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Christmas Kids Activities & Homemade Gift Ideas

December 12, 2011 by Jaimi Erickson 1 Comment

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Over 20 winter and Christmas kids activities for all ages and many can be turned into homemade gifts.

There are many Christmas Kids Activities that can be turned into Homemade Gift Ideas. I enjoy watching the kids complete art and craft projects that allow their creativity to show.  I put together a list of favorite Christmas kids activities and homemade gift ideas.

These winter activities for kids are great learning activities and many can be turned into homemade gifts. Best of all, they are simple.

20+ Christmas Kids Activities

1) Hand-Print Wreaths

You can glue on a red bow after the paint has dried and frame it.  Give it as a gift to family or keep it as a decoration in your own home. Include date and age!

2) Santa Hand Print Picture

Another great option for home decor made by your child, or stamp a bunch of them to use as Christmas cards. Fold the paper in half, create the Santa print, write a note inside then send!

3) Hand-Print Ornaments

Your child can also make a hand print using paint on paper, cut it out after it is dry, and decorate with glitter (while paint is still wet), or other craft materials.

4) Footprint Reindeer

Add a red puff ball and face after the print is dry to create a ‘Rudolph’.  Again, this would be a great option for homemade Christmas cards.

5) Chain-Link Christmas Countdown

Make a countdown chain out of strips of paper to count down to your respective holiday. Rip off one link each day to count the remaining days left until the ‘big day’!

6) Candy Calendar Counting

Put 25 candy pieces in a jar. Your child gets one each night starting December 1st as you countdown to Christmas.  You could use this activity to count down to the new year too.

7) Pine Cone Collection

Gather a basket or bag of pine cones on a trail walk or at the playground. Here are some ideas for playing with your pine cones.

  • Sort them by size.
  • Count them.
  • Arrange them from smallest to largest.
  • Paint with them by dipping one side in paint and stamping or rolling them on paper.
  • Make into bird feeders to hang outdoors: Spread peanut butter on the pine cone and roll it in bird seed.

8) Shave Cream and Glue ‘Snow’

I first learned this combination from a teachers’ magazine.

Mix one part shave cream (plain non-menthol shave cream) and one part white glue in a disposable bowl or paper plate using a craft stick or plastic spoon.

When mixed, your child can scoop the mix onto construction paper and make a snow scene, or a snowman.

Snow Scene Art

For a snow scene activity that connects with the book The Snowy Day, cut out squares, rectangles and triangles to make paper buildings and houses.

Glue the pieces on the paper to create a ‘city’ scene.  Then your child can scoop the ‘snow’ onto the buildings, ground, etc. When the snow dries it feels soft and fomay. So fun!

Fake Snow Snowman Art

For a snowman, cut out small black circles for pieces of ‘coal’, and a long orange triangle as a ‘carrot’ nose, and thin brown strips for twig arms.

Your child can scoop the ‘snow’ onto the paper creating three circles stacked in a row. Add the paper pieces to make a face and hat, arms and coal buttons.

9) Write a Letter to Santa

Whether your child tells you what they want to share with Santa, or your child writes a letter on their own, this is a fun way to teach writing skills and literacy.

Help your child sign their name and mail it.  Some post offices have a postmark for the ‘North Pole’, but letters have to be received by a certain date-based on availability.  Your child can also receive a letter from Santa! You could get Santa to call your child too!

10) Coffee Filter Snow Flakes

Fold coffee filters in half and then quarters. Cut out notches and shapes.  Unfold and tape to windows, or around the house.

11) Read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and bake gingerbread cookies

I use All Recipes and Food Network for most of my recipe searches.

 

12) Make Play Dough

Add essential oils like orange, cinnamon, peppermint or Thieves blend to give it a festive scent. Use cookie cutters to cut out.

Use a straw to punch a hole in the top of cutouts and let them dry. Just tie a ribbon through the hole and you have a homemade ornament gift to give.

13) Read Seasonal Books

Gather books related to Christmas,  and winter together in a basket to make them the center of attention over the holidays and cold months.


 

14) Snow Melt/Ice Melt Demonstration

If you live in a climate where snow is present, grab some and place it in a plastic container or a bowl.  Bring it inside and allow your child to periodically check it as it melts.

