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December is my favorite month of the year! I love to see the festive atmosphere all around the city, the happy kids enjoying the Christmas magic, the little gifts and cards that everyone prepares for the loved ones.
But as parents, it’s so easy to get caught up in all the tasks we need to do during the holiday season and miss the opportunity to enjoy our kids more.
This is why the most important goal I have this holiday season is to remind myself every day to slow down, connect with my kids, and make them feel happy and loved.
And I know that the best way to make this happen is to be intentional about spending quality time with them. So I decided to create a special activity calendar with 24 easy and fun ideas to try every day until Christmas!
⭐ Short on time? Click here to download the activity calendar.
How to use the activity calendar with your kids
There are plenty of activity ideas online, but I wanted something different.
For me, complicated activities with a big list of supplies are not a good fit. Although I love discovering awesome activity ideas on Pinterest, I realize that I won’t be able to put them into practice every day.
I don’t want to waste time gathering a lot of materials or preparing activities. So I looked for simple activities that can help us connect and have fun together every day!
Also, this is not a calendar with activities for kids to do on their own. Every single activity is meant to include the parent as well.
Because every time you do one of these activities with your kids, and you draw, build, read, create something with them, you get the chance to get closer to them and build a strong, loving relationship. And this is what this activity calendar is all about! 💕
You won’t find here “fancy” activity ideas but you’ll certainly discover simple ways to bring more joy and connection to your holiday season! And I hope you and your kids will enjoy them!
How to get started:
1 – Download the list of activities (you can download it here) and display it in your home. This will help you be more intentional about putting all the ideas into practice with your kids.
2 – Every morning check the activity calendar with your kids and schedule when you’ll do the activity. All the activities are easy to set up and don’t require many supplies, so you can easily try them with your little ones.
3 – This list of activities will be updated as we put them into practice, so every day you can check this page and get all the details about that day’s activity.
Enjoy and have fun!
24 days of easy and fun Christmas activities to enjoy with your kids
This list will be updated throughout the month so you will find here all the details you need every day.
For now, you can find here the full list of activities and the instructions for days 1-6.
Day 1: Create a Christmas countdown paper chain.
Materials:
- colored paper
- scissors
- glue
- stapler / tape / glue (to connect the links).
Instructions:
You can create the paper chain just to count down the days until Christmas, but you can also make it more fun by adding one activity idea on each link so you have something fun to do together every day.
You can use the ideas in this activity calendar to fill in every link of your paper chain.
You can see how our paper chain looks like in the picture below.
We wrote an activity idea on each link and added round pieces of paper with numbers on each link. Then we used yarn to connect the four paper chains to the paper star.
You can also create a snowman paper chain using the instructions here: Paper Chain Snowman Christmas Countdown by From ABCs to ACTs.
Day 2: Make a holiday art project together.
We love to do art projects inspired by one of our favorite art blogs, Deep Space Sparkle. Here are some lovely holiday art projects to try:
All these projects have video tutorials or drawing guides, so you can easily put them into practice with your kids.
Day 3: Create a snowman craft.
Materials:
- colored paper
- cardboard or white paper
- glue
- painting or drawing supplies.
Instructions:
- Prepare 3 white circles of different sizes. I prepared them using cardboard and white paint, but you can also use white paper if you don’t have cardboard at hand.
- Prepare pieces of colored paper: black for the hat, orange for the nose and other colors for decorations.
- Invite your kids to glue the circles on a colored paper to create a snowman and use drawing supplies and pieces of colored paper to decorate it.
Day 4: Design Christmas cards for your loved ones.
There are many awesome ideas you can find on Pinterest to create Christmas cards with your kids, but we prefered to use a very simple approach instead of following a tutorial.
In my opinion,these simple cards are great for encouraging creativity and allowing kids to use their ideas when creating the cards.
Instructions:
- Cut different pieces of colored paper: triangles, stars, circles, hearts, rectangles, and place all of them in a tray.
- Fold a colored paper in half and invite the kids to use the shapes and some crayons to create Christmas cards.
Another way to create lovely cards is to use your children’s drawings or paintings to decorate the card.
My son chose an artwork he created a few days before, then we cut out parts of the drawings and added them on the card. It looked very cute!
Day 5: Create homemade ornaments.
You can prepare this activity in two different ways:
If you have clear plastic ornaments at hand, you can use them to invite kids to create ornaments to add to your Christmas tree.
Materials:
- clear plastic ornaments
- small items for kids to add inside the ornaments (pom poms, beads, small toys, pieces of colored paper, glitter, sequins, paint etc).
Invite all family members to create an ornament and have fun together!
If you don’t have clear ornaments, you can use cardboard to create an ornament decoration station and invite your kids to have fun designing them.
Day 6: Have a family story time.
Plan a special family time and read some Christmas stories together. (Here is a list of 10 wonderful Christmas books for kids.)
Use this opportunity to share your favorite Christmas memories with your kids and tell them how you celebrated Christmas as a child.
Then invite the kids to share their favorite Christmas memories or to tell you what they enjoy most during the holiday season.
Day 7: Create a snowman and a reindeer out of playdough.
This is an easy and fun activity that you can quickly prepare using playdough and a few craft supplies.
Materials:
- playdough (preferable white and brown)
- small items for kids to use when creating the snowman and reindeer (pom poms, pipe cleaners, beads, pieces of colored paper, sequins, etc).
