5 Christmas Activities For Toddlers

It’s not always easy finding a good list of things to do to keep your busy toddlers occupied, so we have compiled a list of 5 easy Christmas activities for toddlers to inspire your holiday activity time.

1. Snowball Playdough Recipe by Yellow Bliss Road

Image: Yellow Bliss Road

Enjoy making sparkly, Christmas themed natural playdough with your toddlers, resulting in hours of creative play afterwards. 

Perfect as a gift your little one can give to others or just as a fun afternoon activity, snowball playdough uses fairly common household ingredients to make. The end result? Your very own handmade playdough which the kids can bring their imagination to life with.

How to create snowball playdough?

Gather your ingredients:

• 1 cup of white flower

• ½ cup of salt

• 1-2 tbl spoon cream of tartar

• 1 cup of water

• 1 tbl spoon of any vegetable oil (like avocado oil)

• Optional: 10 drops of any essential oil (e.g. peppermint) to provide a smell to the dough

• Optional: Silver, gold or white glitter

• Optional: Food colouring of choice

• Plastic cups, mason jars, etc. to store each snowball in

Next, the steps on how to create playdough snowballs:

1. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan except essential oils and glitter

2. Cook over medium heat until begins to become more solid (roughly 5 minutes)

3. Remove pan from heat once the mixture is stiff and you can’t stir it anymore

4. Remove the playdough from the pan and knead in any glitter or essential oils into small balls

5. Let them cool then transfer to your containers

2. Paint your own Christmas wrapping paper

Image: Country living Magazine

Using butcher's paper and some non-toxic paint, let your little ones paint away and design your Christmas wrapping paper for the festive season.

How to make DIY wrapping paper?

What you decide to gather really depends on how intricate you want your DIY wrapping paper to be. If you want to keep it simple, just grab some paint markers and stickers. If you’re little one is up for a more challenging task, attaching foam stickers to a rolling pin or other long cylinder (e.g. cardboard tube from a paper towel roll) will allow them to create for consistent patterns.

For paper, we suggest butcher’s paper, easel paper or thicker standard paper in a large size.

For creating their own DIY wrapping paper, follow these steps:

1. Prepare the area for mess, as there is a good chance this activity is going to be a bit chaotic. Put down a sheet or tarp on the ground for you to work on. Remove anything from the area that you don’t want paint or markers on.

2. If you’re using a rolling pin or similar, stick your foam stickers onto it in a consistent pattern.

3. Put down the paper and start decorating!

4. Once your little one is happy with their creation, let the paper dry before wrapping your gifts.

3. Make Sentimental Saltdough ornaments

Image: Good Life Eats

Make beautiful keepsakes for family and friends with an easy salt dough recipe. Salt dough is perfect for creating ornaments, keepsakes and other sculptures for the Christmas tree.

How to make salt dough ornaments?

Gather your ingredients:

• 4 cups of plain flour

• 1 cup of salt

• 1 ½ cups of warm water

• Large mixing bowl

• Baking paper

• Rolling pin

• Cookie cutters

• Plastic straw

• Optional: White spray paint

• Optional: Ornament decorations (e.g. paint, beads, glitter, glue, etc.)

• Ribbon or string

Next, the steps on how to create salt dough ornaments:

1. Using a large mixing bowl, add the flour and salt together and mix until well combined

2. Slowly add the water to the mixture, stirring as you pour it in

3. Once it gets difficult to stir, begin kneading the dough with your hands until is soft and pliable

4. Put down some baking paper on the benchtop, place the dough ball ontop, then another sheet of baking paper on the dough

5. Roll out the dough using a rolling pin until its at least ½ cm thick. We find that even thinner than that is better, as thicker dough / ornaments tend to break quicker

6. Once the dough is flat, remove the top baking paper sheet and begin cutting your ornaments, either by hand or using a cookie cutter. You can also add any special texture effects to the ornaments now (e.g. using a fork to poke holes in it)

7. With all your ornaments cut, use a plastic (or metal) straw to poke a hole in the top of each ornament

8. Next, bake the ornaments in the oven at 150° for an hour until they harden. Let them cool off completely

9. Now it’s time to decorate. If you want a blank canvas for your ornaments, give them a quick coat using white spray paint or brushing on white paint. Once your base layer is dry, the fun begins - use paint, beads, glitter, texters, etc. to help bring their imagination to life

10. Once decorated, tie ribbon or string through the straw hole so you can hang them on the tree

4. Visit a local Christmas Market

Image: Concrete Playground

Your local council website will provide a list of Christmas markets in the area and key dates. Markets are excellent for toddlers as they are outdoors, and often involve a lot of activities to keep your little ones happy and occupied. They are a great way to support your local community as well. Some of our favourite Christmas markets include:

Top Christmas markets from around Australia:

• Chatswood Mall Christmas Market, Chatswood, NSW

• Queen Victoria Christmas Market, Melbourne, VIC

• Hobart Twilight Christmas Market, Hobart, TAS

• BrisStyle Twilight Christmas Market, Brisbane, QLD

• Hahndorf Christmas Market, Hahndorf, SA

• Christmas Festival in Stadium Park, Burswood, WA

• Canberra Christmas Market, Canberra, ACT

• Wagait Beach Christmas Market, Wagait Beach, NT

5. Cookie/Gingerbread decorating

While toddlers can be a little young to whip up a cookie recipe in the kitchen, they can definitely get involved in the fun part, the decorating! Different kinds of dried fruits and nuts can make great healthier decoration alternatives than sugary treats.

How to decorate gingerbread cookies and biscuits?

Image: Tastes Better From Scratch

Since gingerbread biscuits are slightly more complicated than some of the other featured recipes above, we recommend you buy either some ready-made biscuits to decorate, or bake your own before decorating with your toddler.

There are many different ways to decorate gingerbread biscuits, and here are some of our favourites:

• Icing:

  Either creating a mixture and spooning it on, or using an piping bag for more precision, icing is a must-have for any gingerbread cookie. You can even put some food dye in the icing for some extra colour.

• Lollies & chocolates:

  Let them choose out their favourite treats to put on their biscuits. We love sticking on M&Ms, Skittles, snakes and gummy bears. You can also use the icing as a glue to stick your treats on.

• Dried fruits & nuts:

  A healthier alternative to lollies, use icing to stick on dried fruits and nuts—such as dried apricot, sultanas, strawberries, peanuts, cashews—onto the biscuits.

• Sprinkles:

  Little chocolate sprinkles, 100s & 1000s, icing sugar—whatever they love, sprinkle it on top of a thin layer of icing so they stay stuck to the biscuit.

Once decorated, store in an air-tight container and try not to eat them all at once.

Whether you’re helping decorate gingerbread biscuits or heading out to a Christmas with your little one, Christmas is a wonderful time of year to inspire joy and come together with friends and family. Looking for a Christmas gift for your toddler? Find the full Purebaby Christmas gift collection now.