There are so many great ideas that have been posted with activities to do for the holidays! We have a large zip-lock bag that I fill with the activities I have printed or made.
Since the kids were 2, I have saved these activities and used them every December. More is added to the collection each year and we adapt the activities to meet the current needs and academic abilities.
This way, I am able to re-use projects and do not feel so wasteful when I print things. I store them with all my Christmas decorations so that I know exactly where they are!
Christmas Crafts and Activities for Kids
Here are some of our favorites.
- Confessions of a Homeschooler – Preschool Pack
- Ready Set Read to Me
- Hands On: As We Grow
- A Collective Collection of 24 Bloggers
- Little Wonder Days Christmas
Here are some great resources we’ve found and wanted to share with you. As you know we’re always putting our “Own Spin” on creative ideas we see.
Here’s what we’ve Pinned for you to do your own spin on too for Handmade Ornaments.
Here’s our Pinterest board for Holidays Ideas
We are both especially looking forward to having our Kindergartners home with us to have fun doing all these holiday activities together. We’ve been working on a few over the past week that we wanted to share.
Homemade Christmas Cards
Give your little one some holiday stamps and let the fun begin! My daughter and her friends exchange cards each year in the mail to get a special surprise during the holidays in the mail. You should see how excited my daughter gets when a letter arrives for her.
Here’s a quick way to make your own cards. We just buy a premade pack from the Craft Store of blank cards and envelopes to keep throughout the year. Then we use some black, green and red ink to create her cards. I have her write her name and then she gets to stamp away.
This year she decided to even stamp out her friend’s name which is a great way to personalize each card. (Think we might be stamping out sight words over the holiday break to keep us learning, look for that post soon)
Gingerbread Man
Using some sewing scraps we created an adorable little Gingerbread Man from brown construction paper. There is a terrific Gingerbread Unit on 1+1+1=1 that I printed some things from too.
Amanda made this adorable Gingerbread Man too to hang from the tree or attach to gifts.
Gingerbread Playdough
Making Gingerbread cookies is a tradition in our family but we only do it once during the season. Here’s a great way for my daughter to make them over and over again all on her own. This play dough also makes an awesome goody bag treat for holiday parties. It is non-sugary, delicious smelling can be used over and over again, and encourages play!
Baking!
Kids learn so much by spending time with you in the kitchen. It is math, reading, science, and lovey time all in one! We have made several batches of cookies this past week. Elly really enjoyed the snickerdoodles. She not only helped me read the recipe and put the ingredients together, but also rolled the dough into balls and rolled the balls in the sugar. Other great cookies to make are Spritz with the cookie press!
More cooking to come this week in posts – Stay tuned! {update: Candy Cane Popcorn, Xmas Tree Pizza & More! }
Nativity Scene
This is a great fine motor activity for your little ones. Of course you need to make sure your child knows the proper way to use a push pin for safety.
You take a Nativity Scene and have them use the push pin all around the outside of it to create an outline and then hang it into your window.
Here’s a cute flag tutorial for outside too.
Here’s a Nativity Snack to go along with your craft.
May you have an enjoyable week with your children! We’d love to see what you are doing with your children!
Kim @ The Educators' Spin On It says
Thanks Tammy, Jackie and Raising a Happy Child for your kind words and amazing blogs! The Push Pin activity would be fun to make with snowflakes too. I'll try to make a printable for you in our January afterschool post. We used a carpet square underneath when we used the push pin to make it easier.
Raising a Happy Child says
Thanks for sharing so many good ideas. Push pin activity is something I want to do here too, but probably in January by now.
Jackie H. says
Thanks so much for the link! I love the nativity push pin activity. Easy but makes a great end product! I also like your idea for saving the activities from year to year. I'll have to do that… especially with the printables.
Tammy L says
My kids love stamps and ink! 🙂 Thanks for the fun ideas and the link to my homemade play dough scents, Kim and Amanda! 🙂