December 1

Prompt: December 1

Hello, my darlings, I have missed you so!

And while I remember how you used to know

About holiday traditions around the whole planet,

I’d love to learn more about your unique plan, yet.

Yes, what are you planning for all through this month?

Will a tree come indoors, or will mummers turn up?

Share your traditions, and let’s learn some more

I’ve been gone a lot longer than I have cared for.

If you’re new here, and you’re just introducing your frog, you may want to use the Dec. 1 prompt from last year, instead.

Well welcome, hello, fancy meeting you here!

I’ve come to your home to spread holiday cheer.

Every day this month, I’ll share a surprise;

Some are gifts, some are games, some will help you be wise.

I can’t wait to get started, and I’ve brought your first gift,

It’s the world in your hands: hope it gives you a lift.

Download the prompts for December 1-4 here as a PDF or here as a Microsoft Word Document.

If your frog is new this year, you may want to look back over last year’s post and see if that prompt would work better. The activity is essentially the same, but the introduction is different.

The first prompt, nestled in a lit Christmas tree.

Materials

• A book about winter holidays around the world. We have Lights of Winter, by Heather Conrad and illustrated by deForest Walker, but any book about any winter holiday would work. This is a great list.

Activity

Today is a gateway to a cozy, warm, and loving holiday season. I’m excited to read about global holidays with my kiddos, but also to get them to share a bit about the holiday traditions that mean the most to them. What are they excited about? What do they remember from last year? What should I prioritize, for them, to make them feel joyful this season? This exercise is an invitation to dialog with your children about the things they love about the holidays with your family, and the things that you want to be sure to share with them.

Recommended Supply List

It’s hard to commit to something when you don’t know what you’ll need. This year, I’d like to make Festive Frog as accessible as possible, so I’ve tried to keep the necessary supplies to a minimum. Everything necessary is listed below.

Essentials

• Cardstock, cards, or paper for printing or writing the daily prompts

• A printer & ink, or pens/pencils, or other writing implements

• Internet access

• Library access

Craft Supplies You Likely Already Have

• Paint brushes

• Smooth, plain river rocks

• Acrylic paint & sealant

• Paint and paper of your choice

• Construction paper in assorted colors

• Scissors

• Card-making materials of your choice. Construction paper and crayons are fine, but you can get as fancy as you and your kiddos like.

• Calendars/magazines to cut up for collaging

• Glue

Donations

• There are three chances for donations this month. The amount you donate, or if you donate at all, is up to you.

  • Donate to a food bank, like Food for Lane County, on 12/05. Food or monetary donations are appreciated

  • Donate to a medically focused nonprofit, like Providence Children’s Health Foundation, on 12/15

  • Donate to an environmental nonprofit, like Columbia Riverkeeper on 12/17

Food

• On 12/4 we’ll make or buy a holiday treat (of your choice) to share with a friend or neighbor

• On 12/5 we’ll donate to a food bank

• On 12/24 we’ll create a plate of treats for someone. In my house this is Santa, but it can be a parent, a sibling, or a friend.

Transportation

• A few times this month we’ll get outside for adventure. You get to choose your destination, though the frog will make broad suggestions. The first of these, on 12/11, is to any “nature” spot. The next weekend, the frog suggests a winter river walk.

Books

• Almost every Thursday, the frog will prompt you to read and act out, or discuss, a story with your kiddos. This can be any story they choose, but it can be fun to have it be relevant to your family’s holiday traditions or to some of the issues the frog is addressing. We’ll recommend titles as we go, but these are nothing more than general suggestions. Any book is a good book!

The Festive Frog Returns!

It’s that time of the year: the Festive Frog has starting croaking slowly to life. Is it a little last minute this year? Absolutely. Will it still be fun and festive? Of course!

If you’re new this year, the Festive Frog is an empathy-building exercise for kids. Every day over the month of December I’ll post a note (from the frog) with an activity, gift suggestion, or exercise designed to foster kindness, generosity and empathy in your kids, but in a fun and joyful way. I’ll also post all the supplies you need, and give you a few days advance warning so you have time to have everything at the ready. The frog is not religious and is not linked to any specific holiday, but it is explicitly anti-racist and pro-environment. If you’d like to join in, pick out a frog and check here for regular updates.

My aim is to give you 31 fun, pre-planned, empathy-building ideas for children and a break from planning every single thing yourself.

Because the pandemic is ongoing, and each family’s comfort level and circumstances are different, I’ve designed this year’s frog to be essentially a choose-your-own-adventure. While there are a few opportunities for donations, or bringing treats to friends, there aren’t any suggestions to volunteer in person or gather with friends or family. If you and your family are doing these things, please feel encouraged to add them to the prompts. If you are still locked down, take heart; the frog won’t sabotage you or your safety plan.

Please feel free to download a PDF of the calendar so you know what’s coming, and stay tuned.

Happy holidays!

An image of the 2021 Festive Frog Calendar.

