How to Work on Attention Skills During the Holidays

The holiday season is filled with excitement, sensory overload, and changes in routine — all of which can make it challenging for individuals with attention difficulties to stay focused. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or clinician working with someone with attention challenges, there are some simple, effective ways to support attention skills during this busy time. Here are some strategies to maintain focus, reduce distractions, and work on cognitive skills through the holiday season.

Establish a Predictable Routine

The holiday may provide a break from normal schedules, but a lack of structure can make it harder for individuals with attention challenges to regulate themselves. For an increased sense of predictability, consider creating a simple daily schedule.

How to do it:

• Use a dry-erase board, sticky notes, or printable daily planners to outline daily activities.
• Write in the planned events, along with any goals for the day such as getting exercise. Include clear start and end times for each.
• If plans change, know that it’s okay! Not everything has to go perfectly according to plan, but it can be helpful to have an outline.

Pro tip: If you’re a clinician or therapist, you can help to support scheduling. Encouraging the use of apps with timers, reminders, and visual schedules can support clients who need extra guidance.

Prioritize Mindfulness and Calming Activities

The hustle and bustle of holiday gatherings can overwhelm attention systems. Mindfulness activities promote calm, increase body awareness, and improve the ability to stay present and attentive.

How to do it:

• Try starting each day with a 5-minute breathing or body scan activity. Box breathing is one option, where you breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, and hold for 4 – then repeat. Or, you can find guided meditations and body scans on YouTube!
• Try mindful listening. If you’re having trouble focusing with multiple stimuli around you, try honing in on just one sound. For example, you could just focus on the music that’s playing for a few moments to re-center your attention. If possible, you could take a break from a gathering to listen to a guided meditation or some calming music by yourself.

Pro tip: Incorporate these activities as “brain breaks” between more stimulating holiday events. For clinicians, this can be part of a structured home program for clients.

Break Tasks into Smaller Chunks

Holiday to-do lists can feel overwhelming. For individuals with attention difficulties, multi-step tasks (like decorating, packing, or preparing for a family event) may feel tough to approach. Breaking these into smaller, manageable steps can increase task initiation and completion.

How to do it:

• Break tasks into mini-steps (e.g., “First, put the tree stand up. Next, bring in the tree. Then, unpack ornaments”).
• Use checklists for multi-step activities, and check off each completed step.
• Encourage breaks after every 2-3 steps to avoid fatigue.

Pro tip: Clinicians can create step-by-step task breakdowns for home programs. Including times to complete each task, with break times scheduled in as well, may help to keep the individual on track.

Encourage Attention-Building Games and Activities

Holiday downtime is a great opportunity to build attention skills with fun activities and games. Many classic holiday activities are naturally attention-boosting.

How to do it:

• Memory and search activities: Try printable holiday-themed activities that require sustained attention.
• Board games and puzzles: Games like “Pictionary” and “Taboo” target attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.

Pro tip: Therapists can incorporate attention-building digital exercises into telehealth sessions. Online brain games mimic daily activities that require cognitive skills like attention.

Manage Sensory Overload (Lights, Sounds, Smells!)

For individuals with sensory sensitivities, the holidays can be overwhelming. Sensory overload can lead to shutting down or feeling overwhelmed, which disrupts attention and self-regulation.

How to do it:

• Create “quiet zones” at home or at family gatherings where individuals can retreat to recharge.
• Reduce unnecessary sensory input by dimming lights, lowering background music, and encouraging conversation at an appropriate volume.
• Offer sensory tools (fidgets, noise-canceling headphones, chewables) that promote self-regulation.

Pro tip: If you’re working with clients as an OT, SLP, or mental health professional, you can collaborate with families to identify sensory needs and build a “holiday sensory kit” for home use. This could include noise-cancelling headphones, a weighted blanket, or other tools that you know the individual responds well to.

Make Time for Physical Movement

Movement can promote attention skills and reduce feelings of anxiety or overwhelm. Incorporating physical activity before or during holiday events can increase sustained attention.

How to do it:

• Encourage active play before screen time or sedentary activities. Jumping jacks, obstacle courses, or a quick dance party can boost attention and alertness.
• Build movement breaks into holiday gatherings. If children are feeling antsy during dinner, suggest a quick “freeze dance” game or a walk outside.
• Incorporate movement-based games like charades or holiday-themed “Simon Says.”

Pro tip: Clinicians can create holiday-themed movement activities for clients to complete at home, such as a holiday-themed obstacle course or a mindful “I Spy” walk with a list of things to look for.

Use Positive Reinforcement to Support Attention Goals

The holidays are a great opportunity to practice positive reinforcement techniques. This approach encourages sustained attention and task completion in a fun, motivating way.

How to do it:

• With children, you can create a “Holiday Bingo” system where they earn checkmarks for completing attention-based tasks (like “focus on a game for 10 minutes” or “help clear the table after dinner”).
• Offer small incentives like stickers, extra playtime, or getting to pick a holiday movie.
• Use positive, specific feedback like, “I noticed how well you stayed focused while decorating the tree — great job sticking with it!”

Pro tip: For clinicians, you can help families create reward systems to support attention-building activities at home.

Conclusion

Attention skills are foundational for learning, self-regulation, and participation in daily routines. During the holidays, maintaining these skills can reduce stress for families and ensure individuals feel successful and engaged. Clinicians, parents, and educators all play a role in supporting attention through structure, sensory accommodations, and playful learning.

By integrating these strategies into holiday routines, you can make the season more joyful and less overwhelming for individuals with attention challenges. Plus, many of these activities double as great bonding moments with loved ones.

If you’re a clinician looking for more ways to build attention skills using digital cognitive tools, check out HappyNeuron Pro for attention-based exercises and more! These tools make it easier to create personalized, engaging activities for your clients, to help them work on their cognitive skills all year long.