With Christmas around the corner, it’s time to organise some fun advent activities for kids. These easy advent ideas for families will keep the whole family busy and merry. Use these simple Christmas activities to bring your loved ones together.
December is a fantastic time of year to have a bit of silly family fun. It’s also an important period for many religions and cultures, and a great opportunity for incredible gifts. There are plenty of advent activities for kids and families to choose from no matter how young or old!
From the fun to the thoughtful, these 25 days of Christmas activities will help your children count down to Christmas. Make a big checklist, pop a daily event on the family calendar or make a DIY Advent calendar. Reveal one suggestion per day to put the whole family in the festive spirit.
25 Advent Activities For Kids
1. Letters To Santa
Write and decorate letters for the North Pole – post them to the address below by 11th December to get a reply!
- Santa/Father’s Christmas
- Santa’s Grotto
- Reindeerland
- XM4 5HQ
2. Make Christmas Cards
Sit everyone down at a table loaded with craft supplies and make your own Christmas cards.
Send them to friends and relatives you might not get to see this year.
Include a family update letter to help everyone keep connected with what has been happening this year.
Print pictures of you all to add. There are apps to add festive features like hats and beards to make this a true Christmas activity.
3. Bake Christmas Treats
Baking Christmas treats will surely be a great advent activity for kids.
Children will love decorating cookies and cakes with colored sweets and other toppers. And, it’s an easy way to get them excited to help out in the kitchen.
You can teach them essential skills that they will carry with them through to their older years.
4. Decorate The Christmas Tree
There’s nothing that marks the start of the yuletide season quite like putting up the tree and decking the halls.
Do you have certain traditions for decorations? Getting the whole family involved is a terrific advent activity for kids.
Some people like to mix the choice up every year and have different themes. Others will keep the same decorations for decades and maybe add a few special pieces!
Whatever your preference, getting the Christmas tree decorated means that Santa is not far away. Check out some outdoor Christmas decorations.
5. Hang Fairy Lights
Indoors or outdoors, they always bring a festive touch.
Always make sure everyone is safe when doing this, even on a step ladder!
Warm white lights or multicolored ones, the twinkle will put everyone in the mood to be merry and bright.
6. Make a family donation
Christmas is a time for giving – so come together as a family to think of others this year.
Donate to a charity that’s close to your heart or go shopping for the food bank together.
Check your local branch for a list of much-needed essential items. Encourage your children to pick out the supplies themselves.
Giving back to the community is one of the best advent activities for families.
7. Take A Winter Walk
Bundle up and enjoy the crisp, wintery air with a walk in your local park.
Or you could venture further as there are brilliant National Trust sites you can visit.
Wellies or hiking boots are a must this time of year, so take them just in case.
8. Make A Christmas Wreath
Another advent activity for kids is making a Christmas Wreath.
The materials you use may depend on your children’s ages. For younger children you can use paper and glue and other craft supplies. Older kids may get more involved with holly branches, ribbons, fake flowers, bells, small toys, and more.
You can also look for DIY wreath-making kits.
Making a wreath is great for all ages. Teens will likely find inspiration from social media, whereas younger children will flex their creative muscles and know no bounds!
9. Take Family Photos
Skip queuing for a picture with Santa this year and stage a creative family photo shoot instead.
Try giving your kids the camera and some festive props and see what they come up with. Social media users will be sure to put all sorts of festive filters over this time frame.
This advent activity for kids is a great addition to your list.
10. Put On A Christmas Play Or Talent Show
Whether it’s the nativity or an original Christmas skit, challenge the family with a Christmas play or talent show.
Let the children organize the entire production, or get the whole family involved with individual skits.
Could you recreate your favorite Christmas film scenes? You could even make a game of charades out of it.
11. Movie Night Is A Fun Advent Activity For Kids
Make some popcorn or hot cocoa, snuggle up in your Christmas pajamas, and pop on a family favorite festive film.
If you can’t all agree on what to watch, write down your five favorite festive films on separate bits of paper and put them into a bowl.
Take turns picking one out and that can be your film roster for the next few days!
12. Make Paper Snowflakes
A classic Christmas craft that only requires scissors and some paper!
Everyone can have their own design, or you could try going further and making a nice garland.
Tape the finished product to your windows to give the house a festive feel.
Don’t worry too much about the cleanup process after!
