Inspire your child’s cre­ativ­i­ty with these Christ­mas-themed edu­ca­tion­al activ­i­ties for tod­dlers. We com­piled a list of our favorite hol­i­day activ­i­ties that are easy to set up and designed for younger chil­dren. Browse our list and then reach out to us on Face­book or Twit­ter to share your family’s fun Christ­mas traditions. 

Count the Ornaments

There’s no bet­ter time to prac­tice count­ing than when there are lots of shiny, sparkling dec­o­ra­tions to catch the eye. These print­able, sim­ple math mats, encour­age your child to hone his or her count­ing skill. Choose the one that best match­es your child’s skill lev­el, whether that’s count­ing to 10, 20, adding, or subtracting.

Get the print­a­bles from A Lit­tle Pinch of Per­fect.

Old Crayon Ornaments

Ask for your child’s help with this col­or­ful and cre­ative Christ­mas project. This project takes old crayons and trans­forms them into stun­ning orna­ments for your Christ­mas tree. Your child will enjoy peel­ing the labels off crayons and trac­ing cir­cles on wax paper. This is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to team up with your child to make some­thing fun.

Learn more at The Kinder­garten Con­nec­tion.

Candy Cane Guessing Game

Try this exer­cise over a few days to build your child’s esti­ma­tion and count­ing skills. Set out sev­er­al plas­tic jars filled with can­dy canes. Attach a label with the num­ber of can­dy canes on the front of the first few jars. For exam­ple, your first jar might hold one can­dy cane, the sec­ond might hold three. On the last jar, add a “?” label and ask your fam­i­ly to guess how many can­dy canes are inside. This is some­thing you can repeat with dif­fer­ent can­dy cane amounts in the days lead­ing up to Christmas. 

See how this is used in a class­room set­ting at PreKinders.

Christmas Tree Ball Sort

This Christ­mas tree is a fun way for your child to prac­tice motor skills. Just grab some felt, a bas­ket, and col­or­ful toy balls to assem­ble this sort­ing tree. The goal is for your child to select a ball and drop it through the sim­i­lar­ly col­ored hole in the tree. 

For more details, vis­it I Can Teach My Child.

Christmas Tree Paper Craft

Break out the kids’ scis­sors and prac­tice cut­ting skills with this paper project. After help­ing your child cut out rec­tan­gles from con­struc­tion paper, have them arrange the rec­tan­gles accord­ing to size. The longer pieces make up the bot­tom of the Christ­mas tree, while the strips con­tin­ue to decrease in length the high­er they’re placed. 

Learn more about the fin­ished project at Messy Lit­tle Mon­ster.

Popsicle Stick Santa

Cre­ate San­ta orna­ments with a few pop­si­cle sticks, paint, cot­ton balls, glue, and a lit­tle imag­i­na­tion. This pro­vides a good oppor­tu­ni­ty to talk about Saint Nick and all the good things he rep­re­sents dur­ing Christ­mas­time, whether or not your fam­i­ly believes in him. 

Check out the fin­ished prod­uct at One Lit­tle Project.

Christmas Tree Number Hunt

Turn your home into a Christ­mas-themed scav­enger hunt with this fun activ­i­ty. Sim­ply cut out pieces of con­struc­tion paper, draw a num­ber on each, and hide them around the house. When your child finds a num­ber, have them say the num­ber out loud. You can extend the activ­i­ty to prac­tice shape and col­or iden­ti­fi­ca­tion as well by cut­ting and hid­ing dif­fer­ent shapes and col­ors of paper.

Go to Cre­ative Fam­i­ly Fun for more information.

Gingerbread Playdough

This play­dough smells so good you’ll want to eat it! (Don’t.) The recipe calls for basic ingre­di­ents you prob­a­bly already have in your kitchen. It takes only a few min­utes to make but pro­vides hours of fun for your kids.

Get the recipe at Hous­ing a For­est.

Glitter Pen Stars

These star orna­ments are fun to make and look great on the Christ­mas tree. They require glit­ter pens and glue, so be sure to help your child keep the mess to a min­i­mum. Keep these orna­ments sim­ple, or ful­ly cus­tomize them for each mem­ber of the family. 

Read the instruc­tions at Pow­er­ful Moth­er­ing.

Want More Kid-Friendly Crafts?

Head on over to the Jel­lies blog for ideas on how to inspire your child’s cre­ativ­i­ty and how to keep your fam­i­ly safe with tech­nol­o­gy. You might also want to down­load the Jel­lies app to con­tin­ue your child’s edu­ca­tion and encour­age their imag­i­na­tion. Our arts and crafts videos show your child how to cre­ate amaz­ing things with the every­day items in your home. Learn more about Jel­lies at jel​liesapp​.com.