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Christmas Activities for Toddlers

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christmas activities for toddlers
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

Use these Christmas activities for toddlers to promote fine motor skills, gross motor skills, bilateral coordination, crossing midline, and other skills that toddlers learn through play!
 
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!
 
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.
 
Sorting ornaments and playing with ornaments is a toddler activity that can help small kids with fine motor skills and other areas in play!


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.
 
Christmas activities for toddlers make fun activities and Christmas play ideas that help toddlers learn through play in the activities that they can use to promote fine motor skills and other skills.

Christmas Fine Motor Activities

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Christmas Fine Motor activities

If you work with kids, you might be thinking about Christmas activity ideas that promote the development of fine motor skills. These Christmas Fine Motor Activities are creative ideas that boost dexterity, build fine motor strength, promote precision of grasp, enhance separation of the two sides of the hand, and enhance tripod grasp with a Christmas theme. 

Christmas Fine Motor Activities

These fine motor activities can be used in the classroom as a Christmas craft that doubles also develops the underlying fine motor skills that are needed for so many functional tasks.


Go through the activities below and find your favorite way to play and develop fine motor skills this holiday season!

Use these Christmas fine motor activities to develop skills like hand strength, grasp, endurance, prehension, bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, and more in order to help kids with pencil grasp, handwriting, scissor use, and more.


Christmas theme fine motor activities

When kids make crafts or holiday decorations, they are using and developing many skills. Manipulating tools such as scissors, glue, hole punches, tape, glitter, etc, kids experience various tactile experiences.


Creating with paper or other material requires visual motor skills (eye-hand coordination), fine motor manipulation and strength, dexterity,  bimanual coordination, visual perceptual skills, visual attention, prehension, midline crossing, and visual spatial awareness.


By using tools such as scissors or a hole punch, children can gain proprioceptive input that can be calming within the classroom environment. 


Here are Christmas themed Fine Motor Activities that can be used in the classroom, home, or clinic this holiday season:

Use this Christmas Tree Hole Punch activity to develop strength in the hands and more. This activity uses a hole punch to create lights for each Christmas tree. The bonus with this craft is the learning and math component. Add a colorful twist by adding colored tissue paper to the backs of the trees with glue. 
 
Make a fine motor Christmas card that kids can make too, while working on hand strength, coordination, and eye-hand coordination skills…with a fun Christmas card that kids can make and gift to friends or family!


Use crumbled tissue paper to create this Fine Motor Christmas Tree from Crafts on Sea. Crumbling paper develops the arches and builds strength in the hands. 

Kids 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.


Make these Fine Motor Lacing Christmas Trees from Happy Hooligans to develop skills like visual motor integration, bilateral coordination, tripod grasp, and more. 

Creating this Snowman Fine Motor Craft is a fun way to develop skills like bilateral coordination, pincer grasp and more. This craft is one that builds fine motor strength and precision while creating a fun holiday decoration. 


Boost fine motor skills like grasp, strength, and more when making these Craft Stick Christmas Trees from Easy Peasy and Fun. 

This Fine Motor Christmas Tree Craft addresses many skills needed for development and function. This craft has been very popular here on The OT Toolbox. It’s a way to recycle egg cartons while working on various skills: bilateral coordination, fine motor strength, visual attention, spatial awareness, arch development, wrist extension and stability, and more. 


These Fine Motor Christmas Trees from Stir the Wonder are fun decorations that promote bilateral coordination skills. 

Use recycled bottle caps to make this Bottle Cap Fine Motor Christmas Tree Craft. This fine motor activity can be a holiday decoration that boosts fine motor skills such as precision, in-hand manipulation, tip-to-tip pincer grasp, rotation and dexterity of the fingers needed for in-hand manipulation, and bilateral coordination.


You can find more Christmas themed play and fine motor crafts and activities here on this 25 days of Christmas Play series that we shared a few years back. 

