Christmas/New years activities?

Question

Hi i getting a few kids overfor christmas this year to my place. Any ideas of what activities we could do. Something easy& not to messy. We talking primary school kids here from about the age of four. I know we gonna bake & decorate gingerbread men & thats about it

Answer 1

Cut snowflakes out of paper.

Make a colored paper chain that counts down the days until New Years (you break off a link each day).

Play "pin the nose on Rudolph" with a picture of Rudolph and a red pom-pom ball.

Make hot chocolate and watch Polar Express.

Make Christmas Tree ornaments with popsicle sticks, magic marker and some yarn. (Form three sticks into a triangle and glue together. Glue a fourth stick down the middle for the tree trunk. Color them with the markers. Hang with a piece of red yarn.)

Make reindeer ornaments with handprints. Trace their hand on brown paper and cut it out. The thumb is the reindeer's head, the four fingers are the legs. Use brown pipe cleaners for horns and glue on a googy eye and a red pompom for the nose. You can hole punch it and put a piece of yarn through the top to hang it.

Answer 2

You can also get some colored construction paper and crayons, markers all that - have them make - design - shape color and all ornaments for the christmas tree.
Buy a large piece of cloth let them color and draw all over it and then use that for a table cloth at the children's table on christmas day or anytime they are there.
There is so much you can do- try to remember when you were young and what you would like to do.
You can also go to a local crafts store and ask them for ideas- they will point you in the direction of kits for that age group!
HAVE FUN! GOOD LUCK AND JUST ENJOY IT!!!it is fun to see their imaginations go to work!

Answer 3

I would bake the cookies ahead of time. The kids will be more interested in decorating them. I don't think they will have the patience for the baking process.

Perhaps you could do a craft with them. Obviously I don't know where you live, but perhaps you could visit your local craft store and pick up some foam snowmen and inexpensive ribbon. You could get all sorts of items to glue on the snowmen and when they're all done the ribbon can be tied on and they will have made themselves a snowman ornament.

Answer 4

There will be baking of course, lots of it, like you mentioned. You could take the kids out for a little while to help with some charity and talk to them about making christmas better for the less fortunate. Then decorate christmas trees, but first, let them make christmas ornaments. Could be simple, just some plain baubles and stars, sparkle and glue for them to go crazy with. You could arrange to have a few christmasy children movie dvds to be seen with them. Have them sing carols, teach them a few simple ones. Let them all make each other simple presents or do something unique for each other in a secret santa format where each kid draws a chit and has to do something special for the person's name he gets. Connive with them in these activities, so that you can supervise them wthout appearing too interfering in the fun. You could have a story telling session too, with you reading out a fun christmas story to them, while they all lounge tucked away in throws with drinking something warmish or just munching popcorn.