If you’re looking for simple Christmas baby and toddler play ideas , then you’re in the right place! Featured here are 10, easy to set up activities, that will help your littlest learners get into the Christmas spirit.
Christmas is an exciting time, especially for young children but it can also be stressful for us as parents when we have a million things on our plates. The majority of these activities take less than 5 minutes to set up and most can be used more than once.
Not only are these activities engaging and fun, but they also have many education benefits too. Read on to find out more about each activity and how it helps your child’s development.
10 Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Ideas
When my children were babies, I often found that they were incredibly curious about Christmas decorations. The problem was, many of those decorations weren’t quite suitable for them to play with.
All of these Christmas Baby and toddler play ideas are designed to help your child to explore this magical time of year in a controlled environment. With that being said, please supervise your baby closely at all times.
Safety considerations
- avoid fragile objects such as delicate Christmas baubles
- avoid small items that would pose a choking hazard
- don’t leave your baby or toddler unattended whilst they explore these activities
- use your best judgement when choosing the activities. Babies and toddlers develop at different rates and some might not be suitable for your child yet.
The activities featured in this Christmas baby and toddler play ideas blog post are roughly in chronological age order, with activities for toddlers listed near the bottom.
You can also check out my other Christmas blog post, 10 Simple Christmas Invitations to Play, here
Useful Resources
I recommend that you use the Christmas decorations and everyday resources that you have available to you – no need to go out and by anything special! With that being said, the following types of items are useful for Christmas baby and toddler play:
- soft Christmas decorations – made from felt or wool
- Christmas themed baby toys – e.g. the Happyland figures featured below
- small clear plastic bottles to make sensory exploration bottles
- a wicker basket to store items
- Christmas themed baby books
- ribbon and small craft resources in Christmas themed colours
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 1: Sensory Exploration Basket
Simply gather together a few Christmas themed toys and materials into a wicker basket for your baby to explore.
Here we added some soft decorations and a few toys from the Happy Land advent calendar. Also featured is a simple sensory bottle which was filled with dyed rice.
This activity works best from around 6 months of age when your child is able to sit unaided.
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 2: Sensory Bottles
Small Innocent smoothie bottles can be recycled and used for sensory bottles. The size works really well for babies because the bottles are narrow and light for those small hands!
Fill with a variety of Christmas themes so that your baby can explore the items safely.
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 3: Colour themes
Pick a colour, then collect every (suitable) item from your Christmas decoration box in that colour. Include sensory bottles, ribbon, coasters and baubles so that your baby can explore textures, sounds and colours.
Colour themed sensory baskets can work all-year around and are great for speech and language development.
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 4: Christmas Book Basket
Choose a Christmas themed baby book from your local bookstore and library, then build a themed book basket around the key topic.
Again, this type of activity is great for speech and language because it introduces key topic words for the season. And whilst your baby might not be speaking full words yet, they are definitely taking everything in.
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 5: DIY bauble Shakers
Clear plastic baubles are available from most craft shops during the Christmas season. Simply fill these with a selection of small craft resources – or jingle bells – in Christmas themed colours to create simple DIY bauble shakers.
Tip: sellotape the sides so the contents doesn’t fall out.
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 6: Christmas bow sticky wall
This really easy Christmas activity works best for babies who are sitting confidently, those who are cruising and just beginning to walk.
Simply stick the Christmas bows onto a wall or door – slightly out of reach – and invite your baby to pull them off the wall.
Tip: this activity works best on (double glazed) glass doors or smooth surfaces. Definitely don’t stick the bows onto freshly painted walls!
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 7: post the snowballs!
This simple highchair activity is fantastic for older babies (tabies) and toddlers as a way to work on hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
Simply provide a basket of pompoms – they don’t have to be white – and invite your child to post the pompoms into the bottle.
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 8: mini Christmas tree prompt
If you’ve ever been frustrated about your toddler pulling all of the decorations from the Christmas tree, this activity is for you!
All you need is a mini tree – either real or fake — and a selection of suitable Christmas decorations.
When my children were younger, I found this was enough to satisfy their curiosity about the Christmas tree but I’m making no promises that it will work for you!
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 9: Letters to Santa
For this activity, the children helped me to pain an old cardboard box red. Then I cut a hole for the letters to be posted along with typical ‘Royal Mail’ postage signs. Ours is red because we’re British but you could choose any colour – or even leave the painting altogether!
Once you’ve made your postbox. Provide some old Christmas cards and present boxes for your toddler. Posting the presents and cards is a good way for them to learn about object permanence. In short, this means, understanding that an object is still there, even though they can’t physically see it anymore.
Easy Christmas Baby and Toddler Play Idea 10: Veritcal Washi tape Christmas Tree
This vertical washi tape Christmas tree activity is ideal for tabies (aged 12 months – 18 months) and toddlers.
Simply add a triangle of washi tape or painters tape to a smooth surface and provide some stickers for them to decorate the tree.
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