25 Christmas Countdown Activities {Free Printable!}

I love December. I love countdowns. I love Christmas! Roll it all together and you have… Advent Calendar Countdowns!! Christmas countdown activities are one of the best parts of the season.

A few years ago, I did a 24-day Bloggy Advent Calendar– it was so much work, I must have had just one kid at the time or something! The ideas from those posts are still great for kids of all ages, so I’ve collected them here in one post.

Also, I’ve created a printable of these activities as Christmas Countdown Cards for you to enjoy at home with your kids. The printable is FREE and you can grab it at the end of this post!

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25 Fun, Engaging Christmas Countdown Activities for Kids

1. Hang Framed Holiday Prints

Let the kids help you decorate the house for a festive mood. Use a free program like PicMonkey, Canva, or any word processing app to create and print a fun Christmas quote from a movie, a line from a Christmas carol, or Bible verses, and hang it up!

BONUS: Snag these 10 Advent Scripture Verse Cards in my Etsy shop!

2. Sing Favorite Christmas Carols

With online streaming radio and local stations that play Christmas songs 24/7 from Thanksgiving until New Year’s, it’s easy to sing your excitement about Christmas! My oldest son used to ask for “Kiss-Miss Moo-Sick!” every day in December. Sing all day or choose a specific time each day to sing together.

3. Decorate the Tree with Special Ornaments

While that Christmas music is playing: Deck the Halls! Growing up, our family got a personalized ornament to show the various ways we had changed. Now, we also love to buy ornaments when we travel, and as we decorate, they take us down memory lane!

Here’s an idea for a DIY stained glass ornament kids can make!

4. Wear Cute Christmas Outfits

I am into dressing for the holidays! You could go for the Ugly Christmas Sweater. But there are so many cute ways to dress for Christmas! A snowman shirt? Elf hats? When the boys were babies, I always got them a Christmas cloth diaper!

5. Fill the Stockings

My sister and I used to enjoy finding wacky items to fill each other’s stockings. Hubby and I still fill a stocking for each other – mostly with yummy snacks! Get stocking stuffer ideas, stocking stuffer ideas for kids, and more stocking stuffer ideas!

6. Open a Gift Early

I like to let the kids open something small on Christmas Eve. Some families unwrap pajamas for wearing on Christmas Eve, so everyone wakes up in their new jammies on Christmas morning. Maybe throw in a surprise small gift half way through the month. Anything to make the month more fun!

Christmas Countdown Activities You can Eat

7. Bake Christmas Cookies

Cut out cookies like thumbprint and gingersnaps are great choices for little ones! One year I said to my son, “Let’s decorate the house!” He said: “Decorate COOKIES!” He’s continued to say this any time I mentioned decorating! It’s hard to say no to cookies.

8. Eat Chocolate

Pick up beautiful molded chocolates in Christmas motifs. Place one at each dish at the dinner table one night for a sweet treat! Or, you can easily make your own molded chocolate with Christmas themed silicone molds!

9. Decorate a Gingerbread House

You can get great gingerbread house kits at most stores! Gingerbread house kits let you enjoy Christmas fun without the prep! (It’s a little disheartening to buy bags of candies only to use 5-6 pieces!).

Find out the creative way we used our gingerbread house once Christmas was over!

10. Drink a Holiday Beverage

Many Christmas events are outdoors, so taking a hot beverage is a great idea! Grab your favorite insulated beverage bottle (link to our favorite!) and take along tea or hot chocolate on your chilly outdoor adventures. If you aren’t going anywhere, you can put together a hot chocolate stand in your kitchen with yummy add-ins. (Marshmallows, chopped candy canes, flavored coffee creamer, etc.)

Christmas Countdown Activities – Books, Music, and More!

11. Read a Christmas Book

We’ve done the Book A Day Advent Calendar in the past. Now we keep all the Christmas and winter books in a basket by the couch or displayed on the buffet table for browsing! Ultimately, the books get pulled out over and over again throughout the season.

Find my entire list of suggested books here. Our family favorite is The Berenstain Bears Get Ready For Christmas Lift-a-Flap book.

12. Read the Christmas Story

We read a lot of Christmas books, but one we save until Christmas Eve is The Christmas Story According to Luke. It’s the actual Bible scripture story with illustrations. It’s a perfect, calming routine for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day! You can also read it mid-month as a reminder of the reason for the season.

13. Tell the Christmas Story in Felt

Take a break from books to retell the Christmas story with vivid felt story pieces from Betty Lukens. These pre-cut felt story sets are ready to use immediately! Tell and retell the birth of Christ from various perspectives. Sometimes I focus on Mary and Joseph, sometimes on the shepherds… Kids can place the pictures onto the felt storyboard themselves.

