The warmest moment of the year is about to start.

Whether it’s in pyjamas under the tree on Christmas Eve or outside to see Christmas lights, this is the perfect time to live some adorable family moments and make new memories.

Read this article to find five ideas to make your children busy and happy during the Christmas holidays. Maybe one of these will become part of your family traditions.

How to spend Christmas time creatively

Christmas day is all about emotion, thanks to the atmosphere and the gifts under the tree. What about the rest of the holidays? These should be as entertaining as December 25th. Let’s see how to make them engaging!

Making the gift wrapping a creative experience

Children love drawing or decorating at least as much as unwrapping gifts. So, take out the creativity box and make with them the wrapping paper inspired by Christmas themes.

Just give kids white paper and markers to unleash their creativity. With coloured cardboard and scissors, you can add extra fun!

For instance, you can create a reindeer-shaped package.

See how!

  • Insert the gift in a rectangular box and help your children to wrap it with paper.
  • They can draw on it the eyes and the nose of the reindeer as their imagination dictates.
  • But to add some dimension to the package, children can draw horns and hears on coloured cardboard, cut and glue them on the wrapped box.

There are truly endless possibilities for beautiful DIY creations that are easy, quick, and fun to make. This will make your children and also the person who will receive the gift really happy!

1. Prepare Santa Claus hat as a seat marker for Christmas table

Another job that children can easily make is the Santa Claus seat marker hat. It can then be personalized with the names of the guests expected for lunch or dinner.

Invite them to draw the shape of the Santa Claus hat on red cardboard. On a white one, the silhouette of the fur hat border. Cut out the outline of the drawings and then glue the white section on the bottom of the red hat. Write the name of the guest with a marker on the white band.

Now your kids should glue a cotton ball on the top of the hat to recreate the pompom. The seat marker is ready. Your children will be delighted to have created such a cute thing!

2. Paint on the snow

It is snowing, and you have a mad desire to throw yourself outside to play with children and benefit from contact with cold nature. So, what about going out to have something fun?

Making a snowman family is a classic. But this year you can invite your children to do something new: painting in the snow.

A few spray bottles, food colourings, and water are enough. In the bottle, mix the water with a colour (dividing one colour per bottle). At this point, your children must spray the bottle on the snow to make a wonderful icy painting! Little artists will greatly appreciate it. Sure, they will be eager to do this activity again on the next snowfall.

So, let it snow… let it snow… let it snow.

3. Baking gingerbread cookies

It is lovely to share cooking moments with family during Christmas. Do you already have the recipe for gingerbread cookies? If not, try this!

  • 2/3 cup of butter, softened to room temperature
  • 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup of molasses
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • 3 and 1/2 cups of flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of ground ginger
  • 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves

Invite your little ones to whisk together dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves, salt, and nutmeg.

Then help them to beat the butter and sugar together until they become light and fluffy. Add in eggs and molasses and whisk again. Then gradually add the flour mixture in and keep beating at medium-low speed until combined. Put the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. With a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll out the dough. Then, use the cookie cutters to cut out their desired shapes. Bake at 350°F for about 8 to 10 minutes.

Here comes the most fun moment: once the cookies cool to room temperature, let kids free to decorate with icing, powdered sugar, and sprinkles.

And if the little pastry chefs feel inspired, they can create even a gingerbread house! For such a demanding task, children need a little training. Try with Chef’s Cooking Set, Mix & Bake Blender, and Cupcakes.

They will love to play with Kitchen & Food toys! You can play with them to support their rise as a chef. And share roleplay moments that are important for children’s independence development. These also train basic math, language, and fine motor skills.

4. Have some precious bright STEAM moments

Christmas houses are welcoming. Lights play a fundamental role in making a warm and enchanted atmosphere. They can inspire you and your children to play creatively. Would you like to project constellations inside the home with lights? This is not only an engaging playtime but also an occasion to study the Universe.

Firstly, you must recreate a constellation on cardboard, drawing the stars as tiny points.

Next, place the cardboard on top of a piece of Styrofoam, then give your child a push pin and instruct them to poke holes at each dot in the constellation. Once your holes are punched, cut out the circle cards and affix them with tape to the top of a toilet paper roll. The light moment is arriving! Grab your light source and recreate your constellation on the wall. Move the flashlight closer and away from the toilet paper roll to experiment with how the light spreads. Such STEAM activity!

STEAM activities, as STEAM toys, help children to question how things work. To ignite your kids’ innate curiosity, the building projects of the Deluxe Scientific Workbench have everything to feed little inventors’ desire for knowledge! A compact kit equipped with tools, screws, bolts, joints for the best discovering, approaching the world of science and engineering.

So, take advantage of the Christmas holidays to dedicate time to STEAM activities to share with family.

And if you want to spark another moment of magic, you can take part in our Advent Calendar giveaway to have the chance to win a Hape toy every day. Follow us on our social to learn more.

Happy Christmas Holidays!