Complete Recommended Supply List

There is nothing that makes my life easier than having everything I need on hand. I am embarrassed to admit how many times I’ve forsaken some planned activity for my kids because I need, say hypothetically, glitter glue and craft sticks, and what am I, a craft store? Am I just supposed to have everything ever in my house? Who has the room?! But I digress. To help us all avoid weeping in the Michaels parking lot during a pandemic (or am I the only one?), I’m providing a very detailed list of everything I think we will need for this project.

You will already have many of these items, and most others are available at the grocery store. I have broken them out into sections to make it easier to think about your shopping. I’ve provided links for some products, many of which are to Amazon for your convenience. Of course, feel encouraged to look locally and from your preferred retailers.

FOOD

• Graham crackers

• Powdered sugar

• Meringue powder

• Hot chocolate

• Marshmallows (any size)

• Snacks that are free of palm oil. You can find a useful list here. We’ll likely do veggie straws, honey maid graham crackers, and fruit. Anything fresh will be palm oil free.

• Some shelf-stable foods like peanut butter, tuna, canned stews, or soups, OR money to donate to a local food bank, OR something to make and bring to a friend/neighbor/family member of your choosing.

• You might want some small, festive candy style treats for setting up your frog, but this is optional. I’ll be picking up some Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark Dove promises for compliment day!

CRAFT SUPPLIES

FROM THE GROCERY STORE

• Peanut butter, suet, lard, or vegetable shortening

• Vegetable oil

• Dish soap

• Blue food coloring (optional)

• Cotton balls and/or white pompoms

• On 12/11 the kids will make a gift. This can be whatever you want it to be. If you want to have them make salt dough ornaments, you’ll need flour, salt, and ribbon or twine. We’ll be making some lovely lotion bars, which require coconut oil, cocoa or shea butter, beeswax, and some sort of silicone mold (ice cube trays work fine, or something like this).

FROM ELSEWHERE

• Birdseed like this.

• Clay. We’ll be using something like this.

• Crayons in a variety of realistic skin tones. We have this set. You could probably find colors in your regular coloring supplies, but avoid traditional but reductive analogs (yellow, white, black, etc.).

TO FIND OR REPURPOSE

• Pine cones (for bird feeders)

• Magazines and catalogs for collaging

THINGS YOU PROBABLY HAVE ALREADY

• String or twine (8-10 inches)

• Glue

• Craft paper (white/construction)

• Crayons/markers/pens/watercolors—whatever you have and prefer—for creative expression

• Scissors

• A tray/bowl/tub that can get messy

• At least one age-appropriate book with protagonists who are not white, heteronormative, cisgender, able-bodied, etc. Race/sexuality/gender identity or expression/disability does not need to be the theme of the story. You likely already have some of these in your child’s home library so it need not be a new purchase, but I’ll also post lots of recommendations throughout the month.

• I’ll be making the daily prompts printable, so you might want to stock up on printer paper and ink. I’ll likely get some card stock to print on. If you don’t have a printer, don’t worry—I’ll keep the prompts short. You might want some fun pens/paper to write out the daily prompts if you won’t be using the tech!

GIFTS/EDUCATIONAL SUPPLIES

• Lights of Winter: Winter Celebrations Around the World, by Heather Conrad and DeForest Walker. Alternatively, you could just have a conversation with your kids about what winter celebrations look like for other families around the world.

• I’ll be purchasing this Toob of Penguins for a fun “clean your habitat” activity, but you might use any wintery washable figures you have on hand. They will get greasy.

• Respect the Earth conversation cards. I love Eeboo as a company, and both of my kids adore their card decks. These cards focus on individual responsibility rather than structural change, but they are still a great way to get kids excited about having environmental conversations. Mary DeMocker’s The Parents’ Guide to Climate Revolution would be a great alternative, but I’ll also post a couple of discussion suggestions in advance if you don’t want to buy either.

• Something to thank your postal worker or delivery people. This could be a card, a gift bag, a gift card, or even just a well-timed wave.

• A book your kids have outgrown to leave at a Little Free Library.

Festive Frog Calendar!

Are you ready to feel like everything is taken care of, and you can finally relax? I present to you the Festive Frog Calendar, 2020!

This image popped up on a search for “relaxed.” It’s a woman with long blonde hair sitting crosslegged and contemplating desert dunes. I guess it’s about as relaxed as it gets in 2020: isolated, under-resourced, and contemplating your own tenuous mortality.

Here, you’ll find an outline of all of the fun, festive activities coming up next month. I’ll be posting each day’s prompt in more detail as we get closer to December, but it’s always helpful to see an outline at a glance.

I’ve color-coded the month’s major holidays so you can see how these activities might fit into your life. While the activities are meant to build on each other, you should still feel encouraged to reschedule/skip/adapt things in whatever way works best for you and yours. This is meant to be fun and flexible.

You can download a printable version of the calendar here.

I’ll be posting a detailed suggested supply list soon, and until then, ar-ribbit-derci!

FAQ

Do you have questions about the frog? Don’t we all! Here are some answers to common questions.

If you’re just looking for a brief synopsis of the frog, check out the first post here!

Why did you develop the Festive Frog?

