Best Christmas Activities for Kids (with free printables)
I absolutely LOVE Christmas. I am going to share with you the best Christmas activities for kids, plus the best gift ideas.
We are totally Christmas crazy.
We put the Christmas tree up the weekend after Halloween, and we have the Elf on the Shelf visit in December. This has been a tradition for about 8 years now, and despite our son knowing that Twinkletoes is not real, it makes it even more magical, not less.
The Christmas activities for kids are broken down into the following sections:
- Gift guides for the whole family (but mainly gifts for boys)
- Countdown to Christmas
- Elf on the Shelf printables and activities
- Christmas games
- Christmas worksheets for school
- Christmas arts and crafts
There are lots of Christmas activities for both younger and older children, so I am confident you will find something you will enjoy.
These Christmas activities for kids are great for the classroom, homeschool, the library, or at a Christmas party.
We homeschool year-round check out all of the other holiday fun we have.
If you homeschool as we do, or your kids go to school, you can have loads of fun with the kids in December. Other fun holidays we celebrate this month include:
- Hanukkah (with our Hanukkah coloring pages)
- New Year’s Eve
Make sure you save (and pin) this post for later, and definitely keep checking back as I am always adding new content.
**There may be affiliate links in this post. You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.**
Christmas Printable Bundles
Before I share all of our free Christmas printables and activities I wanted to share our Christmas printables that you can purchase to save both time and effort.
If you want to save time this Christmas for a small fee why not purchase one of our printable bundles?
NOW WITH 75% OFF
There are 36 pages included in this download including:
- Bingo boards (6 pages)
- Memory game (3 pages)
- Photo scavenger hunt (1 page)
- Scattergory boards (6 pages)
- Treasure hunt clues (3 pages)
- Escape room invites (2 pages)
- Santa Wish Lists (6 pages)
- Activity placemats (4 pages)
- Spot the Difference (5 pages)
NOW WITH 75% OFF
There are a total of 70 Christmas coloring pages included in this download including:
- Christmas bookmarks to color (2 pages)
- Christmas color by number (6 pages)
- Color in Christmas cards (11 pages)
- Christmas coloring pages (14 pages)
- Advent coloring page (1 page)
- Christmas spot the difference (5 pages)
- Christmas activity placemats (4 pages)
- 12 Days of Christmas (13 pages)
- Nutcracker Ballet (2 pages)
- Christmas in Germany (4 pages)
- Color in Christmas gift tags (3 pages)
- Christmas thank you cards (5 pages)
NOW WITH 75% OFF
Have fun at school or at home with these educational Christmas printables. There are 116 pages included in this download including:
- Word scramble (2 pages)
- Word search (2 pages)
- *Exclusive Word Search puzzles (10 pages)
- Counting worksheets (3 pages)
- Graph worksheets (3 pages)
- Dot to Dot (8 pages)
- Santa Wish list (6 pages)
- Writing prompts (40 pages)
- ABC Color & Trace (26 pages)
- Life Cycle of a Penguin (10 pages)
- Life cycle of a polar bear (6 pages)
- Life cycle of a reindeer (9 pages)
- If I were a reindeer writing fun (1 page)
- If I were an elf writing fun (1 page)
- 12 days of Christmas wishes (13 pages)
NOW WITH 75% OFF
If you are in a rush and tired of searching for Christmas handprint templates you can purchase all of mine for a small fee here. There are 4 exclusive templates that can not be found anywhere else, and 12 pages to print!
Christmas Gift Guides
Over 40 gift guides for everyone in your family.
There are over 40 different gift guides including, but not limited to:
- The best advent calendar ideas
- Gift guides for boys aged 6-13 (one for every year)
- Gift guides for adults
- Christmas Eve box fillers for kids and adults
- The best board games for kids
- Educational gifts for kids
Countdown to Christmas
The countdown to Christmas is more exciting generally than the big day itself, well certainly in our home!
See how we make the countdown to Christmas so special.
This free coloring advent calendar page is so simple and yet so much fun.
The kids will have so much fun every day from December 1st right through to Christmas Day.
We absolutely LOVE Christmas in this house, so much so that we start decorating the house the weekend after Halloween.
All of our birthdays fall between Thanksgiving and New Year so it is our favorite time of the year.
I thought I would share our favorite Christmas countdown ideas that we have been doing over the years.
Christmas planning is the only way I survive Christmas every year.
By the beginning of November, I pretty much have it all organized. Even if it is just all in my head, I know what is happening.
There is also a free 23 page Christmas planner you can download and stay organized this year.
Christmas isn't just a time for the little kiddies, big kids love it too and should not be forgotten. Check out our favorite advent calendars for teen boys.
We absolutely love Christmas and every year we try and find the best advent calendar ideas for both kids and adults.
In this guide, you will find kid’s advent calendars, beauty advent calendars, DIY advent calendars plus more.
Christmas will be here before we know it, so I wanted to put together a bucket list for Christmas that you can do together as a family.
Download our free Santa wish lists printable and write Father Christmas a special letter this year.
Yes, it is coming up to be the most expensive time of the year. So let’s look at how to earn money before Christmas.
There is still enough time to make that extra couple of hundred pounds that makes all the difference.
Elf on the Shelf
We have had the Elf on the Shelf visit us now for over 7 years, here you will find all of our favorite antics, activities, printables, and more.
See all of the best Elf on the Shelf posts we have, including free printables, games, books, and the best Elf on the Shelf antics.
Christmas Games
Christmas is a time for the family to get together and play games and just have fun being together.
These are the best Christmas games we have either come across or created as free printables just for you.
