50+ Christmas Activities For Families

Get everyone into the holiday spirit with these fun Christmas activities for families. Includes crafts, decorations, DIY gifts, acts of kindness, fun Christmas games, crafts, and loads of free printables. 

I love the holidays. Bring on cheesy music, The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, and eating way too much homemade Almond Roca.

The countdown to the holidays is the perfect time to enjoy some special Christmas activities for families.  Well it was in our house. Once I figured out how to simplify our holidays I finally had time to enjoy the days leading up to Christmas.

What Should I Do With My Family For Christmas?

I’ve scoured the internet to find the best Christmas activities for families.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you do it together. If you are looking for really simple Christmas activities try these 24 Simple Christmas Traditions for Families.

This post is part of my Christmas Activities collection. You can find all my Holiday & Seasonal Activities here, or head to the Kids Activities resource hub where you’ll find hundreds of fun ideas all in one place.

Christmas Crafts

Make Ornaments

Every year my boys and I would make ornaments together. It was a lovely afternoon activity and we still hang many of these decorations on our tree. The trick to making Christmas ornaments is to keep it simple.

• Try this simple and easy printable ornament. Just print color and hang.
• Kids of all ages can adapt this homemade felt and button Christmas tree ornament. It only requires a few materials, is easy to set up, and adds some festive color. Felt And Button Christmas Tree Ornament.
• Make up a whole batch of these Easy Kid Made Wreath Ornaments With Paper Straws and ribbons.
• Use green pipe cleaner, fun jingle bells, and a bit of ribbon to make this simply fun jingle bell wreath ornament.
• Combine cinnamon sticks with a few scarps of fabric to make these naturally scented Cinnamon Stick Trees
• This Santa’s workshop ornament is a cute and original ornament to add to your gift-giving.
• All you need is 2 ingredients to make these super simple and easy Homemade Cinnamon Ornaments! A great DIY holiday craft or fun Christmas gift for both kids and adults to make and customize!
• Create a sweet Christmas tree with some popsicle sticks and small decorations.
• Everyone can make a masterpiece with these easy finger-paint friendly ornaments, especially toddlers!
• Super cute pipe-cleaner Christmas Trees. These make great little ornaments or combine them with a DIY Christmas card. Also great for fine motor development! You can easily adapt this one to make adorable snowflake ornaments.
• Make gorgeous clay cookie cutter Christmas ornaments – these make wonderful keepsakes to make and give each year. Maybe decorate gifts for homemade cookie parcels with these too?

Make Your Own Christmas Decor

Making gingerbread is a favorite Christmas activities for families. My boys loved it and we continued for many years, even when they grew older.

Sometimes we would have a party, and each boy got to invite a friend. We used the recipe and instructions from Canadian Living Magazine. If you want to make things easy on yourself skip the gingerbread and use Graham Crackers.

• Spread the joy and consider hosting your own Gingerbread decorating party.

Need a few other ideas for decor you or your kids could make?

• These Dollar Store Topiary trees are easy, look adorable – and are a high impact cheap craft!
• If you are looking to start a new Christmas tradition this year, why not make this easy Toilet Paper Roll Nativity?
• This colorful Christmas stocking craft is a fun and simple craft for toddlers and preschoolers to make for the holiday. Kids will have a blast using leftover paper from your scrap bin to help decorate their cute stockings.

Printable Fun

Make the festive season special with our Christmas Activity Cards for kids! We’ve got 24 cards with simple family activities requiring minimal preparation. Plus, we’ve included 8 fillable blank cards so you can add your own ideas. Perfect for Advent calendars, or just pull one out each day for a season full of fun! You can get the cards here.

Kids adore jokes, and the sillier, the merrier! Add a dash of merriment to your child’s day with our Christmas Jokes! These printable gems are guaranteed to get your kids laughing. Our collection of Printable Christmas Jokes includes a page of blank cards, so you can add your own jokes. They are great for lunch boxes or Advent calendars. Download your jokes here.

Make gifts

Making gifts together is a wonderful Christmas activity. One year we made cinnamon sugar to give to the boy’s teachers. It is super easy to do and was very much appreciated by the recipients. You can find an easy recipe here.

• This Reindeer Mulling recipe is simple and makes a cute homemade gift. Kids can mix spices, scoop into the orange and create the reindeer shape- with very little help.
• Have a go at air drying clay, with these wonderful reindeer pinch pots! Too cute and super easy to make.
• Gorgeous Pop Up Christmas Tree Cards – you will be surprised to learn how easy these are to make.

For more ideas check out my post: 43 Easy Gifts That Kids Can Make

What Are Some Fun Christmas Activities?

Kids are always open to new ideas and activities. Try some of these scavenger hunts:

• This post includes lots of fun activities, including a special Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt.
• Gingerbread Scavenger Hunt using a printable gingerbread man (read the post for several ideas on how to do with your family or other small group).
• Enjoy a walk through your neighborhood as you scout out holiday decorations with this Christmas Scavenger Hunt – can you find all the items?!