 

Christmas Handwriting Activities

Writing out that Christmas wish list is a difficult task that brings out tears instead of holiday excitement.  I’ve got a solution for your kiddo with handwriting difficulties: a packet of modified paper for all of the Christmas handwriting tasks that come up each year.  Use this handwriting pack to help kids who struggle with handwriting to participate in holiday traditions while even working on and developing their handwriting skills!


Working on handwriting with kids this Christmas season? Grab your copy of the Christmas Modified Handwriting Packet. It’s got three types of adapted paper that kids can use to write letters to Santa, Thank You notes, holiday bucket lists and much more…all while working on handwriting skills in a motivating and fun way! Read more about the adapted Christmas Paper here. 






Use these Christmas fine motor activities to develop skills like hand strength, grasp, endurance, prehension, bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, and more in order to help kids with pencil grasp, handwriting, scissor use, and more.

 

Christmas Theme Handwriting

For more Christmas fine motor work, try paringin the activities in this post with Christmas handwriting. Use the modified paper to work on areas such as line awareness, spacing, letter size, and legibility with bold lines, highlighted lines, and color-coded lines.

Looking for done-for you therapy activities this holiday season?

This print-and-go Christmas Therapy Kit includes no-prep, fine motor, gross motor, self-regulation, visual perceptual activities…and much more… to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, Christmas-themed, motor activities so you can help children develop the skills they need.

This 100 page no-prep packet includes everything you need to guide fine motor skills in face-to-face AND virtual learning. You’ll find Christmas-themed activities for hand strength, pinch and grip, dexterity, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, endurance, finger isolation, and more. 

Click here to grab the Christmas Therapy Kit.

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

Christmas Proprioception Activities

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This time of year, the hustle and bustle of the season can make all of us feel a little out of sorts.  For the child with sensory issues, the holiday season can be a real challenge!  Try adding Christmas Proprioception Activities into your child’s day for calming strategies to meet sensory needs.  
For more ideas, grab this December Occupational Therapy calendar.
 
 
 

Christmas Proprioception Activities

Christmas proprioception activities for children with sensory needs
 
 

Christmas Sensory Diet  

 
Occupational Therapists can add these proprioception activities to sensory diet plans or to make home programs this time of year. Ad these heavy work ideas to your therapy plans this month. They are great Christmas activities for sending home to parents for a home program over the holiday break. 
 
Parents and teachers can use these activities as part of an individualized plan that meets the child’s needs. 
 
The calendar’s activities are outlined in an easy to follow therapy plan, however as parents and therapists know, a day that involves children does not always go as planned.  The activities can be shifted around to suit the needs of the child and the family. 
An activity can be completed on a different day or used in combination with another day’s therapeutic activities. 
 
Try adding these activities into the child’s day to challenge sensory issues or as a way to help kids focus during overstimulating times that the holidays bring.
 

Christmas Heavy Work Ideas


1. Shovel activity- Use a small child’s sized snow shovel or sand shovel to scoop couch
cushions.

2. Mitten Toss- Fill a plastic sandwich bag with dry beans.  Push the filled bag into a mitten.  Close the opening of the mitten by rolling the top over on itself like you would roll socks together.  Use the mitten as a DIY bean bag in tossing target games.
 

3. Gift Push- Load cardboard boxes with heavy objects like books.  Ask the child to push the boxes across a room.  For less resistance, do this activity on a carpeted floor.  For more
heavy work, do this activity outside on the driveway or sidewalk. 

4. Reindeer Kick- Promote proprioceptive input through the upper body with wheel barrow
race type movements.  Kids can also stand on their arms and legs in a quadruped position and kick their legs up. 

5. Sleigh Push- Load a wheelbarrow, sled, or wagon with objects.  (Try the weighted boxes from number three activity listed above.) Ask kids to push, pull, and tug on the “sleigh” through the yard. 

6. Peppermint Candy Stick Oral Motor Activity- Did you know you can make a peppermint candy stick into a straw?  It’s a great oral motor activity for kids. Cut an orange
in half and then stick the peppermint stick into the orange.  Next, suck the peppermint stick.  The juices from the orange will begin to work their way up through the peppermint stick. 

