Christmas Activities
Your baby and Christmas
Talk to and involve your baby in your preparations for Christmas – they love to hear the sound of your voice. Let them touch and feel decorations. Show them Christmas lights and their reflection in...
Light show
Babies love lights and will follow them with their eyes. Dim the lights indoors and have fun with a little torch. Show your baby how the light can dance on the wall or ceiling. If they are old...
Christmas songs
Sing Christmas songs with your child. It doesn't matter that they don't really know what's going on, they will know that it's a special time. If you don't know the Christmas songs well, listen...
Five little snowmen
Watch this simple rhyme about "five little snowmen" and learn the hand movements to go with it. Your baby will love hearing your voice and seeing you do the movements. For another version of...
Finger painting
Let your child paint with their fingers. Finger painting is an enjoyable and messy activity. Cover a table or tray with newspapers or a waterproof table cloth, and give your child a little bit of...
Santa where are you
Watch the video above together and see where Santa pops up. Your child will be learning words like "under", "in" and "on". When you sing it yourself later, you can add other words like "behind" ,...
Letter to santa
Help your child to write a letter to Santa. Talk to them about what they want to say. At this age they may only make marks on the page, and you can interpret them for Santa. You can look up the...
The snowman
I wonder has it snowed where you are recently? Here's a video story about two children who build a snowman. For quiet time, sit your child on your lap and listen to the story together. Follow the...
Christmas cards
Making Christmas cards is fun and shows your child that you can send messages by drawing and writing. There is no proper way to make a Christmas card. What you make with your child will be unique...
Toilet rolls!
The cardboard tubes at the centre of toilet rolls (or paper towel rolls) are an excellent craft material. Here are just a few ideas of things to make with them. Wrist watches for toddlers (an...
Snowflakes
Most children love snow, but have they ever looked closely at a snowflake? Snowflakes are crystallized water droplets and they are beautiful. You can really only see how beautiful they are under a...
Advent calendar
Make an Advent calendar with your child. You can use the calendar to show how many days are left until Christmas. Advent calendars usually cover the time period from 1st December to Christmas Day -...
Letter to Santa
Help your child to write a letter to Santa! You could first ask your child what they want to say. If your child is ready, help them to spell out each word and be there to help if you are...
Christmas story
Click on the yellow activity link below to read a Christmas story with your child - “The Best Christmas Gift” by Ivan Parvov. You can download the PDF if you like, so that you can access it anytime...
Make cards
Making cards for family members and friends can be an enjoyable thing to do, and gives your child an opportunity to do some real writing. First make the card. Use a plain piece of white or...
Paper lanterns
These Chinese lanterns from Kidspot are really easy to make. They will be pretty hanging in your home. Make them smaller if you like, then you can hang a longer string of them. At Christmas make...
12 days of Christmas
Watch the video above and sing along together to "The Twelve Days of Christmas". This is a song where each verse adds an extra line - up to the 12th verse. It is fun to sing and you have to...
Find north
Does your child know that the earth is a planet that spins around the sun? We use the sun to tell us which direction places are - north, south, west or east. Here's how to find the direction of...
Glass bottle xylophone
This is a simple science experiment that will show your child how sound changes depending on how full something is (volume). You will need 6 same-size glass bottles (the bigger the better); a large...
Make a pom-pom
Pom-poms are lovely soft balls of wool that can brighten up a woolly hat, decorate a Christmas tree, or make a soft ball for playing catch indoors. They are easy to make - you don't need any...
All about chocolate
Most children love chocolate, but do they know that chocolate grows on a tree - the cacoa tree? Let your child watch this youtube video called "How chocolate is made" by SNA Kids. It's just...
Origami star
This is a star that needs a bit of patience to make. Before you start making the five-sided star shown above, you need to cut a piece of paper into a pentagon (a five sided) shape. Follow the...
Feel good advent calendar
Feel good advent calendar You might like to encourage your child to record a good deed they do each day in an Advent calendar. Advent is the time period leading to Christmas Day. Chat with your...
Newgrange
With your child, click on the picture above to watch a short National Geographic video about Newgrange in County Meath. Talk about the video together. Newgrange was built about 500 years before...