Need a few Christmas Activities for Toddlers? This time of year, there is just not enough time to search for activities that the kids will love. Today we’re sharing Christmas activities for kids that help to promote underlying skills like fine motor, gross motor, coordination, and balance. These are holiday games and Christmas activities for 2-3 year olds with a focus on fun. The best part is, they are here and all in one place for you!
Christmas Activities for Toddlers
The toddler years is a busy time as kiddos are learning, moving, and are on the go! The Toddler stage of development is a critical one as kids are developing the underlying fine motor and gross motor experiences skills they need down the road for tasks like pencil grasp, handwriting, coordination, and gross motor tasks. These are Christmas activities that 2 and 3 year olds will love!
Use the Christmas Activities for toddlers below to create motor experiences for toddlers, all with a Christmas theme!
This post is part of our Christmas Activities week here on The OT Toolbox. You’ll want to catch all of the updates here on the site this week as we are sharing tons of therapist-approved Occupational Therapy Christmas Activities for Kids.
These are activities, games, and ideas for kids with a Christmas theme that can be used in occupational therapy treatment in the home, school, or clinic!
Looking for Christmas ideas for older kids? This series has a collection of Christmas Activities for Preschoolers too!
Looking for Christmas ideas for older kids? This series has a collection of Christmas Activities for Preschoolers too!
If you missed the announcement post on our Christmas Activities for Kids series, you’ll want to check it out. We’ll have a different theme each day this week!
Christmas Activities for kids
Jingle Bell Sort- Toddlers will love this Christmas Jingle Bell Sort activity and won’t even realize they are building skills they need for development. This activity can be used all season long to help kids develop in-hand manipulation and separation of the two sides of the hands as kids sort colored jingle bells.
Christmas Coloring- Use the crayons for toddlers that support development of fine motor skills and visual motor skills. Use aa blank page and draw or color simple holiday themed shapes. Or, use a Christmas coloring book as a quiet time activity. Don’t have these items? They make great stocking stuffers for toddlers!
Christmas Discovery Bottle- A sensory bottle is great for toddlers. It’s a tool that can help them as they discover how their hands move to shake a bottle to make noises from the filler. What an experience in cause and effect! This Christmas Discover Bottle uses green split peas and holiday themed foam shapes.
Christmas Sensory Bin- Something as simple as throwing cookie cutters, ribbons, and bows into a low bin can be a great discovery sensory bin that is perfect for Toddlers. This Christmas Sensory Bin is an activity that requires close supervision (like all of the activities listed here). Toddlers can explore different items while moving items, sorting, experiencing different textures.
Christmas Water Play– Freeze a few holiday shaped ice cubes, toss them into water, and add some scoops and spoons. Toddlers can work on scooping, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, and other skills, all with a simple set-up activity that Toddlers will love. We used Christmas shaped ice cube trays but any ice cubes would work. Here is more information on scooping ice as a fine motor activities for toddlers.
Easel Art- Working on a vertical surface is a great way to strengthen promote balance, coordination, and bilateral coordination. In this easel art activity, we used red, white, and blue paper scraps, but it could easily be re-created with green and red Christmas colors!
Fine Motor Activity for Toddlers- Work on fine motor skills with toddlers by using red and green crafting pom poms and a recycled plastic bottle to promote development of the fine motor skills kids need down the road for fastening clothing fasteners, coloring, and writing with a pencil.
Fine Motor Pipe Cleaner Activity for Toddlers– Use that recycled plastic bottle again to work on even more fine motor skills in toddlers by using red and green pipe cleaners. Add a handful of jingle bells to create a sensory bottle that is as much fun to create as it is to play with.
Ornament Explore– Toss a handful of plastic or shatter proof ornaments into a basket for a toddler-safe exploration play. This is a great way for little ones to explore textures, promote bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, crossing midline, and other skills, all in a safe way!
Empty Box Fine Motor Activity- Wrap an empty box with wrapping paper. Using a screwdriver, poke holes in the box. Then, show your toddler how to push pipe cleaners into the holes. Using pipe cleaners for fine motor was a HUGE hit when I had toddlers in my house. It’s a great activity for developing precision, coordination, crossing midline, bilateral coordination, grasp development, and more!
Sensory Light Box- This time of year, it seems like there are cardboard boxes arriving at the house every day. Use an empty cardboard box to make a sensory light tunnel. All you need is a big box, and a strand of Christmas lights to create a sensory calm down zone and Toddler play space.
Don’t forget to stop back tomorrow for more occupational therapy Christmas ideas. You can also catch all of the Christmas Activities for kids here.