7. Cocoa Temperature Taste- Make a batch of hot cocoa. Pour it into an ice cube tray and
let it freeze.  Next, make another batch of hot cocoa. Divide it out into several mugs. Add a cocoa ice cube to the first mug, two ice cubes to the second mug, and so on. Mix the mugs up on a table.  Place a straw into each mug.  Children can position the mugs in order of
coolest to hottest or vice versa.  If doing this activity with several children, use small paper cups so that each child gets their own set of cups. 

8. Christmas Chewy and Crunchy Food Breaks- A calming sensory snack can be just the thing that children need to organize their sensory system during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. 

Calming Sensory Foods for Christmas

Adding chewy or crunchy foods to a sensory diet has a calming effect. These types of food provide heavy work through the jaw and mouth.

Try these calming Christmas foods: 

  • Peppermint snack mix with peppermint chocolate candies mixed with dry cereal and raisins
  • Toffee
  • Rice Crispy Wreath cookies
  • Pretzel sticks
  • Homemade fruit leather
 
 
Christmas proprioception activities for kids with sensory needs
 
 

Christmas Sensory Writing

Looking for modified paper to help kids with handwriting issues?  Try this modified Christmas paper packet!
 
Use this modified paper Christmas Handwriting Pack to work on legibility and handwriting struggles with kids.
 
Use these modified paper with a Christmas theme to work on handwriting this time of year. Add a sensory component with proprioceptive feedback to add heavy work through the hands. Here are some ideas for adding adding proprioception to sensory writing activities:
 
  • Write over a sheet of sandpaper.
  • Tape the Christmas paper to a wall or easel and write on a vertical surface. 
  • Use a grease pencil to add proprioceptive input resistance. 
 
 

Bear Ornament

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Bear ornament


Making holiday ornaments like this bear ornament with kids is such a fun way to develop fine motor skills, and then see the work hanging on the Christmas tree. Kids will love this teddy bear ornament but occupational therapists will love it even more for the developmental aspects! Add this bear ornament craft to your occupational therapy Christmas crafts.

Bear Ornament

Check out these Christmas Fine Motor Activities for more creative ways to work on fine motor skills and address development of skills this Christmas season. 

Today, I have a fun bear craft to share with you. This bear ornament is such a fun way to get kids creating and crafting during the Christmas season. We used this as a bear Christmas ornament, and a children’s book extension activity for the Bear Books by Karma Wilson.  

We made the bear craft based on Bear Stays Up for Christmas.  It’s true that in our house, we do love to come up with crafts and activities based on children’s books and this Christmas book themed Christmas ornament craft was no exception.

Bear ornament that kids can make for a book related Christmas ornament.

How to make a Bear ornament

This post contains affiliate links.

When we came up with this bear craft, we knew we wanted to create a cute bear that matched the bear in Karma Wilson’s Bear Stays Up for Christmas.  The bear books are such a fun series to read and we loved to see Bear’s friends help him stay up to celebrate Christmas.

Bear Stays Up for Christmas is the perfect book to add to your reading list this Christmas season.  It shows us how bear discovers the best gift of all is giving.  How fun would it be to read this book, make the cute bear craft Christmas ornament, and then give it to a friend?

Such a cute bear ornament for Christmas.

You’ll need just a few materials to make this bear craft:

This is such an easy bear craft.  It would be perfect for preschool aged kids or grade school children. To start, you’ll need to cut a bear face shape from the cardboard.

Bear craft that kids will love to make while working on fine motor skills.

Bear Craft

Bear crafts can be made this time of year, or all year long to work on skills like fine motor work, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, and more.

Then, use the brown twine to wrap all around the cardboard face shape. Tape the twine to the back of the bear to keep it in place.

Help kids work on fine motor skills with a bear craft that is perfect for a Christmas ornament.

