Christmas Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten by Age

December is busy, and a preschool day can slip away on glitter and noise. You do not need a craft table the size of a classroom. You need a handful of short activities that fit the age in front of you and use what you already have.

This guide sorts Christmas activities by age: 3, 4 and 5 to 6. After the age sections you will find circle time ideas, songs and movement, a calm corner and a week of 15-minute plans. “Preschool and kindergarten” here means ages 3 to 6, whatever your country calls the year groups.

What Christmas activities suit a 3-year-old?

A 3-year-old does best with sticking, sorting, singing and simple pretend play, in sessions of about ten minutes. Make the task one step long and let the child do it badly.

The CDC lists milestones as things most children (75 percent or more) can do by an age. Its 3-year list includes “strings items together, like large beads or macaroni” and “draws a circle, when you show him how”. The activities below sit inside that.

Sticker tree. Draw a big green triangle on paper. Give the child round stickers or small pieces of tape-backed paper to decorate it. Name the colors as they go.

Red and green sort. Cut circles from red and green paper. Put two bowls on the table and ask the child to sort. For a harder round, add a third color.

Pasta garland. Thread a shoelace through a few large pasta tubes. Tape one end so the pasta cannot slide off. This is a small-parts activity, so stay beside the child and skip it for anyone who still puts things in the mouth.

Snowball toss. Scrunch scrap paper into balls and throw them into a laundry basket from a line of tape on the floor. Count the ones that land.

Wrap a box. Give the child an empty box, paper cut to size and a few pieces of tape. Wrapping is hard for small hands, so expect a messy box and praise the trying.

Tip: At age 3, set up one activity at a time and put the rest away. A table with six choices usually ends with none of them finished.

What Christmas activities work for 4-year-olds?

Four-year-olds can follow a story in order, count a handful of objects and cut paper with child-safe scissors under supervision. The CDC 4-year list includes “tells what comes next in a well-known story” and “says some words from a song, story, or nursery rhyme”.

What comes next? Tell a short Christmas story the children know, such as a snowman who melts or a gift that gets wrapped. Stop before the end and ask what happens next. Let two or three children answer.

Paper chain. Cut paper strips ahead of time. Children glue or tape each strip into a loop through the one before. The American Academy of Pediatrics lists cutting with safety scissors and pasting among the hand skills of this age, and says to supervise closely. If scissors are new, cut the strips yourself.

Ornament circles. Draw a circle on a card with a hook at the top. Children decorate it with crayon patterns: stripes, dots, zigzags. Hang the finished ornaments from a string across the wall.

Big, middle, small. Cut three paper stars in three sizes for each child. Ask them to line them up from smallest to biggest, then biggest to smallest.

Count the lights. Draw a string of lights on a long sheet and ask children to color a set number: three red, two blue. Say the numbers aloud together.

What Christmas activities can 5- and 6-year-olds do?

Five- and 6-year-olds can count objects, work with rhymes and write some letters, so give them tasks with a small amount of reading, writing or counting in them. The CDC 5-year list includes counting to 10, recognizing simple rhymes, naming some letters and writing some letters of the name.

Gift tag name writing. Cut tags from card. Write each child’s name in dotted letters and let them trace it, then try it freehand on a second tag. The goal is a few letters done with care.

Rhyme match. Make pairs of picture cards that rhyme: snow and toe, tree and bee, bell and shell. Mix them up and ask children to find the pairs. Say each word aloud before they decide.

Ornament counting. Cut out ten paper ornaments. Hide them around the room. Children find them, bring them to a mat and count them in a row, touching each one as they say its number.

Story in six. Fold a sheet in six squares. Ask children to draw first, next, then, later, almost, last: for example, a snowman being built and melting. They tell the story to a partner.

Measure the ribbon. Give each child a strip of ribbon and a few cubes or paper clips. Ask them how long it is in cubes. Compare with a friend.

How do you run a Christmas circle time?

Run circle time in about ten minutes with one song, one story, one question and one movement. Short and predictable beats long and clever for children aged 3 to 6.

You can reuse the same shape every day and change only the story and the question. Children enjoy knowing what comes next.

What songs and movement games fit Christmas?

Short, repeated songs and actions work best, because even a child who does not yet know the words can join in with the movements. Sing a traditional carol whose tune you know, or make up a new verse with the children’s own ideas.

• Freeze dance. Play a carol. When it stops, children freeze like a snowman. Ask one child to pick the next freeze shape: a tree, a star, a sleeping reindeer.
• Bell walk. Walk slowly in a circle with a shaker or a bell per child. Walk loudly, then quietly, then on tiptoes.
• Reindeer trot. Children trot on the spot, then run to the wall and back when you call the word “go”.
• Gift pass. Pass a wrapped box in a circle while a verse is sung. The child holding it when the verse ends names a color.
• Snow melt. Everyone crouches as small as possible, then slowly stands as a snowman, then melts back to the floor.

Safety note: Clear the floor of toys and keep gentle games to a corner when the group is large. Children aged 3 and 4 tire and get over-excited fast.

How do you make a calm corner for a busy December?

A calm corner is a small, soft place with a few quiet things in it, set aside for any child who needs to slow down. It works best when children know it exists before they need it.

Put a rug or cushions in a corner, away from the door. Add a basket with four or five picture books about winter or the season. Add a tray with playdough, a set of large lacing beads or a few big stickers. Pin up a drawing of a snowman and a prompt: “Take five slow breaths, as if you were blowing on a cup of cocoa.”

Explain the rules in one minute: one or two children at a time, no talking loudly, come back when you are ready. Never use it as a punishment.

For a child who finds a party too loud, a soft toy or a mat to color gives something to hold on to.

What are the safety points for Christmas activities?

Small parts, food and scissors are the three things to check before any Christmas activity with preschool-aged children. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says small parts are a choking, aspiration or ingestion hazard for children under 3.

• Keep buttons, beads, pom-poms and wrapped sweets away from children under 3, and from any child who still puts things in the mouth.
• Ask families about allergies before any food activity. Candy canes, chocolate and cookies often contain nuts, milk or wheat.
• Use child-safe scissors, supervise closely, and cut shapes yourself for the youngest.
• Keep real candles, tinsel and fragile glass ornaments out of reach and use paper or felt ones.

What does a week of 15-minute Christmas activities look like?

A week works well when each day has one main job and one short song. This plan suits a mixed group of children aged 3 to 6, and you can swap in your own favorites.

If you would rather have pages printed and ready, the Seasonal Preschool Activities Bundle has 670 pages for ages 3 to 6, with Christmas as one of its nine sections.

For hands-on dough play, the Play Dough Mats Bundle has 666 pages for ages 2 to 6, including a seasons and holidays section with mats for Christmas and winter. Children roll, press and pinch on the mat. Our guide to fine motor activities by age explains why that helps small hands.

What to do next

1. Choose the age group you are planning for and pick two activities from its section.
2. Cut your paper, tape and sort your materials the evening before, and put each activity in its own tray.
3. Write your circle time on one card: song, story, question, count, movement.
4. Set up the calm corner before the first busy day.
5. See our gingerbread man activities for a themed week, our winter activities for preschool for days with no holiday in them and the Christmas printables for ready-made pages.