Keep Your Elf Busy: 10 Holiday Activities for Toddlers

Christmas is approaching fast and it can be easy to get swept-up in an endless list of things to do. If you have a toddler this holiday, like everything else, it gets even more crazy! If we aren’t careful we can can get so bogged down with moving that elf on the shelf that we  miss out on enjoying the holiday season with our own little elves! Slow down and soak in the simple joys of holiday parenting with one of these simple seasonal activities for toddlers.

10 Holiday Activities for Toddlers

1. Moonlit Holiday Stroll: Take an after dark walk through your neighborhood to look at the Christmas lights, or just the moon and stars! Bring a flashlight or make a toddler sage lantern by placing a battery operated tea-light in a clear plastic cup.Hot chocolate is (not) optional.
2. Plant paperwhite or amaryllis bulbs in pots indoors, and watch as they rapidly grow and bloom.
3. Bake Christmas Cookies: Roll out cookie dough and let your toddler use cookie cutters to shape them and sprinkles to decorate. Bake first and once cooled frost and decorate them together if you wish!
4. Winter Sensory Bin:  Combine pinecones, cinnamon sticks, cotton balls (to approximate snow) and small seasonal decorations that are safe for your child to handle in a lidded container or plastic storage bin. Sensory bins are endless fun for toddlers and can be varied to use whatever you have on hand.
5. Make a collection of winter and holiday books that you pick from each day to read.
6. Start an advent calendar tradition to count down to Christmas, if you celebrate.
7. Pick a night to introduce your child to a classic holiday film, and make it a “sleepunder,” where you set up sleeping bags or blankets on the floor of the living room for the movie, then transfer to bed.
8. Pick a date to have breakfast for dinner, then take a drive in PJs to look at holiday lights.
9. If it snows where you are, set a bowl outside to collect it, then bring it in to explore with spoons and maybe some watercolors and a paintbrush.
10. If you celebrate Christmas, make a felt Christmas tree for your toddler to decorate as they like. The same effect could be achieved with a felt menorah or even snowflakes on a winter scene.

I’d love to hear the ways you have celebrated the season with your little ones!