Here’s 4 creative ways to tell the Christmas story with your kids.

14. Go to a Christmas Concert

Churches and schools offer free or inexpensive Christmas concerts all month long. Every one I’ve attended has been delightful! Be sure to wear something festive (see above!). Check your local events calendar to find something that fits your budget and your schedule.

15. Watch a Christmas Movie

Great for a weekend! Stay inside, snuggle with the kids, and have a Christmas family movie night. Here are some of our favorites (links to instant streaming movies):

• A Muppet’s Christmas Carol
• Angela’s Christmas
• Charlie Brown Christmas
• Christmas in Connecticut
• Christmas Oranges
• I Heard the Bells
• It’s a Wonderful Life
• Elf (some mature language, 8+ recommended)
• The Best Worst Christmas Pageant Ever
• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
• The Man Who Invented Christmas
• The Star (so many laughs, and endearing moments!)
• White Christmas

Hands-on Christmas Countdown Activities for Kids

16. Make Christmas Crafts

When the boys were little, “crafts” consisted mainly of coloring, stickers, and an occasional hand-print stamp! One year we made Christmas trees out of painted handprints – a bit messy, but it turned out well! I also enjoy sewing goodies for the boys, like crayon rolls or car rolls for taking small vehicles traveling over the river and through the woods! Click HERE for a list of Christmas crafts we have tried throughout the years.

17. Create Christmas Cards

Let the kids design their own cards with stamps, stickers, or drawings. To save on stamps, give them half a card (4.25”x5.5” unfolded) to design and slip it into your own cards). Or use old Christmas cards to make DIY Upcycled Cards!

18. Make an Ornament

Every year we try to have the kids make an ornament. I’m saving them for posterity! Don’t you love pulling out ornaments you made as a child? Keep it simple, like twisting pipe cleaners into candy canes, or decorating a paper tree with sticker ornaments! Some years, we just get wooden ornaments and color with markers.

19. Doodle Christmas

I found FREE Christmas coloring pages at Doodle Art Alley – this lady is incredible with her Doodle Art! I can’t believe she’s giving away her coloring pages and ebooks for free!!

20. Play a Christmas Game

Get a bunch of different colored candy canes and have your toddler play a matching game. Or, print out or stamp two sets of Christmas images onto wooden coins, card stock circles or squares. Flip upside down and play Memory. Next, how about hiding candy canes and having the children look for them around the house? Any game that gets the whole family together for fun works for this one.

Giving Back Christmas Countdown Activities for Kids

21. Donate to a Food Bank

Christmas for me has a lot to do with food. When considering how to give this Christmas, a good place to start is giving to a food pantry or food bank or contributing to a local food drive. I’ve read it’s best to give protein items like canned meats, soups, beans, or powdered milk and eggs because those are the most nutritious. Better still, call your local food bank and ask what they need.

22. Donate Toys

For so many children and families, Christmas is not always full of joy and light. Consider packing shoeboxes of gifts for Operation Christmas Child. Or donate to a toy drop off in stores and town centers. The best gifts are the ones we give other people (even when you’re giving on a budget!).

23. Deliver Treats

Package cookies and ornaments and drop off to friends and neighbors! We’ve made easy Chocolate Drizzle Pretzels, or Chocolate Filled Cookie Cutters to give. You’ll bring smiles for sure!

Christmas Countdown Activities – Outings

24. Visit a Nativity Scene

One year, we went to see a live Nativity show! You can also find nativity scenes in front of large churches, or at winter events like Trolley Rides and local zoos or amusement parks.

25. View Christmas Lights

Some parks have light “Fantasias” and neighborhoods sometimes compete for best light décor! A drive through the streets on a winter’s night is a pleasant experience. When my oldest son was young, he used to sing: “Fa-la-LA!… Season…FA-la! FA-LA LA!!” And “MORE LIGHTS!” … every time we got in the car! 

Christmas Countdown Activities Free Printable Cards

I hope you enjoyed these 25 Activities to help you count down to Christmas! To save you time, I’ve created a printable of this list. Fill out the form to download your FREE Advent Countdown Activities Printable. It lists all the above activities (in a nutshell) plus two blank cards to add your own family traditions.

The year I made this, I decorated library pockets with Christmas paper and numbers and hung them up with twine and clothespins. Then I put the activity cards into each pocket. The best part was I could tailor which activity fell on which day, so I put time-intensive activities on weekends.

Share this list to your Christmas Pinterest board now, so you’ll remember it when the time comes!

More Ideas for Giving

Get more ideas for how to give with children year round. Visit the link to get a free printable of “Giving Tree Ornaments” – just print, hole-punch and hang from a mini tree once you’ve completed each item.

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