Christmas Sensory Activities for Kids

Christmas time is a great time for sensory activities for kids. They’re likely to be home from school more than usual, and I always found sensory things a great way to fill some time so I could get a little work done. Plus, in the Northern Hemisphere the weather might be kind of lousy, so it gives you something to do when you can’t go outside.

Here are a few great Christmas/holiday themed sensory activities for kids to try.

One of the easiest sensory things you can do for Christmas and throughout the winter season is to make fake snow. This recipe from The Purposeful Nest uses only two ingredients and I would totally play with it myself. Add a little peppermint oil to make it extra seasonal.

Another easy way to make a sensory bin more seasonal is to dye your base materials red and green. You can do this with pasta, as shown in this bin from Teaching Mama, or with rice, like this one from The Imagination Tree. This is so easy to do and gives it a little more festive flair.

Another sensory activity my daughter loved was cloud dough. This is also really easy to pull together, and you can make a gingerbread-spiced version that’s even taste safe with this recipe from Sugar Spice and Glitter.

Of course there are so many things you can do with and ways you can make playdough for the holidays, too. Take your favorite recipe and add coloring and spice, or try one of these recipes to make playdough in all sorts of ways:

peppermint (Childhood 101)
gingerbread (Natural Beach Living)
chocolate (Fantastic Fun and Learning)
Grinch playdough (Messy Little Monster)
snowman playdough (Mommy Musings)

Peppermint shaving cream is another one that kids would love to play with (and hopefully not try to eat!). Get the simple recipe from Learn Play Imagine.

And since we’ve covered all the classics, we couldn’t finish up without some slime! Why not make it Grinch slime like this one from Little Bins for Little Hands? I love the addition of the little hearts!

Are you looking for the best sensory toys and activities for your child? Explore our comprehensive resources to enhance your child’s sensory play and development. Check out our curated Amazon Idea List featuring top-rated sensory toys and items, and don’t miss our expertly written articles on sensory activities. Start creating fun and educational sensory experiences today!

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I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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