The Return of The Elf On The Shelf

It’s that time of year again… Bean is anxiously awaiting the arrival of ‘Pom Pom’… his Elf on the Shelf.

The Elf on the Shelf is a fun way for kids to imagine how Santa knows who to put on the Nice or the Naughty list.  The tradition goes like this:

Santa sends out his scout elves to Elf Adoption Centers and there they wait for families to bring them home.  Once they get to their new home, they observe all that goes on around the house… with no good deed being unnoticed!  Each night they use their magical powers to fly back to the North Pole to report to Santa.  Before the family wakes in the morning, the Elf has returned to their family’s home.  Now they like to play games, so don’t expect the Elf to be in the same spot each day!   The only real rule is that the Elf can not be touched… if they are, they risk losing their magical powers!

We decided to try this last year as Bean was having a lot of behavioural issues related to his autism.  As a believer, we thought this may be a great visual for him… seeing that the Elf was watching and reporting back to Santa.  We had so much fun with this last year and yes, it did help with some of the more simple behaviours!  Every morning, Bean would get up and run downstairs to see where Pom Pom was and what he was doing.  His favourite memory from last year was the morning that he found Pom Pom perched on the side of the fish tank with a homemade fishing rod.  Not sure the fish enjoyed that one, but Bean sure did!

There are so many things that you can set up your child’s Elf to do… here are a few funny examples.

• make a fort out of cans in pantry
• snowball marshmallow fight
• make snow angels on the kitchen counter with flour/salt/sugar
• snowball fight with other stuffed animals (cotton balls)
• toilet paper the Christmas tree
• put underwear and socks on tree
• write his name in toothpaste on the bathroom mirror
• unroll toilet paper in the house
• take the camera and took lots of pictures of himself
• make a Lego house
• hide in the Christmas tree
• make a zip line from upstairs to the downstairs
• cover up the names on the stockings with a piece of tape with his name on it.
• make a scavenger hunt by taking yarn and threading it through the house to find the present at the end.

On a side note, Elf on the Shelf, along with Save the Children, have teamed up to help those that are affected by Hurricane Sandy.  You can help by simply clicking ‘LIKE’ on their Facebook post about Save the Children.  For each LIKE, the Elf on the Shelf will donate $1 to Save the Children’s Hurricane Relief fund, up to $40,000.00.  There is NO EASIER way for you to make a difference!!!  Please share with your friends!

Apparently this year, Pom Pom arrives the night of November 20th in our house…. so the countdown is on!

Do you have an Elf on the Shelf that visits your house or classroom?   Care to share any of their antics?

Now to plan the activities for the next month!

Jen

Jen started blogging in 2011 and is the mom of a child on the autism spectrum. One of her passions is raising autism awareness and is an active advocate in the community for both autism and service dogs. Assisting the I CARE Foundation in raising awareness of International Parental Child Abduction is another area of interest. She is a proud Canadian blogger, a homeschooler and also the co-founder of Spectrum Martial Arts, a karate program for children on the autism spectrum that she runs with her husband. Her blog, Mom-ology, is PR friendly and you can contact her at info@mom-ology.ca for more information or to request a media kit.

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