Fun Christmas Activities for Your Kids
Christmas time is coming up fast, and keeping the kids busy can be exhausting for many parents. This time of year can be a whirlwind with all the activities both kids and parents are doing. There are holiday parties in school and with family, spirit week at school where we parents have to find/make Christmas-themed outfits for each day leading up to break (no, just me?), baking cookies, and last-minute shopping. Kids are counting down the days until Santa comes and there is non-stop talking about what they want to get for Christmas.
The ideas listed below are very easy things to do to keep your kids busy and occupied while having fun; all the while, we parents can get what needs to be done, done. Of course, feel free to join your child in these activities. They will love it, or set them up and let them go!
Christmas Activities
1) Cookie cutters
Do not underestimate what the cookie cutter can do. You can use play-doh or any other material of the sort with this activity. I like just to let my kids run wild with it. I bring out the Christmas cookie cutters, set them up at the table, and let their imagination go. I supervise them to ensure they're not making a huge mess.
2) Wrapping paper
Have your child pick up a toy or a few toys (that they already have) and let them wrap it up. You can precut the paper if they're too young to use scissors. Kids love to wrap things up and then open them up again!
3) Packing airbags
If you are anything like me and shop from amazon all the time, you know what I am talking about. How many of those airbags they use to pack things in the boxes, so your items don't break, have you thrown away? For this activity, don't throw them away; collect a whole bunch for a while. Give your kids these to pop. Now, this activity won't last long, but they will love popping them. However, if you want more time to do something, have your child color on them with easy clean markers and then pop them. I usually have them color on them on my tile floor, where I can easily wipe up any marker mess that may happen on the floor.
4) Snowball straw obstacle and races
This one can be either low-prep or no-prep, depending on how you want to do it. For the no-prep option, grab cotton balls and straws and have your children race each other by blowing the cotton ball through the straw. They cannot touch the cotton ball with their hands, and the first one to get to the ending point you choose wins. For the low-prep option, first make 1, 2, or 3 obstacle courses on the table or floor (painter's tape works great) and have your children try to get their cotton balls to the end of the obstacle course.
5) Santa hat knockdown
My kids love anything to do with destruction and knocking things down. Get your hands on some paper that you ball up and some red solo cups; we all have them lying around in the cupboard. They don't even have to be red! Have your child stack them up however they want, and then using the paper ball, knock them down. See how many they knock down. Can they knock down more next time? Can they build a different pattern?
About the Author
This post was written by Jeannine A, SLP.
Jeannine has over 6 years of experience. She specializes in articulation, language, early intervention, and feeding therapy.
