Christmas activities for the Family

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Christmas activities for the family

Christmas Activities for the Family

As an adult, when you think back to Christmas as a child, how many of you have Christmas memories revolving around traditions and time spent with family? When I polled a few of my friends, they all told me about family traditions such as singing to Celine Dion’s Christmas album while decorating, making Christmas cards on Christmas Eve for family, and baking cookies with their mom for Santa. In my opinion, these are the best parts of Christmas so why not spend this Christmas really soaking up extra family time and make some lasting memories?  

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Christmas themed activities for kids

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What Christmas activities should you do with your family?

Listen to Christmas music ALL day, of course!

Make homemade cards

  • We made homemade cards for our neighbors, friends, and for a nursing home.
  • The older your kids are, the more thought and detail can be put into the cards but for my 2 year-old daughter, this is how she decorated. I think it is sweet and it brought a smile to the recipient’s face.
Christmas themed activities, Christmas cards
picture of my daughter's Christmas cards

Here are options for how to make your cards and maybe even an ornament to put with it:

Make homemade hot cocoa

Make homemade Hot Cocoa and drink while doing all the Christmas activities

As an adult I can see that this recipe isn’t necessarily the healthiest drink for you, ha! However, it sure is delicious and it brings back a lot of fond memories of my grandparents. They used to make this for my sister and I and we would drink it while we put together puzzles. 

Ingredients:

Directions:

Put together Puzzles

Below are some recommendations:

Play Christmas BINGO

  • Here is a cute BINGO printable I made for up to 12 players. You can purchase this on Etsy.
  • Mark the spots with candy
  • Have fun door prizes ready for the winners!
Christmas Bingo

Read 25 Christmas themed books leading up to Christmas

  • Starting December 1st, have your child(ren) unwrap a Christmas themed book each night and read it together as a family. My sister and brother-in-law do this for my niece and reuse the books each year. They pack the books away with the other Christmas decorations so each year it is like my niece gets 24 new books. Scroll down to the “Ideas of what to Read” section for a list of recommended books for toddlers and elementary aged children.

Countdown to Christmas with this cute printable

  • Glue a cotton ball on Santa’s beard each day starting December 1st and count down to Christmas.
  • Click HERE for this PDF on Etsy
Christmas activities for the family, Santa's countdown

Make a homemade Christmas wreath

My 2 year-old daughter was really proud of herself because she loved using scissors for the first time. It made this OT mama super proud! Watch the video below to see how we made it.

Great for gift giving and fine motor!

  • Supplies needed: age appropriate scissors, 1-2 sheets of green and red construction paper, cereal box, 2 mixing bowls (different sizes), glue (stick or squeeze), ribbon, pen, jingle bells (optional)

Play I Spy

Click HERE for this printable

Make a felt Christmas Tree and talk about Christmas symbolism

Christmas activities for the family, make a felt Christmas tree
Christmas activities for the family, symbolism

Developmental Skills Targeted:

  • Cognitive Development: sustained attention, cognitive flexibility and control, working memory
  • Social and Emotional Development: pride in accomplishments and frustration and emotion regulation with some difficult tasks
  • Sensory Integration: tactile (lots of fine motor activities in this post that required both tactile and proprioceptive skills such as wadding construction paper and gluing cotton balls on Santa’s beard)
  • Motor planning and Coordination
  • Speech and Language Development: expressive and receptive language (My 2 year-old is working on following 3-4 step commands which requires her to listen more carefully.)
  • Fine motor skills: scissor skills (cutting- this was my daughter’s first time and it was a big hit), pencil skills (scribbling, coloring, drawing)
  • Vision: visual spatial relations (felt Christmas tree), visual closure (puzzles), visual figure ground (I Spy game)

Food suggestions

How to make Biscottis:

  • 10 cups flour
  • 10 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • 2 Tbl vanilla
  • 1 lb. butter
  • 2 1/2 cups sugar
  • 9 large eggs
    • 1. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and baking soda) in large bowl.
    • 2. Cream butter and sugar. 
    • 3. Add eggs to butter and sugar. 
    • 4. Add vanilla and beat well.
    • 5. Pour this mixture into a large bowl with dry ingredients. You will have to mix this by hand.
    • 6. Roll into a log or into small balls.
    • 7. Grease pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.
    • 8. Ice with thin white icing (mix 2 lbs. powdered sugar with 2 Tbl Crisco and 2 tsp. vanilla. Gradually add approximately 1 cup milk until frosting is then.)
    • Makes about 200 cookies.

Ideas of Christmas books to read:

Book recommendations for all ages in no particular order:

  1. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas on Sesame Street! by: Sesame Workshop
  2. Elmo’s Countdown to Christmas (Lift-the-Flap) by: Naomi Kleinberg
  3. The Berenstain Bears and the Joy of Giving by: Mike and Jan Berenstain
  4. The Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear by: Stan Berenstain
  5. The Magic of Friendship Snow by: Andi Cann
  6. Jingle Bells by: Iza Trapini
  7. The Little Llama Learns About Christmas by: Isla Wynter
  8. How The Grinch Stole Christmas! by: Dr. Seuss
  9. The Polar Express 30th anniversary edition by: Chris Van Allsburg
  10. The Berenstain Bears’ Merry Christmas by: Stan Berenstain
  11. I Love You More Than Christmas by: Ellie Hattie
  12. Little Red Sleigh by: Erin Guendelsberger
  13. Cami and Wyatt Share the Christmas Spirit: A Story about Spreading Joy and Kindness by: Stacy C. Bauer
  14. Corduroy’s Christmas by: Don Freeman and B.G. Hennessy
  15. The Night Before Christmas by: Clement Clarke Moore
  16. Snowmen at Christmas by: Caralyn Buehner
  17. The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever by: Steven Kroll
  18. Bear Stays Up for Christmas by: Karma Wilson
  19. A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree by: Colleen Monroe
  20. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: A Highlights Hidden Pictures Storybook by: Clement Clarke Moore

Younger kid book recommendations (toddler and preschool age) in no particular order:

  1. The Itsy Bitsy Snowman by: Jeffery Burton
  2. The Itsy Bitsy Reindeer by: Jeffery Burton
  3. First 100 Christmas Words by: Roger Priddy
  4. Little Blue Truck’s Christmas by: Alice Schertle
  5. I Spy Christmas Book For kids Ages 2-5: A Fun Guessing Game and Coloring Activity Book for Little Kids by: Go Arkadata Publishing
  6. Dear Santa: A Lift-the-Flap Book by: Rod Campbell
  7. Spot’s Christmas by: Eric Hill
  8. The ABC’s of Christmas by: Jill Howarth
  9. The Itsy Bitsy Angel by: Jeffery Burton
  10. I Spy With My Little Eye Christmas Book for Kids and Toddlers by: Spy Graphidia Activity
  11. Reindeer of the Year by: Rosie Greening
  12. Our Little Deer by: Sandra Magsamen

Christmas Movie Suggestions:

If you don’t have a streaming service then below are links to buy a DVD of the recommended movies.

Christmas Clothing Suggestions:

I hope your family enjoys all of these Christmas ideas and traditions this Holiday season as much as my family does every year.

Since the kids will be out of school for Christmas break, you may have more time with your family than usual this Holiday season. Celebrate other “themed days” from my blog:

I also highly recommend this blog, “Trying My Best to Mom” for some other great ideas on how to make some memories at home. Check it out in the links below!

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