Invite the kids to create a snowman and a reindeer using these materials. Get creative together and have fun!
Day 8: Make a Christmas tree craft.
You can find many Christmas tree craft ideas on Pinterest, but we opted for a very simple activity.
I cut triangle-shaped “trees” and invited my son to decorate them. He used washi tape for some of them and crayons for others.
After decorating the trees, we added star stickers on top and mini clothespins at the bottom. These simple Christmas trees look cute and can stand on their own, so we used them to decorate the mantle of the fireplace.
Day 9: Create a gingerbread man collage.
This was one of our favorite activities, because we created “gingerbread families” and had fun decorating them.
Materials:
- colored paper (brown paper for the gingerbread man and other colors for decorations)
- small items for decorating the gingerbread man (stickers, googly eyes, craft gems, buttons)
- glue
- crayons or markers.
Instructions:
- Draw a gingerbread man on a brown paper. (I drew 2 sizes to be able to create “gingerbread families”.)
- Stack a few sheets of brown paper underneath the one with the gingerbread man and cut them all at one time.
- Prepare the supplies the kids will use to decorate the gingerbread man.
- Invite the kids to create their gingerbread man collages.
Day 10: Prepare a tresure hunt with ornaments.
This is a fun activity that you can quickly prepare using Christmas ornaments.
Instructions:
- Select 10 small Christmas ornaments and choose a room where to organize the treasure hunt.
- Hide the ornaments in different places around the room.
- Invite the kids to find all the ornaments. To make the game more fun, set a timer and challenge the kids to finish the treasure hunt before the timer ends.
Bonus idea: To make it easier for the kids to know exactly what they are looking for, you can take a picture of all the ornaments before the scavenger hunt and print it. This way the kids will be able to check items off the list as they find them.
Day 11: Play a holiday bingo game.
This is an easy and fun holiday game the whole family will enjoy!
You can download the printable game here: Christmas bingo game for kids.
Day 12: Create keepsake gifts for loved ones.
You can find some easy and lovely ideas to try with your children here: 5 wonderful gifts kids can make.
Day 13: Play a holiday guessing game.
This is a very fun idea that works great for kids all ages.
You can prepare the activity either using a stocking or a small box and a covering (like a kitchen towel or a small blanket). We tried both ideas and enjoyed them a lot!
(always make sure that the items used during the game are safe)
- How to play using a stocking
Invite the whole family to take turns and hide a small object in the stocking.
Then the next players (starting with the player on the left of the person who hid the object) take turns putting their hand inside the stocking and trying to guess the object by touching it (without looking inside or taking it out).
The first person who guesses gets one point and becomes the next person to hide the next item.
- How to play using a box
The game rules are the same. The only difference is that instead of hiding the items in the stocking the players place them in the box and cover the box with the covering.
Then the players who try to guess the object place their hand under the covering and inside the box to try to guess the item.
Day 14: Do an act of kindness.
Invite the kids to do an act of kindness together. Here are some ideas:
- prepare a donation box with toys and clothes
- record holiday videos for the grandparents
- donate food to the food bank
- donate books to the library
- make a bird feeder
- bake cookies for friends.
Day 15: Create a Christmas tree out of playdough.
This is an easy activity you can quickly prepare using playdough and a few craft supplies.
Materials:
- playdough (preferable green)
- small items for kids to use when decorating the tree (pom poms, pipe cleaners, beads, pieces of colored paper, sequins, etc).
Invite the kids to create a tree and decorate it. Get creative together and have fun!
Day 16: Create a holiday-themed puzzle.
We enjoyed creating puzzles when my oldest son was a preschooler, and we had fun trying this activity again this holiday season!
Materials:
- craft sticks
- paint
- tape.
Instructions:
- Allign the craft sticks and use tape to hold them in place. (we used washi tape)
- Turn the craft sticks on the other side and start designing your puzzle.
- Use paint to create a (holiday-themed) design. Encourage the kids to cover the whole surface of the puzzle to make it easy to solve.
- After the paint dries, remove the tape on the pack, mix the craft sticks and trade puzzles.
- Take turns solving each other’s puzzle.
This is a great activity to try with older siblings. You can invite them to create simple puzzles and offer them as Christmas gifts to their younger siblings.
More Christmas activities from our activity calendar
The details for the below activities will be added here in the next days.
Check this page anytime you want to put the ideas in the activity calendar into practice.
Day 9: Create a gingerbread man collage.
Day 10: Prepare a tresure hunt with ornaments.
Day 11: Play a holiday bingo game.
Day 12: Create keepsake gifts for loved ones.
Day 13: Play a holiday guessing game.
Day 14: Do an act of kindness.
Day 15: Create a Christmas tree out of playdough.
Day 16: Create a holiday-themed puzzle.
Day 17: Invitation to play – Christmas cookies
Day 18: Have a holiday-themed movie night.
Day 19: Go on a Christmas scavenger hunt.
Day 20: Have a picnic (or a sleepover) next to the Christmas tree.
Day 21: Build a gingerbread house.
Day 22: Christmas-themed LEGO play
Day 23: Go on a holiday-themed family walk (or drive).
Day 24: Have a Christmas Eve family night.
⭐ Click here to download the printable activity calendar
I wish you a wonderful holiday season with many happy moments with your family!
