Felt Christmas Tree: This Felt Christmas Tree kit is a fun and crafty way for your kids to make their own mini 2D Christmas tree. They will have so much fun decorating it with all the little felt ornaments by themselves or with friends/siblings! Get crafty together!
WHAT MAKES A PERFECT CHRISTMAS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY?
Christmas is probably the most wonderful and joyful time of the year! Despite the cold weather, it’s a time when friends and families get together and spend quality time with each other. We can see all the magical lights in the cities and the sparkle in our children’s eyes. And let’s not forget the gift giving part of it which kids love the most! Christmas can also be the perfect opportunity for parents to teach beneficial lessons to their little ones such as patience, love, family, friendship and teamwork!
Why are teamwork skills important for children?
Activities that involve teamwork are so crucial to children’s development as it helps them to understand others, work together to reach a goal, build friendships and communicate. In this case, kids can practice teamwork though playing Christmas games together, putting up decorations with the whole family or getting crafty to build and make Christmas related things! By working as a team, kids develop life skills like problem-solving, listening, leadership and creative thinking. They can also develop higher levels of self-confidence, self-esteem, empathy, and compassion.
So try to incorporate teamwork by involving your kids in everything you do at home- whether its playing Christmas games, making art together, doing chores or anything else!
What are some great Christmas activities you can do at home with your kids & family?
Christmas printables:
Printables are one of the best ways to keep your kids occupied for hours! Not only is it so fun for them but it’s also educational as it helps develop their motor skills, confidence, imagination and creativity. It’s a great way for kids to express themselves and enjoy quality time with siblings, friends or even with you parents during the festive season!
Here are a few of our FREE Christmas printables you can download and print at home:
- 6 pages full of fun Christmas characters and objects to colour in, cut out and stick anywhere your kids like!
- Christmas Tree with cut out ornaments- your kids have to colour in the tree and all the decorations and then cut and stick the decorations all over the Christmas tree.
- A Christmas Card that you can print on some white card at home and your kids can colour in and give it to their best friend, brother or sister or mum & dad!
- 9 Christmas activity pages such as colouring, writing a letter to Santa and much more!
- 14 Christmas academic Maths pages to learn numbers, count, solve equations etc.
Christmas movies for the family to watch together:
- Home Alone (1990)- About a young kid who’s accidentally left by himself when the whole family was supposed to travel to Paris together. He has an adventure at home until he has to protect the house from two crazy and clumsy robbers!
Christmas crafts you can make at home:
- Christmas Wooden Ornaments Colouring Kit: Instead of buying ready made baubles and other hangings for your tree, get this DIY Christmas colouring kit that will improve your child’s creativity and imagination. They will love to sit down with you and colour these beautiful wooden ornaments and you can see the sparkle in their eyes when they hang them up and are proud of the end result!
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Felt Christmas Tree: This Felt Christmas Tree kit is a fun and crafty way for your kids to make their own mini 2D Christmas tree. They will have so much fun decorating it with all the little felt ornaments by themselves or with friends/siblings! Get crafty together!
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Family Handprint Xmas Tree: A fun and simple activity for the whole family. Each family member should trace both hands on green coloured card and then cut it out. Arrange the hands and layer them in order from smallest to biggest – the smallest being the top of the tree to the biggest being the bottom of the tree. Now you have a Christmas tree made from all your hands!
Christmas team building activities & games
- 7 simple and entertainingteam building activities for the whole family! Choose from various activities/games like the Christmas Stocking Race, Secret Santa Millionaires, Jingle All The Way Scavenger Hunt and more!
- Button Button- the simplest game that is quite thrilling and makes the kids think and question their guess! All you need is a button! Choose a red or green button to match the festive Christmas theme. Best for kids aged 3-7.
- Snowman Pass The Parcel- This pass the parcel has 8 awesome gifts for kids like puzzles, bookmark, notebook, mini bowling set and more! Kids need to pass the ball around the circle of players and unwrap a layer to reveal one of the cool gifts!
- Musical Chairs- Count the number of kids/parents who want to play this game. There should be the same amount of chairs as there are players, but take away 1 chair. Arrange all the chairs in two rows, back to back and play some fun Christmas music. The children have to walk/move clockwise in a line, around the chairs and when a designated person pauses the music, players have to quickly sit down in a chair. The last person standing (who wasn’t able to find a chair) loses and has to sit out of the game. After each round, 1 chair has to be removed until there’s only 1 chair left with 2 kids walking around it. The last person who’s able to sit down wins the game!
- Musical Statues- This game is challenging but really exciting and slightly similar to the previous game. The players have to spread out around the room and dance/move around as the Christmas music is playing. When the music stops, the children have to stay as still as a statue! Whoever moves loses and the last person standing wins!
- Inflatable Reindeer Antler Ring Toss- Such an exciting game for kids to play with their friends, siblings or the whole family during your Christmas party! One person can wear the inflatable reindeer headpiece and the other player has to throw the inflatable tyres onto the reindeer’s antlers!
Christmas gift ideas for your kids under age 8!
These kids have been specially chosen as they are perfect for promoting teamwork with your kids!
