It's December already!! How did that happen?! The countdown to Christmas has officially begun and if you’re stuck for ideas to keep the little ones entertained until the big man comes, keep reading... here are 10 ideas of things you can do with your toddlers this Christmas season.
Last year I did an advent calendar type thing for Little Miss Heidi and each day up until 24th December we did something Christmassy, these are the top 10 things that were a big hit and they are back on the list for this year!
Make Christmas Cards
This is a good one to do at the beginning of December and it's a task that you can do throughout the day. It's a great one to get the little ones involved. Heidi loves arts and crafts and helping me post the cards. We made Reindeers out of her feet, they looked amazing and it was quick and easy to do! Everyone loved their card too!
Do you fancy making some of these? All you need is:
- Some White Card
- Brown and Red Paint
- A Sponge Dabber (For Rudolphs Nose)
- A Paper Plate or Paint Brush (We used a plate and placed her foot into the paint but you could paint the feet instead)
- A Black Pen
Do Christmas Baking
We love to bake in this house and one of the Christmas favourites were making melting snowman biscuits, they were super easy and Little Miss could do the majority of the decorating by herself, which is great if you have an independent little one like me! Not one for baking? No worries, just buy a pack of digestives and just do the decorating, it's a great activity to keep them entertained without having to make and wait for the biscuits to bake.
Decorate the Tree
It wouldn't be Christmas without a Christmas Tree, would it?! We always put our Christmas Tree up the first weekend in December. Each year we each pick out a new decoration for the tree. In our house putting the tree up is a family affair, everyone helps decorate even though it drives my OCD mad!. Little Miss gets the very important job of placing the star on top of the tree. Every year we've taken a picture of her at the tree and it's a lovely keepsake to look back each year to see how much she's grown!
Visit Santa
I have taken Heidi to meet Santa every year since she was born, last year she was so excited but when she actually met him, she didn't say anything. However she's asked to see him again this year, she's 3 now and this has been the first year she's been properly excited about Santa. We normally take her to meet Santa at a Christmas market or something so we can make a family day out of it.
Watch Christmas Films
Nothing quite beats cosying up on the couch when it's freezing outside, with a blanket, some popcorn and a hot chocolate with a good Christmas movie on the T.V. We love a movie afternoon/evening in this house and I love watching the Christmas films that I loved when I was little with my little girl.
Make Christmas Decorations
One year we made these little Snowmen decorations, I love them! Such a cute little activity to do too, I did these one afternoon with Little Miss and her two best friends and they all loved them. I loved making these with them because they could make them with little assistance, again great if your little one is independent! They make the cutest addition to our mantle at Christmas. If you fancy making these you will need:
- White Socks
- A Black Sock (or whatever colour you fancy)
- Scissors
- Black and Orange Felt Pen (I used a Sharpie)
- Elastic Bands
- Rice (You can use whatever you want to fill them but we used rice)
Go and Look at Christmas Lights
Is there anything better than driving about or going for a walk once its dark and admiring all of the different Christmas lights? Nothing quite like it to get into the festive spirit.
Make Reindeer Food
We did this for the first time last year and we did this on Christmas Eve. It doesn't take too long. There are so many different recipes out there and you can pretty much add in what you like for making Reindeer food but I didn't want to put glitter or anything in ours as I was aware that the birds would eat them. So we just mixed oats and different mixed bird feed.
Go To The Panto
This is a family tradition of ours and we've gone every year since Heidi was born and last year she loved it so much we booked to see the same Panto again before New Year. It's such a lovely day out for all the family.
Christmas Eve Traditions
I love Christmas Eve and our family traditions and I think it's a great thing to start whilst your little one is still little. We started our traditions the year Heidi was born even though she was only 3 months old her first Christmas. Our Christmas Eve goes a little like this...
- On the day we bake cookies to leave out for Santa that night
- We go for a walk in the afternoon and do some Christmas crafts
- In the evening we tend to have a treat tea and get showered and into PJs early to cosy on the couch to watch our Christmas Eve movie with a cup of hubby's famous hot chocolate and whatever treat has been left in the Christmas Eve box
- We got Heidi a Christmas Eve box her first Christmas and every year it comes with a new pair of pj's (in this house we always having matching pj's on Christmas eve... the hubby loves it!) a treat for watching our Christmas eve movie
- We always watch the Santa Clause (our all-time FAVOURITE Christmas Film), and the Night Before Christmas Book, we read this before she goes to sleep
- Before bed, we go outside and sprinkle reindeer food and ring the bell for Santa to hear and last but not least we leave out treats for Santa and Rudolph before heading off to bed.
So there we have it my top 10 Christmas activities. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
