10 Children's Xmas Activities
Looking for children's xmas activities that go beyond another screen-time afternoon? The 10 ideas below cover everything from a candy-free advent calendar to snow art, baking, and handmade keepsake ornaments, most of them low-cost and all of them built for making memories together as a family.
As a certified art teacher and mom, I've tested these with my own kids, and several tie into art lessons and resources I've built for families and classrooms.
This blog post contains affiliate links -meaning I earn a small commission for recommending what I love and use.
10 Children's Xmas Activities
The Full List: 10 Children's Christmas Activities
A candy-free advent calendar of daily family activities
A night drive to see Christmas lights, with a thermos of hot chocolate
Family snowshoeing and a Simon-Beck-inspired snow mandala
A Christmas symmetry drawing workbook (a great gift or stocking stuffer)
Baking Christmas cookies together
Decorating sugar cone Christmas trees
Building gingerbread houses - can do a sketch first to plan the design!
DIY ornaments painted with acrylic paint pens
A homemade Christmas stovetop simmer pot
Handprint, footprint, and handwriting ornaments embroidered on fabric
A few of these are worth a closer look, so let's dig into the advent calendar, the Christmas lights drive, snowshoeing and snow art, the symmetry workbook, baking, ornaments, and the simmer pot below.
A Candy-Free Advent Calendar
I love doing this with my own kids, especially while they're small toddlers and I'd rather not hand them chocolate or candy every single day in December.
Instead of treats, fill each day of your advent calendar with a small activity or outing, something to look forward to rather than something to eat. A few ideas that have worked well in our house:
Going snowshoeing together as a family
An afternoon of skating
A special hot chocolate night, with marshmallows and all the toppings
Watching a Christmas movie together, with blankets and popcorn
Baking Christmas cookies
The goal is simple: fun, low-cost activities that build the countdown to Christmas into something you look forward to together, not just another box to open.
A Christmas Lights Drive
Pile everyone into the car after dark, pick a neighbourhood known for its displays, and drive around looking at Christmas lights together. Bring a thermos of hot chocolate along for the ride, it makes the whole outing feel like an event rather than just a drive.
This one costs next to nothing, works for almost any age, and is an easy way to fill one night of your advent calendar.
Snowshoeing and Snow Art Inspired by Simon Beck
If you want to turn a family snowshoeing trip into something more creative, show your kids the work of Simon Beck, a British artist who creates enormous geometric designs in snow using nothing but a pair of snowshoes and a compass. You can see his work and his book Snow Art at snowart.gallery, and watch him in action in this time-lapse video filmed at Banff National Park.
Once your kids have seen what's possible, head outside and try your own version: pick a flat, open stretch of snow and walk out a simple pattern together, like a circle, a star, or a spiral, the same way Beck builds his much larger designs.
For a more guided version of this project, my Nature Mandala lesson on Teachers Pay Teachers walks through how to arrange natural materials into a symmetrical mandala, and the same approach translates beautifully to snow.
A Christmas Symmetry Drawing Workbook
For a quieter activity, or a gift that keeps kids occupied over the holidays, my Christmas symmetry drawing workbookis available on Amazon and designed for kids ages 9 to 14.
Each page gives them half of a festive design to complete, building fine motor skills, focus, and an eye for proportion along the way. It makes an excellent Christmas gift or stocking stuffer, especially for a kid who likes to draw but doesn't always know where to start. [Link to be added]
Baking and Decorating Together
Baking is a holiday classic for a reason, and there's more than one way to bring it into your December.
Bake Christmas cookies together. A simple sugar cookie or gingerbread recipe, rolled out and cut into festive shapes, is an easy win for all ages.
Decorate sugar cone Christmas trees. Make a batch of icing with icing sugar, dye it green with food colouring, then cover a sugar cone in the green icing to look like a little Christmas tree. Finish it off with candies or sprinkles as ornaments. These are a fun alternative to a full gingerbread house and a bit less fussy for younger kids.
Build gingerbread houses. Whether you buy a kit or build from scratch, decorating gingerbread houses together is a tradition worth keeping, and it pairs naturally with decorating Christmas cookies in the same baking session.
Handmade Ornaments to Treasure
Homemade ornaments make some of the most meaningful keepsakes of the season, and they come together in a few different ways.
Painted ornaments. Plain wooden slices or glass ball ornaments can be decorated with acrylic paint pens for crisp, kid-friendly designs that dry fast and don't smudge.
Handprint and footprint ornaments. A classic for a reason. Pressing a small hand or foot into clay or paint creates an instant time capsule of how small they are right now.
Handwriting ornaments. Have your child write their name (or a short word) on fabric, then embroider over their handwriting to turn it into a permanent, stitched keepsake. These make especially lovely gifts for grandparents, who often treasure a grandchild's handwriting as much as the ornament itself.
Make a Christmas Simmer Pot
A simmer pot is an easy, low-prep way to fill the house with a holiday scent, and kids love picking what goes in it.
Fill a small pot about two-thirds full with water.
Add orange or apple slices, a few cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and a sprig of rosemary or pine, whatever combination smells like Christmas to your family.
Bring it to a low simmer on the stove, then reduce the heat so it just barely bubbles.
Let it simmer for a few hours, checking occasionally and topping up the water as it evaporates so the pot never runs dry.
Always keep young kids supervised around the stove, but letting them choose and add the ingredients is a simple way to make them part of the process.
FAQ: Children's Christmas Activities
What are good non-candy advent calendar ideas? Fill each day with a small activity instead of a treat, like snowshoeing, skating, a hot chocolate night, a Christmas movie, or baking cookies together.
What ingredients go in a Christmas simmer pot? Orange or apple slices, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and a sprig of rosemary or pine are a classic, Christmas-scented combination.
Who is Simon Beck? Simon Beck is a British artist known for creating enormous geometric designs in snow using only snowshoes and a compass, which makes a fun inspiration for a family snow art project.
What age is a Christmas symmetry drawing workbook good for? A symmetry drawing workbook built for ages 9 to 14 works well for kids who already enjoy drawing and want a bit more of a creative challenge.
What's an easy handmade ornament for kids to make? Handprint or footprint ornaments pressed into clay are simple for younger kids, while older kids can paint wooden or glass ornaments with acrylic paint pens.
Pick a Few and Start Your Countdown
You don't need all 10 to make the season feel special, just pick a handful that fit your family and build them into your own countdown to Christmas. For a gift that keeps kids creating well past the holidays, the Christmas symmetry drawing workbook is an easy one to tuck into a stocking.
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