13. Have A Christmas Music Dance Party
Take ‘rocking around the Christmas tree to the next level with a full-on festive dance party.
Maybe you have some teens in the family that aren’t so into dancing, but they could make great DJs.
Ask them to put together a playlist of festive tunes and get the little ones ready to boogie.
Ridiculous outfits are welcome.
14. Wrapping Presents Makes A Fun Advent Activity For Kids
Set up a wrapping station and get your children to help wrap and decorate Christmas gifts (just not their own).
There are lots of ways to make wrapping special. Create your own labels with notes or even use brown parcel paper and draw or stamp a design onto it.
15. Make A Bird Feeder
Coat an empty toilet roll in peanut butter and roll it in birdseed for an easy DIY bird feeder.
Hang it outside a window where you can watch to see if you get any feathered visitors, taking care to make sure it’s out of reach of cats and foxes.
16. Have A Gingerbread Decorating Competition
Provide all the supplies, including gingerbread, icing, and decorative sweets, and let your children construct their own masterpieces.
Whether you make your own gingerbread at home or buy from the shop, the end results will surely be delicious.
If they end up falling over, why not add a dinosaur to the scene to create a funny story?
17. Host A Family Game Night
Family game night is a fun advent activity for kids.
Set out some snacks and include festive games like present games, Christmas musical chairs, or holiday charades.
There are all sorts of card games easy for young children to grasp or settle in for a longer board game with older children like Monopoly or Cluedo.
18. Learn About Christmas Traditions Around The World
Assign each member of the family to research a different country or region, then take turns sharing how the holidays are celebrated in different parts of the world.
It’s great to teach younger children about different cultures, it helps to make them more understanding of others.
You could even research countries that don’t celebrate Christmas at all and find out about their annual celebrations.
19. Host An In-person Or Virtual Party
Include family-friendly activities, such as a carol sing-along or a Christmas quiz.
You could combine activities and serve up any festive bakes you might have made earlier in the day.
If your family enjoys a good Christmas jumper, you could make the party a themed one and ask everyone to wear their most outlandish jumpers.
Chuck in a prize for the best and you’ve got yourself a healthy competition.
20. Celebrate Your Faith
If you follow a religion, you likely have plans in your mind for what you want to do.
You can attend a worship service or read a meaningful story together and talk about what the holiday means to you.
21. Make A Silly Christmas Video
Send it to friends and family to spread Christmas cheer. What’s the latest festive trend?
Or perhaps you can start your own. If you have any budding directors in the home, then get them to go the whole hog.
They could storyboard, plan and boss the whole family around! What about postproduction?
There are lots of apps you can easily edit videos on now from the palm of your hand.
22. Go Carolling To Make Advent Activity Fun
Do some singing for neighbors, or video call relatives with a surprise carol concert.
Take it a step further and create a choreographed singing and all-dancing routine.
23. Commit Secret Acts Of Kindness
Challenge your children to come up with their own secret way to be kind or help someone else over the course of the day.
Apply the ‘RAC’ method, Random Acts of Kindness.
It could be big or little, and no matter the activity, it’s important to start them young.
It’s good to show yourself doing things like this too, learning by example is a great way for kids to learn compassion.
24. Reading Christmas Stories Is A Fun Advent Activity For Kids
Gather over mince pies and hot cocoa and read your favorite festive stories – A Visit from St Nicholas is a great closer on Christmas Eve.
Not only could you read, but the family can create a story together, it might even mean you have a new Christmas tradition!
25. As It’s Christmas Day, It’s Time To Open Presents!
Who would not get excited about this advent activity? It’s full of surprises!
With these fun family advent activities, this Christmas is sure to be full of festive cheer – no matter the circumstances.
Conclusion
Christmas is a truly magical time of year. Part of it’s special attraction is the large number of fun advent activities for kids. Our list of imaginative Christmas activities for kids will have the whole family ready.
As we encourage our children to think of others at this time of year, it’s important that we do the same. One of the most impactful things you can do to help your community is to become a foster parent to a child in need. Compass Fostering offers lots of support and has a friendly team to answer any questions you might have.
Happy Christmas!
Compass Fostering is an independent fostering agency with a simple goal: to make life-long and lasting changes to children’s lives. There is currently a national shortage of foster carers, and we are looking for people who could offer a safe, stable, loving environment for young people who haven’t had the best start in life. Every child deserves a childhood.