You can make a simple chart with the time and write if the snow is melted or not. Check it at intervals and keep a running list of each time you check.

If you do not have snow in your area use an ice cube from the freezer. Place the cube in a cup or bowl and observe it every few minutes writing down the observations on a chart.

15) Iceberg Model

Make a model of an iceberg using a cup of water and an ice cube.  This model displays how the majority of the iceberg actually floats under the water. I used this model when I was teaching in a first grade classroom.

16) Attend Events in Your Local Community:

Tree lighting ceremonies.
Caroling
Christmas/Holiday parades.
Live nativity scenes.
Zoo lights displays.

17) Create Homemade Paintings

I had my children each complete a finger painting at about 6 months old as a gift for the grandparents.

They each painted on multiple sheets of paper so that I could frame them and hang one in our home as well.

I made a little label and then glued it to the painting that stated: NAME, TITLE, DATE, AGE.  This makes a cute little keepsake for you as well as a great gift idea for family!

Additionally, I took pictures of each of my children completing their painting and printed them off in wallet size.  I picked up a few acrylic wallet-size magnetic frames from a craft store. I included a magnet with my child completing their painting as part of the gift as well.  We have one of each of the kids on our fridge at home too!

18) Discuss ‘Giving’:

Give to Toys for Tots, or clean out some of your used toys to donate to The Salvation Army or local thrift stores. Include your children in this process if they are old enough to not get too attached to toys as you are trying to give some away.

Over time children will learn that giving is important when they see you modeling that activity.

You could even sell the older toys that your child no longer plays with and talk about giving the money to a charity or church as you choose.

19) Visit Santa

20) Make DIY Gifts:

  • Paint pottery (ornaments, plates, mugs, etc) at a local paint-your-own pottery store.  Include date and age!
  • Buy a patio stone kit from a craft store and let your child make a creation.  Include date and age on the bottom.
  • Decorate a wooden frame with paint, glitter or other craft materials and include a picture of your child.
  • Bake cookies and give them as gifts.

no-time-to-plan-print-shop preschool in a box

What are your favorite homemade ways to give gifts at Christmas?

Over 20 winter and Christmas kids activities for all ages and many can be turned into homemade gifts.

Successful Mom Daily Checklist to help you gain balance between housework and play time with the kids. Get more done, and feel more successful as a mom and homemaker.

Enjoy your time at home!

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Filed Under: activities Tagged With: art, Christmas, crafty, gifts, holidays, infants, science, toddlers, winter

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Will you be spending time with family for Easter? Will you be spending time with family for Easter? 

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Both of my big kids have birthdays and we will all get to spend time at the beach this month. Our school work will morph into field trips so we soak up every day we can being present with family. 

I am looking forward to making memories, soaking in time together and celebrating two milestone birthdays - one happening tomorrow. 💛 

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🌟The faces we make when a Costco run with all t 🌟The faces we make when a Costco run with all the kids actually goes well!!! 🌟 

Ice cream after helped of course. 😂

All prepped for my in-laws coming to visit us after not seeing them since our move last summer. Looking forward to some fun events ahead that will make my kids think they are on spring break but they will technically be field trip days. Check, check. 

Are you guys on spring break this week? What do you have planned?

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Some days you put on the 10 year old comfy jeans, Some days you put on the 10 year old comfy jeans, fill your mind with encouragement and just keep moving forward. 

Recovery days are not just for working out. They are for the mental state we walk around with too. Yesterday felt heavy. My God is a power lifter and takes the burden away. 

Today will be better.

Today we will rest and refocus.

Hooray for comfy jeans, motivational graphics and the Word to focus on through it all. 

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🌟That Face!!🌟 That little boy is soon to t 🌟That Face!!🌟 

That little boy is soon to turn 13, guys! I mean in a few weeks. 😅

This is a throwback but brings back so many fun memories. 

—————————————

I love creating activities and crafts on the fly. Always have even before my kids were here.

I noticed that my son did not have a lot of little toy people to play with while he was pretending one day. We have a few cylinder blocks in a set. We never used them when we built. I thought we could turn them into little DIY toy people. 

They were so cute and easy to make. It was a preschool art project for him. We made them together.

