decorated by each child – you can use different materials, such as artificial berries or real cranberries, muslin ribbons, pinecones, and winter animal or mitten shapes that the children have painted.
You can use pony beads to make shapes such as: snowflakes, the first letter in their name or last name, or hearts or candy canes.
Items can be attached using pieces of sinew, thin pieces of hide or yarn. These can be sent home for the children to hang on their front door. 

Sensory:

Playdough: Playdough can be used this month as a fun scented sensory activity. Winter scents can be added to the dough: gingerbread, egg nog, peppermint, sage or cranberry. Glitter can be added for a touch of sparkle. Cookie cutters in the shape of snowflakes, gingerbread people, mitten, can all be offered!  

Winter Sensory Jars: Have the children help create winter sensory jars that they can bring home to enjoy during the winter holidays.

Innovative Ideas: Kermode Childcare used the sensory table as an opportunity to for the children to see Nisga’a words for the items they were playing with.

 Science Themes to Explore:

  • How do animals stay warm in the Winter?’
  • Why does snow and ice melt? 
  • Why does salt melt ice?
  • How to use snow to make an igloo
    •  Or why is it warm inside an igloo?
  • Make a salt crystal, snowstorm jar or a frozen bubble.

Health Promotion/Gathering/Winter Solstice preparation:

Have the children use seasonal berries such as cranberries they have previously picked to make gifts for elders and families.

December is a month full of treats: Create a nutrition board on healthy foods such as cranberries that are available during the holiday season.

Indigenous Food_CranberryDownload

Invite Elders, family members or community members in to make their favourite Winter solstice/holiday recipes: baked salmon, char, tourtiére, la boulettes, pudding in a bag, roasted goose or duck with a traditional relish, saskatoon or low bush cranberry sauce.

Innovative Ideas:

Destiny Calahasen (Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation) is the chef at Tansi AHS, in Chetwynd. From traditional Métis “bullet” soup (la boulette, meat ball) to moose meat chow mein, she loves sharing Indigenous foods to the children.

Children can help cut up seasonal vegetables for soups or stews, measure out frozen berries for sauces, and take turns dumping in and stirring ingredients for bannock, scones, or other seasonal baked goods. 

Recipe: Métis Bullet Soup

Destiny learned this Saskatchewan Métis dish from Elder Violet Wood, served with bannock and rice on the side. “The kids enjoyed this meal a lot!”

Ingredients:

ground Bison (1 lb)

half diced onion

flour (3 tbsp)

butter (3 tbsp) 

Instructions:

1. Start a large pot of boiling water. 

2. Mix together your ground bison and diced onions in a bowl.

3. Form large meat balls out of your bison and onion mixture.

4. Roll your meat balls in flour until fully covered. 

5. Place meat balls into lightly boiling water for about 30-40 minutes.

6. Remove boullets (meatballs) and save 3 cups of the cooking water.

7. Create a white gravy from cooking water by melting butter in a pan and adding an equal amoung flour to form a roux. Add into the cooking water, a little at a time, to thicken. 

Parent Board/Indigenous Foods/Health link

Recipe of the Month:

Blue corn, pumpkin and walnut pancakes with a pumpkin whipped topping!
Author: Teyotsihstokwathe Dakota Brant

Haudenosaunee have a wide variety of corn, squash, and pumpkin varieties that are harvested along with walnuts in the autumn, inspiring important traditional mid-winter and solstice dishes. Haudenosaunee have ceremonial connections to what they harvest, and these foods have been readily available since time immemorial.

Please see the link for a Wintergreen tea that accompanies feast foods, you will see served in Haudenosaunee territory.

To incorporate the important blue corn into meal plans in programs across the province AHSABC previously sent recipes and a package of blue corn flour to use as an example of a warm, comforting and traditional seasonal food selections. To restock your blue corn meal here.  

Other Indigenous flours that can be used include wild rice, white corn, chestnut.

Other seasonal ideas to add Indigenous ingredients to pancakes/ waffles and other baked goods. Crushed walnuts, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, blueberries, blackberries, mulberries or purees previously made from gathered fruits and berries such as black currant.

Health Resources

Educators and Elders/ Knowledge keepers promote healthy practices at AHS programs across the province! Here are some Health link/ parent resource recommendations to help support:

Growing Up Healthy: A resource booklet about providing for a healthy family based on Inunnguiniq teachings

FNHA-COHI-Elder-Recipes.pdf

FNHA-COHI-Chew-Your-Juice.pdf

FNHA-COHI-Sugar-In-Drinks.pdf

Playful additions:

Building Block/Construction Area:  

3–5 year-old Classrooms:

Wooden blocks can be wrapped in leftover pieces of foil they can pretend these are blocks of shiny ice they are building with. Post Pictures of Igloos and children can use the “ice“ blocks to make their own igloos.  

Boxes in various sizes can be wrapped in leftover winter-themed gift wrap to encourage them to build with different sizes. 

Alphabet blocks can be added to encourage the children to spell out their name or even the names of classmates. This is a fun and hands-on way to practice names. 

Infant/Toddler Classrooms:

The addition of alphabet/number blocks will help encourage letter and numeral recognition in the future. Count the number blocks in Indigenous language with the children. 

Dramatic Play Area:

Create a cozy log cabin environment to encourage relaxation and cooperative play. Wrap different size boxes in butcher wrap. Post photos of different types of log cabins, add items you would find in a log cabin to the dramatic play area ie… wooden rocking chair, old fashion cradle, hang a traditional swing, large soup pot, wooden spoon, warm traditional clothing, woven rugs. Post photos of log cabins children can be encouraged to build a log wall around their dramatic play area to build their own log home. 

