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Free Christmas activities

Christmas crafts, coloring pages and family games

Choose six coloring pages, five paper crafts, six family games or a kindness activity. Find complete instructions on this page and eight free printable PDFs. No signup needed.

Coloring pages · Paper crafts · Family games · Kindness activities · Christmas recipes

Paper crafts and games need no printer. A grown-up should help with scissors and choose supplies that suit each child.

Free Christmas printables

Browse all eight free PDFs below. Coloring pages, ornament instructions and the Kindness Jar are separate groups. No signup needed.

Christmas coloring pages (6)

Open a PDF and check your printer preview. Choose Fit to page if edges look cropped. No printer? Draw your own Christmas character using the pictures as inspiration.

Printable craft instructions (1)

Download the salt-dough ornament instructions. Find no-printer paper crafts farther down this page.

Salt Dough Ornament Instructions: Easy Recipe

Salt Dough Ornament Instructions: Easy Recipe

Download PDF

Kindness Jar printable (1)

The Elf Helper Kindness Jar is one printable activity. Find more games and a separate seven-day kindness idea below.

Elf Helper Kindness Jar Challenge – Free Family Activity (Printable PDF)

Elf Helper Kindness Jar Challenge – Free Family Activity (Printable PDF)

Download PDF

Make something together

Easy Christmas crafts with paper

Make an ornament, send a handmade card, or try another paper project. Each craft includes its supplies and steps here. A grown-up should help with cutting.

About 20 minutes

Christmas countdown paper chain

You will need: Colored paper, crayons, child-safe scissors, and tape.

  1. Choose how many days you want to count down. Have a grown-up cut that many paper strips, about 1 inch wide and 8 inches long.
  2. Decorate each strip with a small drawing. On a few strips, add a simple idea such as reading a Christmas story or making cocoa.
  3. Tape the ends of one strip into a loop. Thread the next strip through it and tape that strip closed. Keep going until all the loops are connected.
  4. Display the chain within easy reach. Remove one loop each day and enjoy the drawing or activity together.

For a shorter project, make a seven-day chain for the week before Christmas.

About 15 minutes

Folded paper Christmas tree

You will need: A sheet of green paper, a small scrap for a trunk, crayons, glue stick, and child-safe scissors.

  1. Have a grown-up cut a large triangle from the green paper. Decorate it with crayon dots, stars, or garlands.
  2. Starting at the wide bottom edge, fold a narrow strip forward, then backward. Keep making small accordion folds toward the tip.
  3. Gently open the folds so the triangle has a zigzag shape. Glue a small paper trunk behind the bottom.
  4. Glue the tree onto a folded card or a larger sheet of paper. Add a Christmas greeting and let the glue dry flat.

Make several trees in different sizes for a snowy paper forest.

About 20 minutes

Homemade Christmas gift wrap

You will need: Plain paper or a clean paper bag, crayons or washable markers, and tape.

  1. Ask a grown-up to open a paper bag along its seams, or lay out a sheet of plain paper with the blank side up.
  2. Choose a repeating pattern: little trees, stars, candy canes, or colorful dots. Draw it across the paper, leaving a little space between shapes.
  3. Add a small rectangle for a gift label. Write a festive greeting in the label and decorate its border.
  4. Let any marker ink dry before wrapping a small gift. Use leftover pieces to make matching gift tags.

No gift to wrap? Fold your decorated paper into a card for someone you love.

Allow about 15 minutes

Double-sided paper Christmas ornament

You will need: Paper, a pencil, crayons, a cup to trace, child-safe scissors, glue stick and tape.

  1. Trace around a cup twice on paper. Ask a grown-up to help cut out both circles and a short paper strip for a hanger.
  2. Decorate one side of each circle. Try a star on one circle and a Christmas pattern on the other.
  3. Bend the short strip into a small loop and tape its ends to the blank side of one circle. Glue the circles together with the decorated sides facing out, trapping the taped ends between them.
  4. Let the glue dry flat. Ask a grown-up to help display the ornament on a suitable branch or hook.

Use paper from a clean cereal box for a sturdier ornament. A grown-up can cut the cardboard before decorating begins.

Allow about 20 minutes

Torn-paper snowy Christmas card

You will need: A sheet of paper for the card, white paper scraps, crayons and glue stick.

  1. Fold a sheet of paper in half to make a card. Color a blue evening sky on the front, leaving the inside blank for your message.
  2. Tear white paper into a few uneven strips. Glue them across the bottom of the card, overlapping the strips to make snowy hills.
  3. Add small torn-paper snowflakes above the hills. Draw a little house, a snowman or your own Christmas scene in the snow.
  4. Let the glue dry. Write or dictate a greeting inside, add your name and give the card to someone you know.

No white paper scraps? Draw the snowy hills and snowflakes with a crayon instead.

A grown-up should help with scissors and choose supplies that suit each child.

A little time together

Christmas games for families

Try a scavenger hunt, tell a silly North Pole story or play a quick game. These activities need no printer and use things you already have.

About 10 minutes

Christmas color hunt

You will need: Paper and crayons. No special decorations needed.

