Winter Solstice Activities and Crafts for Kids

The winter solstice happens on Dec. 21 (as I write this in 2025, anyway) in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s sort of the real beginning of the holiday season. It marks the beginning of the coldest season, but it’s also the shortest day, with the least amount of sunlight all year. So the solstice is a time of celebration of the returning of the light.

If your family celebrates the solstice or Yule, you may already have some favorite traditions and decorations you use, but whether you’re new to celebrating or not, I hope you’ll find some fun ideas here.

Go for a nature walk (yes, even if it’s cold!) and gather materials to make your own solstice wreath. These are great to hang on the door or have on the table for Christmas or other holiday celebrations. Learn how to do it with this tutorial from Kid Minds. While you’re outside you can do the winter scavenger hunt that is one of the ideas for celebrating solstice with kids from Backwoods Mama. I also love the wet-felted lantern on that page.

Speaking of lanterns, since winter solstice is about the returning of the light and it’s the longest night, making your own lanterns or luminaries is a great activity. I love these simple but pretty paper luminaries from Art Bar; you could try doing this with paper towel tubes, too.

Or make an ice lantern with this tutorial from Little Cooks Reading Books. The post has lots of ideas for things to add to your water before you freeze it, but plain ice is pretty, too (and then you can paint the ice with watercolors!).

There’s also these pretty snowy tree lanterns from Wineberry Wood Press, which are fun for kids and adults to make together. They also have a fun solstice countdown calendar you can make to count the days until your solstice celebration.

The winter solstice is a great time to acknowledge nature and put some food out for the local animals. Run Wild My Child does the classic pinecone seed feeder and dried orange slices, which you can also use as decor inside since they look like the sun.

Do you have any traditions or crafts you like to do for the winter solstice? I’d love to hear about it!

Celebrating the Winter Solstice with Kids [Lesson Plans]

Happy Winter Solstice! [Polymer Clay]

Georgia is a state in the United States, of course, but Georgia is also the name of a country that was formerly part of the Soviet Union and now is considered part of Europe. Let’s learn more about the country of Georgia.

Georgia Basics

Georgia is situated on the Black Sea and bordered by Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is home to almost 4 million people, most of whom live in the capital, Tbilisi.

The country is 26,900 square miles, or 69,700 square kilometers.

People have lived in the area now known as Georgia since prehistoric times. It requested support from Russia to defend against hostile neighbors in the early 1800s, which led to Russia slowly annexing their land. Though they were briefly free after the Russian Revolution, the country was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and still occupies regions of the country.

The word Georgia referring to the region was first seen on an Italian map in 1320, but there’s a lot of debate as to where the word came from.

The majority of people living in Georgia today are Georgians, and they speak Georgian, an indigenous language that is apparently unrelated to any other language family in the world. Most people there practice Georgian Orthodox Christianity.

Georgia is a representative democracy with a president and prime minister, as well as a parliament.

Georgia National Symbols

The Georgian flag has a white background with a large red cross and a smaller red cross in each quadrant made by the big cross. It’s also known as the Five Cross Flag and was a symbol of the Kingdom of Georgia that was repopularized in the late 20th century, though it didn’t become the official national flag until 2004.

The national anthem is “Tavisupleba” or “Freedom,” which was also approved in 2004. The music was adapted from two Georgian operas.

The coat of arms features a lion on each side of a shield with an image of St. George, with a crown above that. The ribbon includes the national motto, which, translated to English, is “Strength is in unity.”

St George is the patron saint of Georgia. (Check out crafts and activities for St. George’s Day.)

Georgia Learning Activities

Twinkl has more about the history of Georgia and facts about the country.

Learn about the giant head sculptures of Sno in this post form Atlas Obscura. They also have a good post about Prometheus Cave, which locals claim is where Prometheus was chained as punishment for stealing fire from the gods.

Check out the giant plane tree in Telavi, an ancient tree that stands 150 feet (or 46 meters) tall and is the largest tree in Georgia.

This one is for the parents, but you might want to learn more about the history of wine making in Georgia, which is considered the birthplace of wine making. Evidence of grapes and grape seeds in the region dates back to 6000 BCE.

Georgia is so proud of its wine making history the the famous Mother of Georgia statue in Tbilisi holds a sword in one hand and a cup of wine in the other.

Check out this tour of Tbilisi from a local.

It’s a little tricky to search for Georgia specific activities and get the nation, not the state, but this list from Teachers Pay Teachers is pretty good after the first one.

Khachapuri, a Georgian cheese bread, is a popular dish that kids should love. Try this recipe from the Kitchn.

Have you read?

Georgia Basics

Georgia National Symbols

Georgia Learning Activities

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