30 Christmas Activities for Families to Do Together at Home
Kindlyra TeamShare this guide
The best part of Christmas for most children isn't the presents. It's the time together. These Christmas activities for families work for toddlers through teens, most cost little or nothing, and many become traditions you'll repeat every December.
At-home Christmas activities
- Bake and decorate cookies. Let the kids design their own.
- Build a gingerbread house. A kit or homemade, the mess is part of the fun.
- Make paper snowflakes and hang them in the windows.
- Have a Christmas film marathon with blankets and popcorn.
- Write letters to Santa or to Christmas next year.
- Make homemade ornaments from salt dough, pinecones or felt.
- Read a Christmas story every night of Advent.
- Hold a family talent show on Christmas Eve.
- Wrap gifts together with homemade wrapping paper.
- Do a Christmas puzzle as a family.
Outdoor Christmas activities
- Go on a Christmas lights walk or drive.
- Visit a Christmas market, a highlight in Germany, Austria and across Europe, and increasingly in US cities too.
- Pick out a real tree together.
- Go ice skating.
- Build a snowman, or a "leaf man" if there's no snow.
- Collect pinecones and greenery for decorations.
- Go on a winter nature hunt for frost, berries and animal tracks.
Screen-free science activities
- Look at snowflakes up close. Catch them on dark fabric and look quickly with a magnifier or pocket microscope. The Little Explorer Pocket Microscope zooms 60x–120x and can be held to a phone camera to photograph what you find.
- Examine frost, pine needles and tree bark under a microscope.
- Grow salt or sugar crystals on a string.
- Make a "melting snowman" experiment with baking soda and vinegar.
- Spot winter constellations on a clear night.
For more ideas, see 30 things to look at under a kids' microscope.
Kindness and giving activities
- Fill a shoebox for a children's charity appeal.
- Make cards for neighbors or a local care home.
- Donate toys and clothes the kids have outgrown.
- Bake for someone who lives alone.
- Video-call a relative who can't be there, and let the kids show off their decorations.
Memory-making activities
- Choose the family's "moment of the year." Watch back the year's videos together and pick a favorite. Load it onto a Glowmory™ Memory Ornament, which plays it on a loop through a small round screen inside a glowing ornament, and hang it on the tree.
- Take a Christmas photo in the same spot every year.
- Write a family "year in review": best moments, funniest moments and wishes for next year.
Activities by age
| Age | Try |
|---|---|
| Toddlers (1–3) | Paper snowflakes, lights walk, story every night |
| Kids (4–8) | Cookie baking, snowflake science, homemade ornaments |
| Tweens (9–12) | Gingerbread house, crystal growing, talent show |
| Teens | Christmas market, film marathon, kindness projects |
| Whole family | Moment of the year, same-spot photo, year in review |
Frequently asked questions
What are fun Christmas activities to do at home with kids?
Cookie baking, homemade ornaments, a film marathon, paper snowflakes and simple science like looking at frost and snowflakes up close.
What are free Christmas activities for families?
Lights walks, nature hunts, letters to Santa, a story every night, a family talent show and kindness projects all cost nothing.
How can we make Christmas less about screens?
Plan hands-on activities: baking, crafts, outdoor walks and science with a magnifier or pocket microscope.
Make this the Christmas they remember. Read our Christmas family traditions to start this year or Christmas Eve box ideas.
Hosting a holiday party? Our guide to Christmas ornament exchange ideas has simple rules, swap games and ornaments to bring.
