30+ FUN CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES TO ENTERTAIN THE KIDS

Even though the Christmas decorations are up and we've been playing Christmas music on repeat, I still can't quite get my head around the fact that the first week of December is almost over! It could be due to the fact we have contracted enough viruses this autumn/winter to write a short novel about it, and therefore I feel completely on the back foot! One year I will feel as though it hasn't just been sprung upon me, and I'll be prepared. Possibly when we have developed immune systems on par with ostriches (who have the best)..interesting fact for you there. Following on from my last post, I wanted to share some of the Christmas activities we enjoy doing as a family, or ones that are on our list to try out. I hope that you find some things that you will enjoy doing with your children this time of year.

• Make a bird feeder - Food is harder for birds to come by on winter, and with needing to maintain their fat reserves to survive the cold nights they will definitely appreciate some food. So why not make a DIY bird feeder out of a orange peel, apple, pine cones, plastic bottle for example. It’s a great way for your child to take an interest in caring for nature. You’ll also be able to monitor you feeder together to see what birds you’re attracting - noticing their coloured features, and any noises they make. You can take photos of the birds and then create another activity whereby you try to identify them from a book one on a website.

• Christmas light painting - Lay out some craft paper and draw a string of Christmas lights with sockets along it using a black Sharpie or black paint stick. Then let your children add the different coloured lights either using their finger or potato stamps where the sockets are.

• Pom Pom straw blowing game - You'll need some cardboard, a Sharpie, coloured pom poms, a straw, and some coloured felt tips/wax crayons. Draw the outline of a Christmas scene on the cardboard using the Sharpie, for example:

- A tree: Add some holes for where the lights will go and the draw a colour around the hole. Then find matching pom poms to these colours and your child then has to blow (using a straw) the right coloured pom pom into the matching hole. This is great for reinforcing colour recognition. Or, just use a yellow pom pom to act as a star, and make a hole at the top of the tree.

- Santa: Make a hole where his mouth is and then you have to blow the brown pom pom (mince pie) into his mouth. You could time 1 minute and see how many pom poms your child could blow in his mouth in that time.

- Rudolph: Blow a red pom pom into the hole where the reindeer's nose is.

• Photoshoot - If you’re as obsessed as I am with documenting precious moments with your little ones, then this is for you! You can’t beat a little festive photoshoot in front of the tree. If they are open to dressing up or wearing Christmas hats/hair bands then that adds to the festivities.

• Christmas cards - Make some Christmas cards for close family and friends. You could use some paint, stickers or sparkles, or make it more personalised with some footprints/ handprints that have been changed into Santa, snowmen, angel, or reindeer for example. Below is a photo of some of the Christmas cards I’ve made with the Bees for inspiration.

The Bee's cards over the years

• Bake Christmas cookies - Sure to be a fun, messy and delicious activity. Make sure you have a selection of Christmas cookie cutters and find a recipe that tickles your fancy. We love this simple vegan recipe that was recommended by a friend, and then we add some little chocolate drops. Well, the chocolate drops that make it past the creation phase!
  

• Watch a Christmas movie - Pick an age appropriate movie for your little ones and then pop on some Christmas PJs whilst enjoying some babycinnos/hot chocolates (and maybe some of those Christmas cookies) together. Snuggling under a toastie blanket tops it off nicely.

• Acts of kindness - A perfect way to role model giving back to others. Examples could be writing a thank you card for the postman or bin men, write a kindness stone and leave it in the park for someone to find, collect litter locally, offer to run an errand for a neighbour or friend, or a charity donation (food bank, toys to a hospital or charity shop, pet shelter).

• Buy a yearly decoration - This is something that we have started this year in our household. I took both Bees shopping to Home Sense to purchase a tree decoration each. They could pick whatever decoration they wanted (because they were all reasonable priced!). They absolutely loved this little outing (much more than I expected them to) and they were so excited to add it to the tree this weekend just gone. Big Bee picked a colourful bird and Little Bee and Koala wearing a Santa's hat. I'm going to label them with their name and year and then when they are older they will be able to see what their tastes were like/what they were into at that age. They will also have some decorations to start off their first tree as adults or potentially pass down to their own children.

Decorations galore!

• Christmas gratitudes - As a family discuss and write down what you are each grateful for/what makes you happy. You could store them away for next year and enjoy reading them in December 2023. I'm sure when your children are older they will enjoy hearing what they came up with, especially in their earlier years.

• Exercise plan for Father Christmas - Big Bee is currently really into creating little exercises for us to do using our mats and her carnival kit (mentioned here in THE 3RD BIRTHDAY GIFT GUIDE THAT YOU NEED TO READ). You could come up with a family Christmas special and recommend it’s sent to Santa before he starts squeezing down those chimneys.

• Play a game or do a puzzle - Get your favourite games (we are big fans of the Orchard ones) and puzzles out, and have an afternoon playing together under the Christmas tree.

• Christmas colouring - The Bees designed some Christmas colouring sheets that they wanted to colour in this year. I have uploaded the x5 different designs that we created on the resource library for others to download for FREE, print and enjoy too.

Head of the Hive Christmas colouring sheets - FREE to download!

• Salt dough decorations - Capture the size of you child’s hand, fingerprints, or their artistic abilities with some home made salt dough decorations. Add some festive ribbon and enjoy each year for years to come!
  