Fine motor tip: This activity is a great way to address bilateral coordination skills. Wrapping the twine around the cardboard shape allows kids to coordinate both hands together with a working hand and a non-dominant, assisting hand.  This type of activity requires a child to work at midline while looking down toward their hands.  It is a good activity for kids to seem to switch hands when writing or require prompts to hold the paper when writing and other tasks that utilize an assisting hand and precision work with the dominant hand.

Read here for more information on creative ways to address bilateral coordination. 

Continue to wrap the twine around the cardboard until most of the cardboard is not showing, including around the bear’s ears.


Add a small piece of tape to the back of the bear craft to hold the end of the twine down.


Next, stick the peel and stick googly eyes on the bear’s face.

Kids love to make crafts like this bear craft based on a popular childrens book.

Use a dab of glue or a glue dot to stick the crafting pom pom onto the bear craft.


Finally, use a small piece of twine on the back of the bear craft to create a loop in order to hang the bear craft Christmas ornament onto the Christmas tree.




While this bear craft was based on a popular children’s Christmas book, it would be a great accompaniment for any bear themed preschool book or children’s book.

Kids can make this bear craft based on the book, Bear stays up for Winter, or any bear book for kids.

Make this bear craft Christmas ornament based on Bear Stays Up for Christmas childrens book.

Need more ornament crafts? 



Nativity Tree Decorations 

Spice Jar Lid Star Ornaments 

Dog Ornament 

Pine Tree Ornament

Looking for more kid-created Christmas ornaments?  Here are some of our favorites:

Bottle Caps Holly Ornament

Spaghetti Wreath Ornament

ee cummings Little Tree Christmas Ornament

Olive the Other Reindeer Ornament

Cutest ever bear craft Christmas ornament for kids.
Every Christmas tree needs this kid-made Christmas tree bear craft ornament!


 

 

 

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

Highlighted Lines Christmas Worksheets

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Highlighted lines modified Christmas paper

Working on handwriting this time of year can be like pulling teeth when kids are excited for all of the things the holiday season brings. That’s why we’ve got these Christmas Worksheets available in highlighted lines writing pages with a Christmas theme. Use the holiday worksheets for writing Christmas lists, thank you notes, or a letter to Santa while working on line awareness with modified paper in the form of highlighted lined paper. 

Christmas Worksheets

Christmas worksheets for working on handwriting with highlighted lined paper.

Kids can sometimes try a handwriting trick and you will see the light bulb switch on.  What if you had a Christmas light strand switch on when you were working on written work with kids?  One way that helps kids develop written work skills and legibility is using highlighted lines on the paper.  A highlighted bottom space on lined paper is helpful in so many ways.  

This Highlighted Lines Christmas Paper is part of our modified Christmas paper packet.  It’s a Christmas worksheet for kids that will help with handwriting this season. I decided to break the packet up into parts so that those of you who are interested in just one type of paper can benefit from a lower price.

Highlighted Lines Christmas Worksheets

 
Highlighted Lined paper is beneficial to many kids for several reasons.  Using a highlighted space can provide a visual cue that allows kids to form letters with appropriate size, spacing, and placement. 
 
There are many areas of handwriting that this type of paper can address:
Line awareness
Letter size
Letter placement
Spatial awareness
Proper letter construction
 
Read more about highlighted lined paper and it’s benefits in written work.
 
Want to try color coded paper with a Christmas theme?  This is a great paper to use for letters to Santa, holiday wish lists, thank you notes, shopping lists, recipe sharing, and Christmas time to-do lists.
 
Kids can practice handwriting in a way that is fun and meaningful with color coded Christmas handwriting paper. 
 
 
Highlighted lines modified paper for Christmas worksheets that kids will enjoy using.

What’s in the Highlighted Lines Christmas Worksheet packet?

(1) 10 pages of paper for practicing handwriting, including:
  • 4 Christmas border designs in single space (narrow rule lines)
  • 4 Christmas border designs in double space (wide rule lines)
  • “Dear Santa” writing prompt paper in narrow rule and wide rule
(2) Christmas themed writing prompt for ideas to encourage handwriting in a fun and meaningful way
(3)A How to Use This Paper writing guide

 

Christmas Worksheets for handwriting 

Highlighted lined paper is a useful tool for kids who struggle with visual perceptual needs or visual motor challenges in handwriting. Children who write with letters placed haphazardly on the lines or have trouble with spacing between letters and words will benefit from this paper. Kids who write with letters of mixed size or those who write with a mixture of upper and lowercase letters will like this modified paper. 
 