The Easter bunny shouldn't have all of the fun! Santa likes treasure hunts too! Download our 12 free Christmas treasure hunt clues and hide them around the house.
Have fun with the older kids with our free Christmas photo scavenger hunt printable.
We love playing board games in our home, these are the best Christmas board games on the market for kids and families of all ages.
Let's have a fun matching game with our free Christmas memory game printable. This is a great game for the whole family.
Have your own Christmas escape room at home with these printable escape room puzzles. Plus invite your friends and family over with our free Christmas escape room party invitations.
You do not need the original Scattergories game to enjoy our free Christmas scattergories printables. The kids and the whole family will love playing this.
These free Christmas bingo boards are perfect either for school or at home with friends and family.
Get into the Christmas spirit with these 5 Christmas spot the difference printables.
What I especially love about these is that they are not too easy, or too hard. They are just perfect for older elementary kids (in fact we have enjoyed them in middle school too!).
Are you tired of the kids being bored at the dining table while you are busy making the Christmas dinner?
You are not alone!!
These Christmas placemats to color are the answer you have been looking for.
Christmas Homeschool
Whether you homeschool, or are a teacher looking for educational Christmas activities you will find something here the kids will love. All for free of course.
In December we tend to put away the core curriculum we have been working on, and instead focus on Christmas activities!
Now, of course, I try to make these as educational as possible!
These Christmas lessons are aimed at kids aged 9-14, but with help can be done with younger children.
Learn your ABC's the fun way with our Christmas alphabet worksheets.
There are 26 pages of coloring, writing, and tracing that will put the kids in the festive spirit!
Have fun with our free Christmas graph, color, and count worksheets. With numbers 1-5.
Have fun with these festive Christmas counting worksheets
Why not spend December studying one of our favorite winter animals, the penguin?
Download all 10 free life cycle of a penguin worksheets and have fun while learning.
Learn more about the polar bear with our free polar bear life cycle worksheets.
Perfect for kids in grades 3-5, but can of course be adapted for younger or older children.
Have fun with numbers this December with our free Christmas Dot to Dot Printables
Encourage the kids to write this December with these 12 Days of Christmas Wishes writing prompts.
Have fun learning all about the life cycle of a reindeer with our free worksheets. There are 8 fun activities for kids aged 5-12.
Christmas is soon to be upon us, and I don’t know about you, but in December most of our homeschool days revolve around Christmas!! As such I have created these free Christmas writing prompts for you to have fun with.
Encourage the kids to write this December with our if I were a reindeer writing activity.
Have some fun in your homeschool with our free reindeer food printable.
This Christmas word scramble is a perfect example of some of the fun we get up to in December.
This free printable Christmas word scramble is great either for the classroom, homeschool, or even winter break if the kids are a little bored.
There are 13 Christmas-themed words to unscramble and to help out I have included the answers in the download.
This Christmas word search printables is so much fun. There are 16 festive words to find.
Christmas is our absolute favorite time of the year. Mainly as we put away our core curriculum and just spend time together learning about the holiday, and just doing Christmas-themed activities.
Every day we also have Christmas read alouds, check out 12 of our favorite Christmas books that you are all going to love.
We love all things elf related in our homeschool! So I have put together 12 of our favorite books about elves, that can either be used as read alouds, or independent reading.
See how we incorporate cake baking into our annual Christmas homeschool traditions, and why we recommend the Mary Berry Christmas cake.
Christmas Arts and Crafts
Christmas is the best time to grab the coloring pens, paints, and craft supplies! See all of our free Christmas arts and crafts printables that you can do with the kids.
Christmas will be here before we know it. It is one of our favorite times of the year to bring out the paint and get creative. Download our free gnome handprint template below and create a wonderful keepsake.
Download our free Christmas color by number printables. There are 6 different festive images to print out and color in with 9 different colors.
Coloring is so calming, we use coloring as a way to reduce stress and regroup every day of the year. But these free printable Christmas coloring pages are perfect to use in December.
Have fun listening to the song while getting creative with our 12 days of Christmas coloring pages.
If you are a fan of the ballet, you are going to love our Nutcracker ballet coloring pages this December.
Learn all about Christmas traditions in Germany with our free Christmas in Germany coloring pages.
Give Father Christmas his beard back! Grab the finger paints and paint the kids hands with our festive Santa handprint painting template.
This Christmas handprint snowglobe is beautiful, and there is plenty to color in too. This will create a magical keepsake.
Nothing says Christmas more than penguins! Create 2 of your very own wintery penguin handprints this December.
Younger kids are going to love coloring in our Christmas cards. There are 8 different cards to download.
We love to send personalized Christmas cards, but what better way than to make them yourselves. Download our free printable Christmas coloring cards and send a really personal message this year.
Get the kids involved this Christmas with our free Christmas gift tags to color in. These will make a great addition to their teachers, or friends' Christmas gifts this year.
Download our free handprint Christmas tree template and then color in the Christmas gifts under the tree.
We love to color and read in our homeschool, so these free printable Christmas bookmarks to color are the perfect mix. Download all 6 different designs now and let the kids get creative.
Do you wanna build a snowman? Yes us too, download our free snowman handprint craft and create a wonderful keepsake you will cherish forever.
Let's make a reindeer handprint craft. Help Santa deliver the toys this year by creating one of his magical helpers with your little ones' handprints.
Similar to our Christmas coloring cards above, these Chtistmas thank you cards to color in are a great way for the kids to thank family and friends for their wonderful Christmas gifts.
Create a treasured keepsake with our free angel handprint craft. The kids will also enjoy coloring in the angel when the paint is dry.
Stay warm and cozy with our free snowman soup printable bag topper.
Last Updated on 27 January 2023 by homeschoolof1