Holiday activities were back in 2021 as part of The Arc of Essex County’s Children’s Saturday Respite activities in December. The children created beautiful holiday ornaments together at the Opportunity Zone in Maplewood, filling and decorating clear globe ornaments to personalize each decoration. A group also took a trip to Walmart to do some holiday shopping, with each participant selecting items of their choice to give to loved ones. The Arc is looking forward to hosting more children’s recreation and respite activities in 2022. The program hosts children ages 5 to 21 years old, who meet on Saturdays for approximately 6 [...]

The students at Stepping Stones School enjoyed a variety of holiday activities throughout December, from dreidel games to opening gifts from Santa. The children started the month with Hanukkah activities. Each day they would count the lights on the menorah, and they enjoyed eating potato latkes and spinning the dreidel. They even practiced Hanukkah yoga poses! The fun continued through the month, as each classroom decorated their door with beautiful holiday themes and the children enjoyed holiday movies, songs, and books, and made and sent wish lists. On December 16, the students received a visit from Santa, who delivered special gifts to [...]