Or work on other activities to keep the kids from going stir-crazy:

• Enjoy some coloring time with our cute Kawaii Christmas coloring pages. Coloring is a calming activity and that can be very helpful at this time of year.
• These Christmas Finger Puppets are adorable! Use them as puppets or add them to packages or candy canes for an extra bit of holiday fun.
• Use your oven with regular candy canes and delight the kids by Bending Candy Canes into all kinds of ornaments and shapes.
• Gather the family around for some gut-busting fun this holiday season. Everyone will love creating their own ugly sweater with these party ideas!
• Families will love this magical family activity. Kids will be amazed the seed they plant will “grow” into a candy cane!

Advent Calendars

• If you need something quick and easy, we’ve created an Advent Calendar to color. Just print it out and color in one square a day.
• Have a fillable calendar? Fill it with little gifts that aren’t just junk.

Christmas Inspired Play-Doh Fun

Grab/make some Play-Doh and a few supplies and let your kids go wild.

• Create your own Make a Tree kit for the kids in your life using green play dough and other sparkly accessories you can bag up ahead of time.
• Or make your own Reindeer Playdough kit using brown play dough and printable antlers plus some other fun bits you likely already have around your house.
• Take the same idea and put together a Christmas play dough kit instead if you like!
• This set of five gingerbread play dough mats featured here is perfect for the holiday season.

Free Printables

• Enjoy a sweet treat and have a free printable for a free ice-breaker game.
• Looking at Christmas light is such a fun thing to do as a family during the holidays. This free printable Christmas light scavenger hunt will help make it even more fun!
• Play an easy game that the whole family can enjoy with these free printable Christmas Count-it cards!
• Super fun and easy Elf Paper Puppets! Make these adorable little puppets – choose from “colour your own” or full color ones. These make a great toy or connect them all for a quirky elf garland.
• Use this Roll a Reindeer free printable along with a pair of dice to play a fun game with your kids (and help them learn their numbers too).
• This free printable Christmas Matching Game will help your kids have fun and practice their own memory skills.

Learning Activities

You can combine Christmas crafts and games with learning.

• This easy Rudolph Races Christmas activity is a must try for families with kids of all ages! It’s a game and experiment designed to educate and entertain kids of all ages.
• Flying reindeer! Race your reindeer or just see how fast you can get it to go with this easy STEM activity your whole family will love.
• Bring some STEM learning with this fun activity and grow a crystal candy cane?
• Practice the letters of the alphabet with this matching upper and lowercase reindeer letter matching game.
• This simple Paper craft Christmas tree paper craft doubles as a fun Geometry lesson for kids!
• Design your own Christmas tree magnet maze game as a fun way for kids to learn about physics and magnetism through play.

Family Together Time

Do Some Baking

Kids love baking and it can be a lot of fun if you keep it simple. Our Graham Cracker Reindeer and no bake Oreo balls are easy to make.

Host a game night

I know this isn’t the most original idea. Still, most kids love board games and the Christmas break is the perfect time to dig them out. Let each family member choose their favorite. Alternatively, try some of these fun Christmas games:

• Using just the ornaments on your tree, you can play a fun and easy, relaxing game with your kids and this ‘I Spy Ornament Game‘.
• Have fun with these fast-paced and entertaining Minute to Win It Christmas Games for players of all ages.
• Playing this Pin The Star On The Tree game can mean lots of fun for the whole family!
• There are lots of variations on this classic, but here you’ll find a cute and free printable so you and your family can play Christmas Bingo
• Easy to set up and fun to play – this Christmas themed Minute to Win It game is a great activity for families during the holiday season!

Have a Movie Night

• Something a little special: The Dating Divas have created a special movie night inspired by the movie The Polar Express—complete with (free!) printable “train tickets,” games, and yummy snacks and beverages. Get the details here.
• Make it super easy: Make some popcorn and put on your favorite holiday movies. Honestly, your kids will enjoy it just the same either way.

Fine-tune Your Routines with a bit of Holiday Cheer

Listen to a Christmas story at bedtime

Choose a Christmas audiobook and listen to it each night. My boys loved snuggling under blankets by the Christmas tree to hear the story.

Audio books are a busy parent’s best friend. Your kids get to hear a wonderful story and you get to relax by the twinkling lights of the tree and cuddle with your kids. FANTASTIC.

I’d love to hear from you

What is your favorite activity at this time of year? Do you have any fun Christmas activities for families? What special family traditions do you enjoy?

Looking for More Ideas?

Follow My Christmas Pinterest Board: Christmas

Did you enjoy this post? Was it helpful? Please share and tell a friend! Drop me a comment if you’re going to try some of these tips. Bonus points if you leave a comment!