Teachers in grades Kindergarten on up will benefit from the different styles of paper in this packet. The packet comes with different sized lines and a variety of rules with each holiday-themed styles. 
 
Therapists who work with children on handwriting goals will love to use the motivation of the Christmas and holiday season to work on underlying skills needed for accuracy and function in handwriting. 
 
Parents who want their children to write out Christmas lists or Thank You notes will LOVE this modified paper that allows independence in written work.

OR, if you want to try several types of paper (bold lined paper and highlighted lined paper are also available), you can purchase the packets that work for your child or students.  For teachers or therapists, the whole bundle might be a better option.  You’ll find 30 pages of printable modified paper bundled together and will save. 

 

More Christmas Worksheets

 
 
 
Get 30 pages of modified paper with a Christmas Theme for legible and neat Letters to Santa, Christmas Wish Lists, Thank You Notes, Holiday Lists, and MORE! 
GET YOUR Christmas Handwriting Pack!

Color Coded Christmas Paper

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Color-coded lined paper Christmas handwriting

Practicing handwriting can be a struggle.  Sometimes, making the writing task fun can be just the thing to encourage practice.  This Color Coded Christmas Paper is part of our modified Christmas paper packet.  I decided to break the packet up into parts so that those of you who are interested in just one type of paper can benefit from a lower price.

Christmas Handwriting Worksheets for Kids

Color Coded Christmas paper for modified writing to improve handwriting legibility.

 

Color Coded Christmas Paper

Color coded paper is beneficial to many kids for several reasons.  Kids can address handwriting needs when presented with color specific lines.  Knowing where to place their pencil to start and stop pencil strokes can help with legibility.

There are many areas of handwriting that this type of paper can address:

Line awareness
Letter size
Letter placement
Spatial awareness
Proper letter construction


Read more about color coded paper and its benefits in written work.

Want to try color coded paper with a Christmas theme?  This is a great paper to use for letters to Santa, holiday wish lists, thank you notes, shopping lists, recipe sharing, and Christmas time to-do lists.


Kids can practice handwriting in a way that is fun and meaningful with color coded Christmas handwriting paper.


Grab your Color Coded Christmas Paper packet for $4.99.

Who is the Color-Coded Modified Lined Christmas Modified Paper Packet for?

Color-Coded modified lined paper is a useful tool for kids who struggle with visual perceptual needs or visual motor challenges in handwriting. Children who write with letters placed haphazardly on the lines or have trouble with spacing between letters and words will benefit from this paper. Kids who write with letters of mixed size or those who write with a mixture of upper and lowercase letters will like this modified paper.

 
Teachers in grades Kindergarten on up will benefit from the different styles of paper in this packet. The packet comes with different sized lines and a variety of rules with each holiday-themed styles. 
 
Therapists who work with children on handwriting goals will love to use the motivation of the Christmas and holiday season to work on underlying skills needed for accuracy and function in handwriting. 
 
Parents who want their children to write out Christmas lists or Thank You notes will LOVE this modified paper that allows independence in written work.

 

What’s in the Color Coded Christmas Paper packet?

(1) 10 pages of paper for practicing handwriting, including:

  • 4 Christmas border designs in single space (narrow rule lines)
  • 4 Christmas border designs in double space (wide rule lines)
  • “Dear Santa” writing prompt paper in narrow rule and wide rule

(2) Christmas themed writing prompt for ideas to encourage handwriting in a fun and meaningful way

(3)A How to Use This Paper writing guide

Use color coded Christmas paper for modifications during handwriting.


You can grab this printable packet for $4.99 and print to use over and over again.

