Christmas with kids can get busy fast. Between decorating, baking, wrapping presents, and everything else that somehow lands on the December calendar, I’ve found that the activities we remember most are usually the simple ones.
You really don’t need an expensive outing or a perfectly planned afternoon to make Christmas feel special. A bowl of cookie dough, paper and crayons, Christmas music playing in the background, or a walk around the neighborhood can be enough.
These Christmas activities are easy to fit into real family life, and most use things you probably already have at home. Pick a couple that sound fun rather than feeling like you need to do all ten.
I usually like having a few ideas saved for those December afternoons when the kids suddenly announce that there is absolutely nothing to do.
10 Easy Christmas Activities for Kids
1. Bake and Decorate Christmas Cookies
This is always a good place to start because you get an activity and dessert at the same time.
Make your favorite sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies and let the kids handle the decorating. Put out frosting, sprinkles, and a few candies, then try not to worry about how much ends up on the table instead of the cookies.
The mess is part of this one.
2. Make Homemade Christmas Ornaments
Pull out construction paper, ribbon, crayons, glue, and whatever craft supplies you already have.
Kids can make paper stars, Christmas trees, handprint ornaments, or little drawings to hang on the tree. Write their name and the year on the back before you put them away.
I especially love doing that last little step because handmade ornaments become much sweeter when you find them again several Christmases later.
3. Have a Christmas Coloring Afternoon
Some days you need a Christmas activity that requires almost no preparation.
Set out Christmas coloring pages, crayons, colored pencils, and markers and let everyone settle in. Put on Christmas music and add mugs of hot chocolate if you want to make an ordinary coloring session feel a little more festive.
Younger children can color simple trees, stars, ornaments, and snowmen while older kids work on more detailed pictures.
4. Make Your Own Christmas Cards
Instead of buying every Christmas card, let the kids make a few.
Fold cardstock or construction paper in half and decorate the front with drawings, fingerprints, stickers, paper shapes, or crayons. Inside, children can write a message or dictate one for an adult to write.
Send them to grandparents, neighbors, teachers, or someone who might appreciate a little handmade Christmas cheer.
5. Go on a Christmas Lights Walk
Once it gets dark, bundle everyone up and walk around the neighborhood looking for Christmas lights.
Turn it into a simple scavenger hunt by looking for things like a snowman, Santa, a star, candy canes, reindeer, or a house covered in colorful lights.
If walking isn’t practical, pile into the car and do the same thing from somewhere warm.
6. Make Paper Snowflakes
Paper snowflakes are one of those Christmas crafts I forget about until we make them again and the kids want to cover every window in the house.
Fold white paper and carefully cut small shapes along the edges. Open it up to reveal the design.
No two need to match. In fact, seeing what appears when the paper unfolds is half the fun.
Tape the finished snowflakes to windows or string several together for an easy homemade Christmas decoration.
7. Have a Christmas Movie Night
Choose one family Christmas movie and make an evening out of it.
Bring blankets and pillows into the living room, make popcorn, and turn down the lights. Hot chocolate makes a nice addition if everyone hasn’t already had enough sugar for the day.
The movie itself matters less than everyone actually sitting down together for a while.
8. Make Homemade Christmas Wrapping Paper
Give the kids a roll or a few sheets of plain paper and let them turn it into wrapping paper.
They can draw Christmas trees, stars, candy canes, ornaments, or little messages all over it. Fingerprints can become strings of Christmas lights, and simple potato or sponge stamps work well for younger children.
Once it dries, use the paper to wrap a present for someone special.
Grandparents tend to appreciate the wrapping almost as much as whatever is inside.
9. Set Up a Family Nativity Scene
Setting up a nativity scene together can be a quiet way to talk about the Christmas story with children.
Let kids help arrange Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the shepherds, angels, and animals. As you place the pieces, talk through the story in a way that makes sense for their age.
If you don’t have a nativity set, children can draw the characters on paper and create their own scene instead.
Christmas Nativity Activities for Kids
You can turn the nativity story into an entire afternoon of simple activities without needing much more than paper, pencils, and crayons.
Children can make their own little Christmas activity collection with:
- Nativity coloring: Draw or color Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, angels, shepherds, animals, and the star.
- Christmas word search: Hide familiar nativity words in a homemade letter grid and let older children find them.
- Nativity matching game: Draw matching pairs of stars, angels, sheep, gifts, and other simple pictures on small pieces of cardstock.
- Christmas story drawing: Ask kids to choose one part of the nativity story and illustrate what they imagine it looked like.
- Nativity word scramble: Mix up simple Christmas words and see who can solve them.
- Christmas bingo: Make homemade bingo cards using pictures or words connected to the nativity story.
You can choose just one activity for younger children or put several together for a longer Christmas afternoon.
10. Have a Christmas Music and Dance Party
This one requires almost no preparation, which is exactly why I like it.
Put on your favorite Christmas songs and let everyone dance around the living room. Kids can use wooden spoons as microphones, make up their own dance moves, or take turns choosing the next song.
It might get loud. That’s probably a good sign.
Keep Christmas Activities Simple
There can be a lot of pressure to make December magical for kids, but children don’t need every day filled with elaborate activities.
Choose the things that genuinely sound enjoyable for your family. Bake cookies one afternoon, look at Christmas lights another evening, and leave plenty of ordinary days in between.
Some traditions will be a hit and others won’t make it to next Christmas. That’s okay.
The activities everyone keeps asking to do again are the ones worth turning into family traditions.