If you don’t have wooden cylindrical blocks at home, you can use pieces of wood dowel or even a few square blocks glued together. You can even make DIY toy people out of toilet paper tubes. 

🌟Full details through Blog link in bio 🌟

——————————————

I am so excited and yet in complete shock by how fast these little lives grow. I have never missed moments and I am so so grateful especially as we approach the teen years in my house. 💛 Soak up even the hard days of being a mom. TOTALLY worth it. 

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👌 There are a lot of parenting opinions out the 👌 There are a lot of parenting opinions out there. I try to ignore a lot of them. 😂 

My kids stay up later than most recommend, but so did I when I was a kid. 

She loves to read. She loves to write. Abby writes plays, journal entries, songs and on a bad day she will write her feelings about it all, in depth, no holds barred. 

This night she was trying to finish up a play - setting, character details, order of lines - for a play she made for her younger sister. 

I am so thankful that we can count her love of writing in her free time as school work. I am so thankful that how we do school allows this passion and talent to thrive. She has stacks of drawings, plays and writing blurbs. They are all precious to her.

There are days I question whether this choice or that choice is right or “approved,” but it does not matter when I see my children dive deep into the things they love. 

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Give me my people any day. Family time this Sund Give me my people any day. 

Family time this Sunday was a 5k fundraiser race. We helped raise 💵 for the spouses’ club scholarship fund. Scholarships will be awarded for post secondary education to military kids and spouses. 

If you can choose any action in life, choose to help others. Side bonus when it involves fun family time together.

Best day yet. 💛💛💛

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💛 Friday Introductions💛 It has been a while 💛 Friday Introductions💛

It has been a while since I did a good run-down here to give ya the cliffs notes (are those still a thing) version of me. 👋 

💛 Detroit-born a few blocks from where Eminem lived. The city is still my hometown despite moving away as a kid.

💛 I am a big believer in traditional values, but with a modern woman twist. My husband drives his career and I drive this household.

💛 We live in eastern NC 30 mins from the beach. I want to stay here forever, truly, but military life will come to an end some day...still don’t know specifically when that will be.

💛Born and raised to be a planner, Type A personality, having 4 kids beat that out of me 🤣 and I am very “day at a time” now. 

💛I was a teacher turned stay at home mom turned blogger turned entrepreneur that had to set it all on the back burner a bit to focus on homeschooling my kids. I can only have so much on my plate and complete it successfully. (When we listen, God guides and is loud and clear with His direction. 💛)

💛I believe I can be humble and confident; I can be fully present with my kids and make space to rest and rejuvenate; I believe the biggest successes I will achieve in life will not have a paycheck as its valuation. 

💛I believe that true peace, value and love all come from Jesus. 

You will find me sharing the ups AND the downs of motherhood, wife life, homeschooling and being a Christian woman with the modern day pull to fight what that can mean. (There is def a force trying to convince us to push those values aside, my friends.)

👌What is the cliffs notes version of you? What do you want people to know/realize most of all?

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🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟 Often our c 🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟

Often our children learn hard lessons when they have to move to a new state or school. 

My kids have become all too familiar with this through military life. Every three years they have to make new friends.

It is not always simple.

As a child, my family moved a lot. We were not military, but in junior high I moved to a new state and had to make all new friends.

This was a challenging and even to some extent a traumatic time of life.

Being the new kid, is a humbling experience. Suddenly you are hoping that your peers will want to get to know you and like you. It creates some self-consciousness.

Reading is such a beneficial way to teach children about life lessons. It teaches much more than that. It teaches self esteem through the cuddle time. It teaches language skills, and it teaches children to use their minds to be creative.

As they have grown and navigated more friendships, books are a resource for us to discuss tough challenges. I have found a great series of books that present friendship challenges and help children learn to navigate them.

It just so happens that the author is my neighbor too! How cool is that?! Moms are amazing.

These books will be treasured by your family for their quality values. The @stingrayjelly series teach children how to make friends and navigate friendships to love others well and support them through shared similarities and recognized differences.

Author, Lauren Giannella is a military wife and my neighbor! Anna Perdue is the illustrator and also a military child. 

Read my blog post for details on each book and links to purchase through @barnesandnoble 

We love our military community and all they do to give back.

What are your favorite children’s books that teach children how to make friends or help them maneuver through tough life challenges?

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