It’s Christmas Break – What Do I Do with These Kids?!
I don’t know about you but if I don’t have activities planned ahead of time to do with the kids then I have a hard time thinking of something to do.
Having a list of ideas always makes it easier. Sometimes the list makes me think of a different activity that I want to do.
30 Easy Christmas Break Activities Ideas
I hope this list of little to no plan activities makes Christmas break easier for you.
- Have a day where your kids pick what you do. Let them pick what to eat and do for the entire day. You should let them know that this will be within reason. I mean they can’t say you are going to Disney World or a shopping spree. This one does require some planning. You should make a list of things to eat for the day as well as some activity ideas. The list can be showed to them if they are having a hard time thinking of things.
- Spend the day looking through old photos.
- Make an obstacle course in the house out of pillows, cushions and /or furniture.
- Have a dance party. You can play music or a game like Just Dance for the Wii.
- Read a book and act it out.
- Visit the fire department. You should call ahead.
- Pretend to do anything (tea party, train ride, house, on a safari, store, restaurant or your at the zoo).
- Play games like red light green light, simon says, I spy, hot potato or duck duck goose.
- Make a sensory bin. You can use colored rice, colored uncooked or cooked pasta, old coffee grounds, dried beans, Jello or just about anything that would have a fun texture.
- Let your kids create something with toothpicks and gumdrops or mini marshmallows.
- Dress up goofy and take pictures of each other.
- One of my favorite go to activities is to build a fort. We will eat lunch, read stories, watch a movie and take a nap in our fort. The kids like to play in it on and off all day long. Mikie has a really cool camping light that we take in it so we can have light. We usually take an extra long table that we have and use it in front of the couch to build our large fort. Doing it this way makes it easy for me to get into (because it is so big) and it makes it to where if we don’t close it off we can see the tv so we can watch our movie. Sometimes we will watch a movie on the laptop.
- Bake Christmas cookies. I love to bake and used to make all my cookies from scratch. I still do but when I need to I buy pre-made sugar cookies and the kids can decorate them. Either way you do it baking doesn’t require too much planning you just need to make sure you have all the ingredients ahead of time. Making cookies from scratch can be a lot of work but some kids love to mix and cut out the cookies so this is a great thing to do.
- If you have snow, you can build a snowman, go sledding, build an igloo or build some forts and have a snowball fight. When you are done drink some hot chocolate.
- Have a game day. Play board games and hang out at home.
- Volunteer as a family.
- Go bowling, roller skating or ice skating.
- Go to the library.
- Go to a hands on museum.
- Have a day where you just play with your kids all day. Let them choose what they want to play with. Why not? Your house work will always be there, but your kids are only young once.
- Make Christmas cards for family members. You can make this simple or elaborate. You could use construction paper, cotton balls, craft sticks, paint, markers, crayons, colored pencils, tissue paper, cut out pictures from magazines or old cards, stickers, old puzzle or game pieces, colored glue, glitter or just about anything you have around the house.
- Make some gifts for family members. You could make coasters or trivets. These are some easy and affordable gifts.
- Let your kids create their own rainbow water and make a watercolor painting with it.
- Have fun with a tasty color mixing lesson.
- Have the kids make a treasure map and hide something for you to find.
- Get out some art materials and let your kids create something. They could make some Christmas tree ornaments, Christmas decorations or anything they want. You could use construction paper, cotton balls, craft sticks, paint, markers, crayons, colored pencils, tissue paper, cut out pictures from magazines or old cards, stickers, old puzzle or game pieces, colored glue, glitter or just about anything you have around the house. Some of the most creative things kids make happen when you just give them materials and let them create something.
- Just color or draw. This is simple but you can relax and have great conversations with your kids.
- Play Minute to Win It. You can go to their website and find ideas for different games. Get the rules for each game you want to play and then find the objects you need around the house.
- Play with stamps or stickers.
- Have a lazy day where you don’t get out of your pajamas and nothing is planned. Your kids don’t need to be entertained 24/7 and a lazy day will be a nice break to our normal busy days. Let them watch movies and play with their toys. Relax and have a nice time playing and having conversations with them.
These all all great activities that you can either take a little time before and plan out what you are going to do or at the last minute pick one.
Do you have an idea for an activity that does not take much planning?
This post was contributed by AmieJo at Life’s Little Projects where she writes about kids activities, DIY projects, and lesson plans.
Other Christmas posts you may like:
13 No Bake Christmas Cookie Ideas / Christmas Playdate Ideas for Kids
7 Family Christmas Tradition Ideas That Won’t Break Your Budget
- 30 Non-Toy Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids - 10/31/2023
- 50+ Fun Family Christmas Gift Ideas for Every Budget - 10/31/2023
- 19+ Creative Birthday Money Gifts - 08/04/2023
AmieJo says
Thank you for having me do a guest post.