Other Ideas for encouraging creative play this month: 

Present wrapping centre. Children can have fun role-playing what they see in their homes and community using donated gift wrap ends and odd pieces of wrap paper and tissue paper, recycled newspapers, donated rolls of half-used tape etc. recycled boxes, bows and cards.  Have discussions on what items were historically gifted: moccasins, food items, snowshoes.

Reading Area:   

Have a flannel board available for children in your reading area, this allows children to create their own stories.

Winter themed story suggestions from the AHSABC team, perfect to make a flannel story! 

Outdoor ideas:

Take children with Elders out to harvest cedar, fir, and spruce. Follow the local nations practices for harvesting these items. These can be used for many purposes: traditional decoration such as spruce bough decoration, balms and medicines. 

Innovative Ideas: Prince Rupert AHS did team building while harvesting cedar

  • For those without snow ask Elders, Knowledge Keepers, parents and community members for feedback on cultural activities that took part outside in the winter.
  •  Invite those with knowledge to lead these activities with children and staff in the outdoors. 
  • Look into events being offered in your community depending on locations – this could be seasonal outdoor fairs, sleigh rides, going to tour a tree farm or outdoor barn with animals. 
  • https://www.himama.com/blog/winter-outdoor-activities-for-preschoolers
  • First Nation Winter 
  • Indigenous Activities You Should Try This Winter – Muskrat Magazine
  • Take the children out for walks to local seniors housing or Elder gathering places. The children can sing songs, bring cards they have made, participate in a craft with Elders etc. 
  • For those with snow in the outdoor play area – have the children involved in learning how to make an igloo or traditional snow shelter.  Check to see if you have a knowledge Keeper, volunteer, Elder, or host agency staff member who is familiar with this skill. If not, there are several books and internet directions by community Knowledge Keepers on how to do this process.  

Circle Time Area: 

Read the book “A Winters Gift,” then go around the circle asking each child what gift winter has brought. Each child’s idea can go on a snowflake or gift shape with their picture on it. This can be displayed in the classroom to create child-led conversations and recall activitiy. 

Have a traditional style mitten and animal figures and act out the story The Mitten.

Have a sleigh bell hanging from a ribbon for each child. Sing winter songs in traditional language and have the children shake their bells: Egg Carton Jingle Bells, Jingle Bell Sticks, Jingle Bell Streamers and The Nutcracker.

Innovative Ideas:

Talking Little Feet AHS, Grand Forks BC


This is a cultural seasonal activity from infant/toddler room. We started by sharing the book Métis Christmas Mittens with the children, looking at the pictures of the mittens and talking about them.  Educators brought in mittens and sewed left-over material that looked like beading to represent the Métis mittens, for the children to put on.  They felt that this activity helped the children develop the process of grasping and using their pincers grasp to get the mittens on. It also helped the children to get comfortable with wearing mittens as the weather gets colder.

Elder Involvement:

Gather the Elders together with tea, healthy snacks and some Winter seasonal treats to make Winter solstice gifts for the children. You can also use time to plan a winter feast or main celebration activity for children and families.  

Instead of having Santa Claus let’s put our heroes that show up every day for the children be central to your winter celebrations. Have them help plan a feast with Indigenous foods, games, gift exchange, songs, teachings. Give each Elder/Knowledge keeper, and community leader who participates have a role at your seasonal event. 

Parent Involvement Ideas:

  • Send home a special invitation to each family to share a special winter recipe, song, activity, craft. Host a crafting class for families to make gifts.
  • Have the PAC lead seasonal fundraising and then pick out what they would like to fund to go for, ex. traditional foods or items for each family, home, or child.
  • If the program needs seasonal items such as cedar, fir, put a call out to families to provide. You may be surprised as families who cannot help during work hours may be willing to collect these items during their off-time and contribute to your program in this way. Several programs throughout the province use this system and find it a successful way to have parent involvement and participation that suits busy work schedules.

Winter Solstice Festivity Ideas:

Following your Host Agency protocols have a Winter celebration feast, involving Elders, Parents, and Chef involved in the planning of this event.

Have traditional songs, activities, words from the Elders, craft projects and feast foods be the heart of the seasonal celebration. Children could perform a song in traditional language they have been practicing.

Songs do not need to be hard it could even be having the children sing their prayer song before the feast begins. Other ideas: community celebration songs: twinkle twinkle in traditional language, 5 little snowflakes/polar bears

Innovative Ideas: 

  • The children at Aboriginal Mother Centre learned how to sing the winter song Jingle Bells in Cree and preferred it along with a welcoming song and a Christmas song to families at their yearly Christmas concert. Elder Dorothy has been joining the class for activities and teachings weekly and taught the children a welcoming song in Cree. A book of lyrics was made by the programming team and was gifted to families at the concert!

Outreach/Activity Kits:

  • Winter Break PJ kits: Use coupons, and extra fundraising dollars or encourage donations from local community members or businesses. Have a kit with a pair of PJs, a craft project, popcorn, hot chocolate or apple cider, a seasonal or cultural children’s book or family card or board game.
  • For seasonal book lists, check our website resource page!

Lofty Ideas: 

To further explore the topic of hibernation, turn your loft into a bear cave and fox’s den. Fabric can be draped, cardboard used, and any other mediums that will capture the child’s attention and inspire creative play! Have photos of a hibernating bear and the word in your nation’s language for bear and cave. Add tree branches, boughs to area!

Printable Cultural Calendar

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