• Snowflake number recognition - Create some scenes on paper, card or cardboard that could incorporate some snowflake stickers (I purchased mine from The Range) e.g. a snowman, a pair of mittens, a dress, a Christmas tree, a gingerbread house. Then using some dice, roll them and add the number shown onto the scene in question. Sound out the number and extend the play/learning further and draw out the number to encourage number recognition.

• Make a Christingle - A way to do some crafting and incorporate the meaning behind the festive season. The Christingle represents God's light and love for everyone. You will need an orange, (birthday) candle, foil, ribbon to go around the middle of the orange, x4 cocktail sticks with the sharp bits cut off, dried fruits or jelly sweets.
  

• Magnetic tile tree puzzle - Magnetic tiles are all the rage in our household and the creations that Little Bee comes up with are rather impressive! If you have these at home too then you could create an outline of a Christmas tree, base and some presents using masking tape on the floor. Then ask the children if they can fill the shapes with the magnetic tiles. A great problem solving task!

O (magnetic) Christmas tree, O (magnetic) Christmas tree...

• Make a Father Christmas or snowman - Make Father Christmas' beard or a snowman’s body using either cotton wool or foam styrene that you get in packaging. You’ll need to draw the outline of each on some card, use PVA glue, and either crayons or paint to add extra detail.

• Christmas stories - Snuggle up under a blanket again next to the tree and read some Christmas stories, such as The Jolly Christmas Postman, The Snowman or a nativity story. I would love to hear what your favourite Christmas stories are to read together.

• Make a wreath - Create an arts and crafts family wreath with festive colours. You could do hand prints, finger painting or freestyle and add stickers.

• Bake a birthday cake for baby Jesus - This is something I plan to do with the children this year. We have family staying on the 24th, so it will be a perfect opportunity to tie in the meaning of the festivities and enjoying their creation with family.

• Paper plate bauble - This is a simple and fun craft. You’ll need a paper plate, some paint and decorative bits e.g. festive stickers, glitter tubes, sprinkles, card, wool and glue. Once the plates have been decorated then add a rectangle at the top with some string or wool as a loop and either add them to the tree or decorate the house with them.

Our paper plate baubles in all their glory!

• Nativity story stones - You could use some acrylic paints and paint the nativity scene on stones and then act it out with them, or using stones create the shape of Mary for example and tell the story.

• Pottery painting - Visit and support a local pottery café, and paint a festive themed object. Otherwise, places like Hobbycraft have a range of ceramic designs you could take home to paint.
  

• Make a key for Santa - If your house doesn't have a chimney then this would be a lovely activity to do together in preparation for Santa's visit. You could create it out of some cardboard and decorate it, write a message and then leave it outside the house on Christmas Eve.
  

• Christmas stamping - A really simple, but effective activity for little people. I picked up some Christmas stamps from The Works, but I've seen them in Hobbycraft and The Range too. You could make Christmas cards with them, or just create some artwork on paper to hang up and enjoy.

• Pom pom painting - Cut out some festive shapes such as snowmen, Father Christmas, holly etc. and loosely secure onto some paper. I've added the document that I created into the resource library for you to download for FREE. Then using a pom pom and a peg, paint around the outline and remove them at the end to reveal your Christmassy painting.

Festive Pom Pom painting in progress

• Shopping - Take your little one out shopping to pick up either a present for Mummy, Daddy, teacher, grandparent or sibling. Take it home to wrap together and enjoy watching them gift the present that they selected.
  

• Paper chain decorations - You could either use some festive paper (from Hobbycraft, The Works, The Range for example) or make some of your own with Christmas stamps, and then use it as an opportunity for little ones to practise their cutting skills and then glue together (recommend using glue dots) to make the chain. Alternatively, you could purchase the ones that are pre-cut and have adhesive already added.

• Make a snowflake - You could create a snowflake from some lolly sticks glued together and then decorate with paint, glitter and gems, or alternatively you could draw the outline of a snowflake and then use bits of blue and white card, tissue paper, glue, glitter etc. for them to apply onto the lines.

• Letter to Father Christmas - No list would be complete without this! We are yet to start writing letters to Santa, but there seem to be many templates online to print out or you could create your own. A friend has also recommended 'Polar Post'.

• Make an advent calendar - I appreciate the 1st December has past now, but you could play catch-up, or make something for next year and be VERY organised! Last year I made a tree template with numbers on and then Big Bee added a pom-pom each day to represent the baubles. You could make a Father Christmas template and add a ball of cotton wool for each day to build up his beard. This year I made a nativity calendar to teach the meaning of Christmas and reinforce number recognition/matching. The template for the nativity scene advent is in the Resource Library to download for subscribers to Head of the Hive. Or why not check out how I made it on Instagram.

Admiring their nativity advent calendar

I'll be back in the New Year for some more bi-weekly blogs - I have lots planned and I'm looking forward to sharing ideas and resources with you. Thank you to everyone who has supported Head of the Hive this year - particular shout out to my husband, baby Bees and sister. I've really appreciated those who have given me feedback, words of encouragement and sent over photos of HOTH activities that they have completed with their little ones. It means so much! I'll be posting a few bits on the Instagram page in the lead up to Christmas, so head on over there if you would like to see what we are getting up to. Wishing everyone a restful and healthy Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Over and out for 2021...