- Children’s Wooden 4-in-1 Double Sided Rotary Easel- Give your kids hours of entertainment this Christmas with this awesome rotary easel for them to draw on and get creative! Their imagination and artistic skills can develop through painting and colouring, as well as their gross motor skills improving!
- Mosaic Puzzle with DIY Drill Screw Driver- This makes the perfect Christmas present, especially for your little boys who love to fix things! They can be mini DIY technicians while creating cool colourful shapes and screwing them together!
- Children’s Wooden Bear Balancing/Stacking Blocks- The most adorable educational toys and Christmas gifts for babies and toddlers, with bright colours to improve their brain development! These stacking bears also great for sensory play and improve their hand-eye coordination. Have a special bonding time with your little ones stacking the bears up together and enjoying balancing them on top of each other until they fall!
- I Believe in Myself Digital Designs- A digital file of our adorable designs that you can print from the comfort of your own home! Your kids can choose where they want the design, such as framing and hanging them in their bedroom! An inspiring set of designs that remind your little ones of their worth!
We hope you and your little ones can benefit from all these ideas during the festive season and that you have the best and most wonderful Christmas with the whole family, making many unforgettable memories! Let us know in the comments below if you used any of our ideas and what activities you did with your kids!
Make sustainable Christmas crafts for toddlers with natural resources
Christmas time is a wonderful time to think about your carbon footprint and reduce waste. We’ve come up with these 11 ideas for sustainable Christmas crafts for toddlers so you can have an eco-friendly summer.
1. Painted pine cones
Painted pine cones make magical Christmas decorations. Decorate with non-toxic homemade paint and some eco-friendly glitter made out of epsom salt or sugar and natural food colouring.
2. Christmas tree shell ornaments
Collect washed up shells on your next family walk along the beach. Drill a hole in the shell. Use homemade paint, glue and glitter to decorate.
Show your child how to thread reused twine or curling ribbon from last Christmas through the hole to make a loop. Tie it off and hang on the Christmas tree.
3. Twig star Christmas crafts for toddlers
Collect fallen twigs from the back yard or local park. Bind together in the shape of a star with reused twine or string. Decorate to your heart’s content. Stick on flowers, homemade pom-poms, glitter and paper sequins.
4. Nativity scene from twigs
Your toddler will love this cool Christmas idea which uses twigs to make a homemade nativity scene. Reuse old wool, string or hot glue and cardboard to glue and hold your twig barn together.
You can also make the crib out of twigs as well as the Christmas characters or invite your child to add their favourite toys to the nativity scene.
Christmas ideas for reusing old paper packaging and cards
Christmas crafts for toddlers can encourage them to begin using scissors. Learning to cut develops children’s fine motor skills.
5. Reuse paper bags and packaging for Christmas paper
One of our favourite things is brown-paper packaging. Recycle your brown paper bags into Christmas paper. You could also use old newspapers and magazines for this activity.
Wrap your present up the usual way, then decorate the outside with fallen ferns, leaves, seeds and flowers. Use glue or clear sticky tape to stick the natural material down.
You could also let your preschooler or toddler paint and decorate the paper just the way you want it before wrapping up the gifts. Let it dry before wrapping up your presents.
6. Use old paper for Christmas tree decorations.
Cut out and decorate Christmas-themed shapes like trees, stars, stockings and candy canes. Punch a hole at the top and tie to your tree or other places in your house using wool, twine or string.
7. Make a recycled paper chain from old cards.
That old pile of cards will make ideal Christmas crafts for toddlers. You’ll also need scissors and a stapler.
Cut the cards into strips with roughly even widths and lengths. Your child can choose the strips for you to put together if they’re not yet ready to handle a stapler.
When you have assembled a long enough chain, you can hang it up and decorate your room, or put it around your tree.
More eco-friendly Christmas decoration ideas
8. Egg carton Christmas characters.
Before you throw out that egg carton, it can be used for Christmas decoration ideas. Turn your egg cartons into elves, reindeers, Santa, three wise men and a Christmas angel.
9. Use spare bendable cardboard for Christmas cards.
Cereal boxes are great for turning into recycled cards. Use scissors to cut one side of the cereal box into a square or rectangular shape. Use a plain colour to paint over the printed area.
When the paint has dried, bend the cardboard in half to make the card. Decorate it using more colour, flowers, ferns, eco-glitter or other cut-out shapes.
10. Reuse old jars for snow globes.
Collect and clean jam, Vegemite, peanut butter or sauce jars with their lids for this Christmas craft idea. An adult will need to stick the chosen plastic ornament to adorn the inside of the globe with a hot glue gun or epoxy.
Glycerin or mineral oil will help the “glitter snow” slow down. Try shell grit (from the beach) or crushed up clean (no attached membrane) white eggshells for snow.
11. Paddle pop Christmas craft characters
Summer in Australia means popsicles! Instead of throwing away your popsicle sticks, reuse them for Christmas craft characters. You can turn these into many different characters with some felt or recycled material from old clothes and some markers or paint. Your toddlers will have fun making:
- Elves
- Santa
- Reindeer
- Scrooge
- Snowmen
- Christmas trees
- Stars
- Tinman
- Angels
- Wise men
- Various animals.
Hang them up with a bit of string or use some clay at the bottom to make them stand up.