OR, if you want to try several types of paper (bold lined paper and highlighted lined paper are also available), you can purchase the packets that work for your child or students.  For teachers or therapists, the whole bundle might be a better option.  You’ll find 30 pages bundled together and will save.

Color coded Christmas paper packet for handwriting needs.
 
Get 30 pages of modified paper with a Christmas Theme for legible and neat Letters to Santa, Christmas Wish Lists, Thank You Notes, Holiday Lists, and MORE! 
GET YOUR Mega Christmas Handwriting Pack!

 

Bold Line Christmas Paper

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Bold lined paper for Christmas and holiday handwriting activities

You might have seen the Christmas Paper Packet that we released last week. This time of year, kids and parents start thinking about letters to Santa, holiday to-do lists, and wish lists.  It’s a great time to sneak in handwriting practice!  


Using modified paper is one way to make the task of practicing line awareness, spatial awareness, letter size, and overall legibility just a little bit easier.  I wanted to put together a packet of modified paper with a Christmas theme for all of that handwriting practice.  


Sometimes, kids need just one type of paper that makes handwriting legibility click.  If you want to have the whole packet with three types of paper, you can grab it here.  The variety of paper styles and spacing sizes are perfect for teachers and therapists who work with kids with a variety of handwriting needs.

Christmas Writing Worksheets 

 

Use bold line Christmas paper to help with legibility when writing letters to Santa and holiday wish lists!

Bold Line Christmas Paper

For those of you with just one writing need, there are three options of modified Christmas paper.  


This bold lined Christmas Paper is perfect for helping kids with several writing concerns:
Line awareness
Letter Size
Letter Placement


Read more about bold lined paper and how it can be beneficial for kids with handwriting concerns.


Get the Bold Lined Christmas Paper packet for just $4.99

Who would use this bold-lined paper handwriting packet?  

As an Occupational Therapist, I would LOVE to have this packet available for use during the holiday season.  As we get nearer to Christmas and the holiday break, kids start to get a little antsy in the classroom.  

Bold-lined lined paper is a useful tool for kids who struggle with visual perceptual needs or visual motor challenges in handwriting. Children who write with letters placed haphazardly on the lines or have trouble with spacing between letters and words will benefit from this paper. Kids who write with letters of mixed size or those who write with a mixture of upper and lowercase letters will like this modified paper. 
 
Teachers in grades Kindergarten on up will benefit from the different styles of paper in this packet. The packet comes with different sized lines and a variety of rules with each holiday-themed styles. 
 
Therapists who work with children on handwriting goals will love to use the motivation of the Christmas and holiday season to work on underlying skills needed for accuracy and function in handwriting. 
Parents who want their children to write out Christmas lists or Thank You notes will LOVE this modified paper that allows independence in written work.

 

Bold line Christmas paper for modified paper when practicing handwriting this Christmas season.


What’s in the Bold Lined Christmas Paper packet?

10 pages of paper for practicing handwriting, including:

  • 4 Christmas border designs in single space (narrow rule lines)
  • 4 Christmas border designs in double space (wide rule lines)
  • “Dear Santa” writing prompt paper in narrow rule and wide rule
  • Christmas themed writing prompt for ideas to encourage handwriting in a fun and meaningful way.
  • A How to Use This Paper writing guide

Pssst: Here’s a deal idea–If you want to try a couple of styles of the paper, you can grab both for for $4.99 each. OR, try the whole packet to SAVE. 


The whole modified handwriting packet is a great deal for parents, teachers, and therapists who want to print off different types of modified paper to meet the needs of several different students. 

Get 30 pages of modified paper with a Christmas Theme for legible and neat Letters to Santa, Christmas Wish Lists, Thank You Notes, Holiday Lists, and MORE! 
GET YOUR Christmas Handwriting Pack!

Modified Paper Christmas Handwriting Pack

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Christmas modified paper for holiday handwriting for kids

It is hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner.  It’s just about that time of year when we have Christmas lists, to-do lists, letters to Santa, and thank you notes to write out.  


But what happens when your child struggles with handwriting?  


