Activities for throughout December

[bingsulaflop]

I'm putting together a little Christmas related/December activities box together for my little boy for throughout December.

So far I've got, Santa letter and posting it out, colour in Christmas cards for family and friends, Christmas colouring book, dvd afternoon with hot chocolate, Christmas cupcake set to make cakes..

All ideas welcome please?! What are your traditions?

He's 3 so would have to be age appropriate

We're already doing Santa visits this year.

Thank you

Baker Ross have a few nice activity packs for that age. I've got a few for DS (2.5)
Hes loved making Hedgehog Decorations and Halloween Monsters but have also got Mini Christmas Trees and Elf Doors for December.

Decorate gingerbread man/house, make a christmas bauble, make paper chain decorations

Paint your own ornament/money box
Gingerbread house
Make a window display eg. Put on snowflake stickers, put up lights etc.
Xmas light bingo (might find some printable from pinterest, nice to take around and tick off if u view neighbourhoods lights)
Make a snowman with white playdoh, and accessories like buttons, card, pipecleaners and stuff
Make an 'elfie' stick a photo of their face on an elf print out.

Is anywhere near you doing a Christmas show for children? We took our daughter to a showing of Dear Santa at the theatre last Christmas, she was 3 at the time. It was less than an hour long I think as aimed at little kids and was only in a small space not a huge theatre. She loved it and it was really Christmasy.

Christmas light safari. North Pole breakfast. Polar express/grinch movie themed film nights. I do green food for the grinch and serve hot chocolate for polar express and also have polar express tickets.

Pebble painting
Carol service

Help choose the Christmas tree and bring it home.
Decorate the Christmas tree
Decorate a paper plate on which to leave Santa’s cookie/mince pie

When DD was three we put Christmas songs in her (refillable) advent calendar along with chocolates. A mixture of carols and pop songs. Each day DH and I would sing one to her (becoming more and more dramatic in our interpretations), now ours are 8 and 6 they join in too and have their own favourite songs and actions (e.g. when we sing We Three Kings we have to run around the dining table at the beginning of each chorus yelling the "OOOOOOH" bit). Sometimes new lyrics are introduced after misunderstandings in previous years e.g. the Mariah Carey classic "All I want for Christmas is poooo"

We also have a wooden children's nativity set, but through advent baby Jesus is wrapped up like a present. He also goes missing every day and has to be found. Sometimes clues are left. On Christmas eve just before bed, or on Christmas day morning we unwrap him.

Painting pine cones as decorations is a favourite still, especially if I feel brave enough to let the glitter out!

Making mince pies. The DC particularly like cutting out little shapes of pastry for the tops. We started with stars but sometimes now other less festive shapes including cars and boats make their way onto the pies.

We also do lots of other small things e.g. porridge through the year has raisins in, but in advent it has cranberries and bedtime stories have a christmassy theme.

Christmas cooking contests

Try one of those 'X days of Christmas' calendars maybe? There are ideas for everyday and there are tons of those plans on Pinterests and other websites.
Besides, you can make your own decorations or do Christmas collages or slideshows and then have a contest of those.

At that age my grandson helped me make mince pies.

We make shoeboxes of gifts to send to Samaritans my Making or icing gingerbread men and house! Decorating including snowy stencils for windows and cutting out snowflakes by folding paper etc. I take my child to choose one new decoration for the tree every year. I also take him to see the Nutcracker ballet live f cx every year and we also watch the Muppet Christmas Carol and Elf and Home Alone!

Local craft place to paint a decoration/plate.
Drive around to see Christmas lights.
Children’s carol concert.
Choose a Christmas decoration from the garden centre.
Go with you to choose a gift for Daddy and vice versa.
Read a festive book (fills several days) such as the Christmas bear/stick man/the jolly Christmas postman.
Ice biscuits.
Flask of hot chocolate at the park.
Deliver a £1 advent calendar to a lonely neighbour.
Christmas bath bomb.
Glow stick bath.
Sing Christmas songs.

Last year I made mini gingerbread houses with my three year old using 3 malted milk biscuits in a pyramid using icing and decorating with sweets. Much quicker and easier than a gingerbread house and suited his attention span

I love this. We
Do something similar for our children but proving increasingly difficult as the eldest gets older (15 now).

Ideas we've done are:
Making Xmas cards
Christmas film and hot chocolate
Christmas theatre trip or panto
Making a Xmas wreath
Christmas baking
Breakfast with Santa trip at local garden centre
Visit to Xmas illuminations (NT site)
Put up the Xmas tree
Writing Xmas list with Xmas songs on

oh these are all really sweet!

some other ideas include:

• ginger bread cookies / house
• walk / drive to see Christmas lights
• make a wreath - cut out 20 or 30 hand shapes from your 3yr old, and paste in a circle
• choose, or buy, a toy to donate to a wishing tree
• make wrapping paper = paint onto butchers paper

The activities @Sweetener12 posted are fun and easy.

We made a free kindness advent Calendar last year - maybe try that with your child or a daily activity?