If you're in need of a little inspiration or some easy ideas for child led Christmas activities then keep scrolling down because I'm sharing a diverse collection early childhood Educators Christmas activity ideas for you in this post...
Each year I love sharing the amazing child led Christmas activities and setups from our wonderful educators in my Empowered Educator Community. Their creativity and dedication is always an inspiration and a source of excitement and wonder for many young children around the world... especially during this special time of year .
If you missed our early learning Christmas ideas from last year you can find them all here as well as these Christmas favourites:
This year we have a mix of some old classic early learning Christmas crafts and activities, mixed in with some fun and creative new ideas.
Christmas Bauble Balancing
If you love an easy and upcycled Christmas activity then you can’t go past bauble balancing. Get out those cardboard tubes and some old baubles (I often ask for donations of decorations that are no longer used) and you’re good to go!
There’s no ‘right way’ to set this up as you can see from the three different Christmas bauble balancing setups shared by Anna, Kia and Nic.
More Christmas Bauble Activities
Don’t put the Christmas baubles away just yet. Try one of these Educator Christmas activities first.
Nic shared this fun Christmas idea with us, using cardboard tubes, Christmas baubles and other decorations to allow the children to create their own tree. What a playful Christmas themed fine motor activity idea!
Still have your baubles out? Add them to your tuff tray full of water and have the children scoop them out. Such a simple water play idea but one that will definitely be popular in the warmer weather we get in Australia at Christmas. Thanks to Vicki for sharing this activity with us.
Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas
Decorating the tree is always an activity that the children love being involved in. While a traditional Christmas tree is always a beautiful feast for the senses, there is, of course, more than one way to display and decorate a tree. Doesn’t Vanda’s tree (above) look special with the children's crafts, dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks hanging...imagine the festive aromas floating through the air!
Glenda shared her wooden Christmas tree with us - complete with hooks for the children to hang (and rehang) their decorations on. A very popular Christmas activity.
I absolutely love the emphasis and opportunities provided for creative self expression and autonomy here!
Felt Christmas tree decorating is always a fun sensory activity and is easy for the younger age groups to explore on their own. Vicki and Barbara share their felt tree ideas with us below.
Tamme used magnetic ornaments with her children (make sure the magnets meet safety requirements) which is another interesting idea making the most of the vertical space available.
For something different...Why not make your own tree like Kristen.
If you work in a large early learning centre it can often be hard to display whole group art work, but this is a wonderful way to include each child’s individual work.
You’ll see that they all made their own triangle tree first and then it was turned into the wonderful large tree display.
Christmas Sensory Bins & Invitations to Play
Regular readers will know how much I love sensory play, and if you do too, then make sure to check out my whole collection of Christmas sensory ideas HERE.
Some of this year’s ideas from our Empowered Educator community include these two Christmas themed sensory bins from Educator Vicki
Mary set up a wonderful Christmas themed tuff try using coloured rice and tinsel.
Rebecca set up a Christmas tree decorating invitation to play
Nic set up a Christmas invitation to play using simple Christmas items easily found around the home.
Melissa went with an Australian theme - it’s always nice to add mirrors to a setup to give children different perspectives and reflections to investigate.
Do you have Magnatiles? Christmas bells stick nicely to these and you can set up Christmas themed prompts like the ones that Kristen set up.
Ask parents to donate any excess wrapping paper and boxes and you can set up a Christmas wrapping station. Thanks to Christie for these pictures - they look so buys and important!
Kate also set up a wrapping station and the sticky tape proved to be a good fine motor challenge too.
Why not make a Santa’s Workshop invitation to play? Christie added construction tools to her table to make this a fun Christmas play idea.
Anno set up a nativity scene invitation to play using some simple materials from nature. Look at those gumnut heads with eyes...love them!
Get out your construction toys for this fun Christmas invitation to play - can you use the trucks to move the gifts? Thanks to Kia for this idea.
Christmas Themed Gross Motor Activities
Gross motor games and activities are fun any time of the year, but it’s nice to add a Christmas touch to them. Why not try some from this selection of ideas...
Jo shared her game of ‘throw the rings onto the reindeer” - I’m sure there are lots of variations of this game you could come up with too.
Janet filled plastic bottles with rice and added a Christmas touch to them and then the children went bowling! I love this upcycled Christmas game idea.
Janet also made these engaging building boxes using printed pictures - you can mix and match the head, body and legs - what fun and a great use for old empty boxes!
Kia made a huge Snowman out of cardboard boxes for a fun bauble posting game.
Christmas Crafts for Early Childhood
You’ll notice that I’ve included lots of play based, process driven activities but I am also going to share some Christmas crafts. I know the process vs product debate can get heated this time of year and I’ve explained in THIS POST why I feel it’s good to a have a balance and why I’ve included some crafts in this post as well.
Kerryn set up a painting prompt ‘Can you paint a Christmas tree’ with some lovely photos for inspiration.
Who else is guilty of ‘borrowing’ paint cards from Bunnings? If you ask nicely they’ll often give you a whole heap and it’s always great if you happen to have a parent that works there.
This fun Christmas tree decorating prompt is a fun one. Thanks to Kristen for sharing this idea with us.
Another interactive Christmas decorating craft prompt from Kristen is these cardboard trees to decorate. Loving all those different colours and textures the children had to select from in the decorating materials...
Jo used her children's crafts to create a lovely Christmas display. She used the children's handprints for the baubles and created fairy lights with their photos.
Nicola got out the paints for these fun Christmas tree canvases (which would make great gifts for parents)
I hope these easy early learning Christmas activities have provided you with some inspiration and taken some of the stress out of this busy time of year.
We would love to see some of YOUR Christmas ideas. Why not join the Empowered Educator Facebook community and share them with us.
A Little About Me
Jodie Clarke is an early childhood professional supporting educators who want and need to stay passionate about the work they do! She has 30 years hands-on experience in the early childhood and human services sectors across many different roles.
Jodie is mum to 3 in Australia and has already helped thousands of educators with their work through her popular blog posts, activity ideas, online training and e-books.
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