Writing out that Christmas wish list is a difficult task that brings out tears instead of holiday excitement.  I’ve got a solution for your kiddo with handwriting difficulties: a packet of modified paper for all of the Christmas handwriting tasks that come up each year.  Use this handwriting pack to help kids who struggle with handwriting to participate in holiday traditions while even working on and developing their handwriting skills!

Christmas Worksheets for Kids

Try this modified paper Christmas handwriting pack for helping kids work on handwriting this year.

Modified Paper for Handwriting Needs with a Christmas Theme



This handwriting packet will be a solution to so many handwriting needs.  It’s a 35 page handwriting pack that contains 30 different modified handwriting sheets.  There is a section that explains the “why” behind each type of paper and how they should be used to promote legibility in written work.  There is a printable Christmas themed writing prompt sheet to help inspire handwriting. There are two different sized line pages for each Christmas theme.  


This is a huge printable pack that can be used over and over again!

Modified paper Christmas Handwriting pages are great for kids to work on written work this holiday season.

 

Consider the ways that kids can write and practice handwriting this season:

  • Letter to Santa (Use the “Dear Santa” prompt page and additional sheets for longer letters to the Big Guy in Red.)
  • Christmas Wish List
  • Holiday To-Do List
  • Shopping List
  • Recipe Sharing
  • Thank You Notes
  • And more (There are a bunch of ideas on the printable writing prompt sheet!)
Want the packet? Grab it now in time for Christmas planning and your Advent calendar.
 
 
Dear Santa Christmas letter pages are part of the modified paper Christmas handwriting pack for kids.

So, what’s in the Handwriting Pack?

  • THREE types of modified paper: Bold lined paper, Color-coded paper (with Christmas-y colors), and Highlighted Paper
  • FIVE different Christmas and Winter themed borders.
  • TWO different sized lined of each type of paper: Narrow Rule for older kids and Wide Rule for younger kids.  
  • That’s 30 different sheets of modified paper all with a Christmas theme.
  • There is a detailed explanation of reasoning behind each type of paper.  This will help explain how to use each modified paper and the reasons why each type might be the style of adapted paper to use for particular handwriting concerns.
  • PRINTABLE Christmas writing prompt sheet.  Use this to inspire handwriting practice all season long in fun and meaningful ways…on fun Christmas-themed paper, of course!
All of this is available for printing as many sheets as you need throughout the holiday season.  The 30 handwriting pages, instructional sheets, printable Christmas writing prompt page is available for $7.99.
 
Use highlighted paper to work on letter size and formation, part of the modified paper Christmas Handwriting Pack
 
This handwriting pack will meet the needs of kids of all ages-From Kindergarten on up through High School.


What writing needs can be met with this handwriting printable pack?

  • Poor Line Awareness
  • Inaccurate Letter Size
  • Poor Spatial Awareness
  • Poor Letter Formation
  • Inaccurate Spatial Organization
  • “Floating” Letters and Words
  • Inconsistent Written Work
JUST ADDED: 


For those of you who would like to try just ONE style of paper for a lower price, you can.  I have broken the packet down into three sections so that parents, teachers, and therapists can benefit from just one style of modified paper.  Each smaller packet comes with 10 pages each of modified paper with a Christmas theme. Read about each of the packets here:

 
Highlighted paper in the modified paper Christmas Handwriting pack for kids
 

Who would use this modified paper handwriting packet?  

As an Occupational Therapist, I would LOVE to have this packet available for use during the holiday season.  As we get nearer to Christmas and the holiday break, kids start to get a little antsy in the classroom. 
Modified lined paper is a useful tool for kids who struggle with visual perceptual needs or visual motor challenges in handwriting. Children who write with letters placed haphazardly on the lines or have trouble with spacing between letters and words will benefit from this paper. Kids who write with letters of mixed size or those who write with a mixture of upper and lowercase letters will like this modified paper. 
 
Teachers in grades Kindergarten on up will benefit from the different styles of paper in this packet. The packet comes with different sized lines and a variety of rules with each holiday-themed styles. 
 
