Christmas activities for kids

Things to do this month

Ten for December, none of which needs much planning. Pick two or three: a month of small things beats a big one that wears everyone out. They work in snow or in summer sun, so change the coat for a hat if that's where you are.

• Count the sleeps with a chain. Make a paper chain with one loop for each sleep until the day, hang it across a doorway, and let a child take one off at bedtime. A child learning to subtract can say how many are left before they pull.
• Go on a lights walk. After dark, walk a few streets together and hold hands near the road. Count the houses with lights, vote for the silliest, and see who can spot a color nobody else has. An older child can keep the score on a clipboard.
• Read one story a night. Wrap a few books you already own, or pick from the Christmas stories, and open one at bedtime. Let a new reader read you the last page.
• Hold a family game night. Choose two Christmas games, one to run around in and one for the sofa. Let the youngest pick first, and let someone else keep score.
• Make the wrapping paper. A potato stamp turns a paper bag into wrapping paper for almost nothing. Then let a child wrap something on their own. It won't be neat, and that's the charm of it.
• Hang a coloring gallery. Print a few coloring pages, tape them along a hallway at child height, and hold a grand opening with paper tickets. A grandparent makes a very good first visitor.
• Make a snack together. Reindeer Chow and Strawberry Santas are in the Kitchen, with steps a child can do. Check labels for your family's allergies, and for gelatin in marshmallows and sprinkles if that matters in your home.
• Give something away. Pick a toy in good shape to pass on, or draw a card for a neighbor who lives alone, and go along to hand it over. Let the child choose what, and a grown-up handle where.
• Put on a living-room show. Take a story everyone knows, hand out the parts, and hang a blanket for a curtain. A stuffed animal can play anyone who's missing. Ten minutes is plenty, and tickets are optional.
• Take a day off the list. Build a blanket fort from the winter games page and do nothing else. If it's hot where you are, move the sock snowball fight out to the yard.

Questions grown-ups ask

What are good Christmas activities for kids at home?

Simple ones they can do with you: paper crafts, a game after dinner, a story at bedtime, a walk to look at lights. Most of the crafts take under half an hour and use what's in the house.

What can toddlers and preschoolers do?

Tearing, printing and sticking are about right, with a grown-up close by: a torn-paper tree or a fingerprint string of lights. A lights walk in a stroller counts too. Keep small things like ornament hooks and buttons out of reach of anyone under 3.

We don't celebrate Christmas at home. What here is for us?

Some families don't celebrate Christmas, and that's fine. The crafts work as winter crafts if you skip the reindeer and the Santa, and the winter games are all about snow and cold days. A class with a mix of families can do the same.

What does Peabody say when a child asks about Santa?

Many children hear stories about Santa, and every family tells them its own way. If a child asks in Ask Peabody or in Talk, the answer is always the same: "Lots of families have their own Santa stories. Ask your grown-up about yours." A child using Peabody alone is told to ask a grown-up they trust.

Do any of these use candles or anything that lights up?

No. There are no real candles or flames in the crafts or the list on this page, and nothing that needs a battery. The string of lights on the crafts page is fingerprints on paper.

Is there a Christmas video game on Peabody?

Not a whole one. Stage 24 of Dip & Dash is Christmas Town, with snowy streets and twinkling lights. The arcade's other games aren't Christmas games, and the ones to play for real are written out on the Christmas games page.

Is this free?

Yes. Peabody is free through the end of 2026, with no ads and no sign-up to start playing.