I want to do something extra special for my kids this holiday season because everything has been so hard and confusing this year. I was thinking about the Elf on the Shelf, but I just can’t get over the “someone is always watching you” panopticon element of it. Over the last few months (Years? Decades? Centuries?) I’ve also felt like American selfishness has been on full display, and it breaks my heart daily. I wanted to do something that would emphasize that this is a season for generosity, but also that generosity and empathy should be a routine part of our lives. I’ve decided that for the month of December the “Festive Frog” will be joining our house, popping up every morning in a new hiding place, with an empathy building gift, exercise, or activity for my children.

OK, maybe I’ll join in. What’s your plan? How much work will this be for me?

I’m planning to post all of my daily plans here. I’ll post them a few days in advance so you have time to plan things out and making any adaptations you want to. Each post will include:

a)     A fun rhyming prompt for the froggy to write out for the kids, introducing that day’s fun. I will also make these printable.

b)    A supply list, but my goal is to keep supplies extremely minimal.

c)     Links to supplementary resources and activities, if applicable.

d)    A rationale, explaining the scaffolding and research that led to this prompt or activity. I’ll explain what theoretical foundation undergirds each exercise, and why experts think this might help foster empathy in children.

I’ll also post a full suggested supply list with links in the coming days. I’ll probably wind up making the frog his own Instagram, too, so I can share his antics. Should we do a hashtag? #FestiveFrog2020!

Why a frog?

Honestly, I found a frog that I fell in love with. I needed a figure that was cute and poseable and vaguely cozy. But I also think the frog is nice because I wanted this project to be detached from Christmas and open to anyone, of any religion or without any religion. This frog’s only religion is long rambles by the river, bespoke clothing, kindness, and a comforting mug of herbal tea around 4 p.m. You are welcome to choose any figure you want for this, but I am planning to use the word “frog” in some of the rhyming prompts.

What’s the timeline?

The whole month of December. I want this to be disentangled from any one specific holiday, so ending it on Christmas doesn’t make much sense. I also think it leads into the new year nicely, and I’ll have my kids plan some goals for the year based on the things they are most invested in from this project.

Will the frog be political?

Yes, but in a way that shouldn’t be political. The frog is explicitly antiracist and pro-environment, and some of the activities over the course of the month will be about those things. The frog is confident that it can introduce these concepts in a way that is appropriate and encouraging for children of all ages. The frog firmly believes that climate justice is social justice, and social justice is racial justice, and that we need to radically re-envision a more egalitarian society if we want life to improve for all living things. Also, the frog is antifa. He’s not scary, he just hates fascism, because it is antithetical to the spirit of giving.

Just who do you think you are?

My undergraduate degree is in education, and I’ve used that degree in a wide variety of ways. I taught literature and writing in high schools and middle schools for several years before returning to school to earn my Master’s Degree in English. During that time I worked as an event host at a large independent book store, organizing educational events with authors including Mo Willems and Jon Scieszka, and I also taught creative writing in a federal prison to help inmates share their stories. I earned my PhD in English with a focus on decolonization, world literatures, and environmental rhetoric. I’ve been teaching at the University of Oregon since 2012, and while I teach a wide variety of classes, they are all filtered through the lens of social and environmental justice.

Are you hoping to profit from this?

No, I’m not. I want to do something very festive for my kids this year, and I love the exuberance of the Elf on the Shelf, but I just can’t get past the thought that I want my kids to be kind, empathetic humans not because someone is watching them, but because that is simply who they see themselves to be. I’m doing all this preparation anyway, and I’m sharing it because I think the world needs more empathetic people and parents need as much help as we can get these days. I love well-designed and complete curricula and activities, and I just thought some of you might, too. I also worry that my kids will get to school and find out that other families do the elf and feel left out, and I would love it if a fleet of families did the Festive Frog instead!

What ages will this be appropriate for?

My kids are 4 and 2, so it will be aimed at preschoolers. That said, it is my intention to make these exercises easily adaptable, so don’t be discouraged if your kids are older.

Thanks for reading. And, please, if you feel like it, join us! I’d love the company.

What is the Festive Frog?

The Festive Frog is an empathy-building exercise for kids. Every day over the month of December I’ll post a rhyming note (from the frog) with an activity, gift suggestion, or exercise designed to foster generosity and empathy in your kids, but in a fun and joyful way. I’ll also post all the supplies you need, and give you a few days advance warning so you have time to have everything at the ready. The frog is not religious and is not linked to any specific holiday, but it is explicitly anti-racist and pro-environment. If you’d like to join in, pick out a frog and check here for regular updates.

My aim is to give you 31 fun, pre-planned, empathy-building ideas for children and a break from planning every single thing yourself.

An image of a leggy plush frog in a neutral green wearing a vest and scarf. This frog is from Jellycat, and is the frog I’ll be using for this month. He loves riverside rambles, cups of herbal tea at about 4 p.m., and of course empathy.

If you are looking for some possible frogs, I love this Jellycat option and this dapper gent. Of course, please shop local if you’re able to, and choose the frog that appeals to you the most!