Therapists who work with children on handwriting goals will love to use the motivation of the Christmas and holiday season to work on underlying skills needed for accuracy and function in handwriting. 
 
Parents who want their children to write out Christmas lists or Thank You notes will LOVE this modified paper that allows independence in written work.
 
Use modified paper Christmas handwriting pack to work on legibility in written work.
 
Making writing practice fun and meaningful can be beneficial for addressing handwriting goal areas. Print off the pages that you need for individual students. 


Try one type of paper and then another to see what works.  When you find a modified style of paper that works, print off the other themed pages using that same modification.  
 
Bold lined paper and a modified paper Christmas handwriting pack
 
There are so many ways to practice handwriting skills in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  THEN, print off a few pages to send home with students for the holiday break. Students can use the paper to work on a list of writing prompts as part of their OT homework.
 
Work on handwriting with modified paper Christmas handwriting pack for kids.
 
Having so many different types of paper and border styles in one pack makes this resource easy to use for many different students.  Teachers can use the pack to address the needs of the whole classroom.
 
Modified paper Christmas handwriting pack for kids.
 
Parents can print off the pages that they would like to try with their child.  Use the writing prompts to work on handwriting in a fun and relaxed way.
 
Use this modified paper Christmas Handwriting Pack to work on legibility and handwriting struggles with kids.

Cardboard Gingerbread House

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cardboard gingerbread activity for kids

This cardboard gingerbread house is a process art activity that helps kids create and build fine motor skills with a gingerbread house theme! Pair this with our decorate a gingerbread house Google slide deck for hands-on fun that the kids will love this holiday season.

cardboard gingerbread activity for kids

It was really easy and Big Sister and Little Guy played with it for a long time.  The creating part lasted a while when the babies were sleeping.   Sleeping Beauty looooves her new house 😉  

To make it, I cut up a box into enough pieces, just eye-balling the size.  No need for measuring.  The kids don’t notice and you never know when a superhero might accidentally destroy the house 😉

Make a cardboard gingerbread house with kids using cardboard boxes.

How to make a cardboard gingerbread house 

Little Guy wanted me to use his special red duct tape.    

To easily get the house shape, lay the tape on one piece then stick the corner piece onto the strip of tape.)  

You can make a row of four squares then close up the last shape by putting the tape on from the inside.   

Steps to make a cardboard gingerbread house.

  After all the seams are taped up, turn the whole thing upside down.  You don’t need a floor…so princesses and superheros can get in a little easier…

Tape the triangle roof pieces on.

Tape triangle pieces to the cardboard house.
Peel cardboard to make a roof for the cardboard gingerbread house.

 Make the cardboard gingerbread house roof

Then, cover with two more squares for a roof.  I pulled one side of the cardboard off for a shingled look.    

To tape the roof on, work from the inside and tape one roof side on first by taping the inside edges.

Then, stick tape to the edge of the other side of the triangle. Slightly bend the long piece of tape and place the other cardboard roof piece ontop so it sticks to the bent tape.

It looks cute, I think 🙂   Spiderman really liked his new home.

Cardboard gingerbread house for pretend play
Cardboard gingerbread house activity

Decorate the cardboard gingerbread house

After it was built, I pulled out a bag of mixed crafting materials and a ton of glue.    

Decorate a cardboard gingerbread house with craft materials.

  Big Sister had so much fun.  She went crazy gluing stuff on.  

It was a lot like our process vs. product play activity. 

Cardboard gingerbread house craft for kids

Use colored tape, beads, craft pom poms, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, crepe paper, and other craft materials to decorate the cardboard gingerbread house.

Kids can make a gingerbread house with craft materials.

  We had a fun day with our Candy-less Gingerbread House…but Little Guy said needed a little bit of candy  to east while he was helping to build it.  “You have to eat a Gingerbread house, Mom!”  

We are having so much fun with our Christmas Play activities…Check out the new tab at the top for all of the  25 Days of Christmas Play that we’ve done so far.

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

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