10 Holiday Activities that Keep Your Kids Busy

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. It's also the most hectic! You know how it is: shopping, wrapping, baking, cleaning, decorating. Yet I love every second of the frenzy! The challenge is keeping the kids busy so that I can complete my to-do list while still humming a happy Christmas tune. Here are ten of my kid-tested, Mommy-approved holiday activities for the preschoolers in my home.

1. Let's Play Santa's Workshop
Supply your children with old newspapers, tape, scissors (if age-appropriate), and a large bag. Pretend that the children are working at the North Pole, helping Santa get ready for Christmas. The children must gather their toys, pretend to make them, then wrap them up in newspaper. We usually put a Christmas stamp or sticker on each wrapped package as an "official" North Pole seal. The kids place the wrapped packages in Santa's bag and take them for a pretend sleigh ride to the Christmas tree. Once I establish the fantasy and play along to get them started, I can sneak away as my kids play for an hour or more! Part of the fun is putting the gifts under the tree and unwrapping them the next morning.

2. An Old-Fashioned Christmas Ornament
An ornament that was popular in the 1800's involved pushing cloves into oranges or lemons. My boys and I attended a wonderful Christmas program at a historical museum, and I could hardly tear them away from this fine-motor paradise. (Hint: cut small slashes in the fruit's peel to make it easier to insert the cloves.) Consider gathering your kids around the kitchen table on a quiet, snowy afternoon. Play Christmas music as you write out your holiday cards and supervise the ornament-making. You'll enjoy the fragrance for days to come.

3. Christmas Card Lacing
Put those old Christmas cards to good use! Cut off the covers and punch holes around the edges. Give your children lengths of yarn and let them lace.

4. Pipe Cleaners, Beads, and Bells
Here's one more fine-motor activity that keeps kids busy, busy, busy. Make necklaces, bracelets, and ornaments from these simple materials. You'll be surprised by how long your kids will be entertained.

5. Santa Hide-and-Seek
Ask your kids to cover their eyes as you hide a toy Santa (or any holiday trinket) in some sneaky pocket of your house. Get some work done as your kids hunt for Santa. Give clues if they get stumped. As soon as they find Santa, give yourself a 2-minute break from your chores and hide him again!

6. Elf-Helpers
Have Santa hats available when you need the kids to help clean, bake cookies, or do some other holiday chore. It's just more fun and motivating to be an "elf"!

7. Re-Decorating
Not all parents will go for this one, but I allow re-decorating of the Christmas tree. Put on the holiday tunes and let the kids rearrange all those ornaments!

8. Christmas video or DVD
An oldie but a goody! I limit TV time in my house, and I pack all of the holiday videos away until Thanksgiving. That way, the holiday shows are a real treat.

9. Write a Letter to Santa. And another. And another.
My kids draw pictures for Santa and place them in an envelope almost daily. Our local post office has a special mailbox we visit each week. You can't have too many brownie points!

10. The Nice List
I started this little project to encourage my kids to be extra nice and kind during the holidays. (Who can accomplish a thing with kids who are grouchy or mischievous?) One of my sons was actually beginning to resent Santa for knowing about his little transgressions. To assure him that Santa was more interested in all of his kind words, good listening, and helpfulness, we started a list. Simply staple blank pieces of paper together to make a book where you record the nice things your kids do each day. Kids enjoy decorating, numbering and counting all of the good deeds.

Eliminate the stress, have fun, and get your kids busy enjoying the holiday season.