  1. Draw six boxes on a sheet of paper. Put one clue in each: something red, something green, something soft, something shiny, a star shape, and a circle.
  2. Set the search area together, such as one room. Look with your eyes and point to finds instead of climbing or handling fragile decorations.
  3. Take turns finding an object for each clue. Draw it or make a check mark in its box.
  4. Finish by choosing the funniest or most surprising find. Play again with new colors or shapes if everyone wants another round.

For younger children, use three color clues. For older children, ask for two different finds per clue.

About 10 minutes

One-sentence North Pole story

You will need: Your imagination and a cozy place to sit.

  1. Start with this sentence: One snowy morning, an elf found a tiny purple door behind the wrapping paper.
  2. Go around the group, letting each person add one sentence. Listen to the sentence before yours and build on it.
  3. After a few turns, introduce a gentle problem to solve, such as a missing mitten or a reindeer who has the hiccups.
  4. Give everyone one final turn to help the characters. End with a cheerful solution and choose a title for your story.

Anyone can pass or suggest a sound effect instead. Draw a picture of the story afterward.

Allow about 15 minutes

Indoor Christmas scavenger hunt

You will need: These clues and a room with everyday objects. Paper and a pencil are optional.

  1. Choose one room. Check that a book, cushion, light and door are visible. Swap an item if needed. Everyone can stay seated and point or describe their finds.
  2. Read these clues: I have pages and stories to share. Find me, then name a Christmas story. Answer: book. I make a seat a softer spot. Imagine I am a snowbank. Answer: cushion.
  3. Read the last clues: I help you see when daylight goes. Point to me and name a Christmas color. Answer: light. I open and close to let people through. Imagine a friendly elf knocking. Answer: door. Look and point without touching lights, climbing or opening the door.
  4. Choose one find together and invent a new Christmas clue. Invite anyone who wants a turn to be the clue reader.

Use two clues for a shorter hunt. Read the answers as hints whenever needed.

Allow about 15 minutes

Christmas charades

You will need: These prompts and a comfortable place to sit or move. Paper slips are optional.

  1. Choose one person or a pair to act while everyone guesses. Anyone may pass, guess or describe a prompt instead.
  2. Choose a prompt secretly: wrap a present, decorate a tree, build a snowman, pull a pretend sleigh, hang a stocking or be a melting snowflake. A reader can quietly help.
  3. Act without words, staying in your own space and using imaginary props. Offer a sound or spoken hint if the group gets stuck.
  4. Reveal the answer and invite the next volunteer. Finish when everyone who wants a turn has had one, then act a favorite prompt together.

Every prompt can be acted with hands and facial expressions while seated. No timer or score is needed.

Allow about 10 minutes

Christmas song trivia

You will need: The questions and answers below. No music player needed.

  1. Choose a reader and play as one team. Give everyone a chance to suggest an answer or pass.
  2. Ask: What color is Rudolph's nose? Answer: red. In The Twelve Days of Christmas, what bird is in a pear tree? Answer: a partridge.
  3. Ask: How many gold rings are in The Twelve Days of Christmas? Answer: five. In Jingle Bells, what vehicle is pulled by one horse? Answer: an open sleigh.
  4. Read each answer after the group guesses. Finish by humming a song together or inventing a funny verse about an imaginary reindeer.

Offer two choices: red or blue, partridge or penguin, five or ten, and sleigh or bicycle.

Allow about 20 minutes

A no-cost Christmas Eve routine

You will need: A comfortable place to gather and your imagination. No purchases or downloads needed.

  1. Gather somewhere comfortable and choose a short routine together. Anyone may join for one part, listen quietly or take a break.
  2. Share one small moment from the day, or name something you can see, hear or imagine. Let each person speak or pass.
  3. Make up a story together. Start with: On Christmas Eve, a tiny reindeer found a mitten big enough to sleep in. Invite each person to add a sentence, gesture or sound.
  4. Choose a quiet ending: hum a familiar song, look out a window or wish each other a restful night. Keep it short enough to fit your usual evening.

Try this on any December evening. If everyone is tired, add one ending to the opening sentence and call it a night.

Adapt each game to your family. Keep the focus on having fun and helping one another.

Small ways to care

Christmas kindness activities

Choose a small way to help or encourage someone. Try this seven-day activity, or use the separate Elf Helper Kindness Jar printable.

One small act each day

Seven days of Christmas kindness

You will need: Seven slips of paper, a bowl, and a pencil.

  1. Write one idea on each slip: thank someone, help tidy a shared space, draw a cheerful card, invite someone to play, help set the table, share a favorite story, and give someone an encouraging word.
  2. Fold the slips and put them in a bowl. Choose one each day and decide together how to do it.
  3. Keep the acts small and voluntary. A grown-up can help adapt an idea for the people and places in your day.
  4. At the end of the week, talk about a moment that felt good. Keep favorite ideas for another week.

Kindness is a way to care for each other. There is no score to keep and no reward to earn.

Keep participation voluntary and choose ideas that fit your family.

Make their Christmas letter personal.

Choose a design, add your own words, and preview the whole letter before ordering.

Create Your Letter