The Christmas holidays are probably the hardest break to entertain the kids in. The run up to the big day is always filled with emotion. They’re excited, they’re overwrought and they flip flop between elation and devastation about 12 times an hour (or more if they’re younger).
Then you get a haven of peace that begins on Christmas Eve. The quiet before the storm.
Christmas Eve is great because they’re on their best behaviour, with an acute awareness that Santa is watching. Then Christmas Day takes care of itself thanks to all the new stuff they’ll have to entertain themselves. By Boxing Day, they’re tired and normal rules are starting to resume, then the day after Boxing Day is when it all begins to turn sour.
Christmas Break Boredom Busters for Kids
You need to keep them busy. You need to stop them fighting. Most of all, you need to wear them out so they’ll go to sleep at 7 p.m. and you can finally relax.
Below are some fab boredom busting tips to help you keep the kids at bay. I’ve split this mega list up into a ‘before Christmas’ and ‘after Christmas’ category because I see them as two very different moods.
Things to Do With Kids in the Run Up to Christmas
This is the part of the Christmas break that takes extra care. These kids are wired! It’s probably best to do Christmas-themed things, because there’s no way you’re going to distract them from the big day.
Bake and decorate a gingerbread house
Even a terrible baker can make a gingerbread house with a kit. To be honest, I think the taste doesn’t matter at all because the joy is in decorating it. These things only ever get eaten fully if they’re totally irresistible, and there’s no chance of that in my house! It’s an activity that is sure to fill an afternoon and if your end result is even remotely aesthetically pleasing, you can post it on Instagram and pretend you just used your imagination and skills instead of a kit!
Create some paper snowflakes
I thought everyone knew how to do these, but apparently it’s only 50/50 whether you learned how to do them at primary school in the 90’s. Your kids will think these are the height of style and sophistication once you’ve shown them the ropes.
Just case you’ve never make paper snowflakes, all you have to do is fold a piece of paper in half, again then diagonally to make a sort of triangle, before cutting out random chunks. If you’re a pro who is after a more refined finish, you might benefit from these Pinterest tutorials, fancy pants.
Get the kids wrapping presents
If you have kids you can trust with scissors and a tape dispenser, I highly recommend you put them to work wrapping presents. It’s a great way to pretend you’re offering up some generous festive spirit, when in actual fact you just can’t be bothered to wrap your 17 nieces’ Christmas presents. My dad used to get me to wrap my mum’s presents, which I thought was a real treat. I see now that he was just a stone-cold genius and I have learnt from his ways.
Have a festive movie night
On the off-chance your kids can sit still for an hour or so, plonk them in front of a Christmas movie. If they can’t sit still, weigh them down with snacks to help them stay put. My personal recommendation is the Christmas Chronicles on Netflix. I can’t yet vouch for the sequel as we’re saving it until Christmas Eve (or Christmas Eve eve at the very earliest).
Take a festive walk around the neighbourhood
The difference between a normal walk and a festive walk is that on a festive walk, Father Christmas is watching so no one complains their legs are tired. Wait until it gets dark then take the kids Christmas light spotting. You don’t usually need to go far, as little legs tend to dawdle, but you can easily kill an hour in the run up to bedtime. To keep them out longer you could make a game of it, get them to spot certain thing or even take a homemade scorecard. I’m sure Mavis at number 30 will be delighted to learn she has the best mooning Santa in the neighbourhood.
Paint some peg people
Peg people are super cheap, I bought a big box off Amazon (Affiliate link). I think it’s cute to paint festive versions of your family, but you could always paint Santa and some elves.
Make some special baubles
Hobbycraft have all the stuff you need for bauble making, although you will need a hot glue gun and a grown up to operate it. The only caveat with this is that you will have to hang the bauble on your tree. So if you have a beautiful tree that the kids aren’t meant to touch, then this craft isn’t for you (unless you’re prepared to hang a baubley abomination that your five year old made right in the middle of the tree, for all to see).
Decorate log slices and hang them on the tree
I bought some rustic-looking log slices to paint with the kids. You can get them from Amazon (affiliate link) and use pretty string to hang them on the tree. If you’re all really good at art you can invest in tiny brushes for intricate designs and varnish the finished product. Terrible at art? Don’t worry – just take your rustic bit f wood with a crudely drawn festive scene on it and tell everyone it’s an ancient fossil that a cave person painted.
Things to do during the break AFTER Christmas Day
In theory, this should be the easier part of the holiday because the kids will have loads of new things to entertain them. Although you might get some reprieve from them occasionally entertaining themselves, you’ll still need to step up and find yet more activities.
Here are some suggestions:
Write and illustrate thank you letters
Aunties, uncles, grandparents and friends of the family will have no doubt sent gifts. All of these presents need a thank you, but instead of you sending a Facebook message, why not add a personal touch? Get your children to hand write the thank yous, and add their own pretty illustrations too. You’ll probably have to supervise these illustrations. I recently had to intercept a Christmas card my little boy had written to his best friend where he had drawn a bum and a poo in it. Luckily he’s only 6, so if I hadn’t spotted it, I doubt anyone would be able to tell what it was.
Clear out old toys
If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll want to keep every toy they have ever owned since they were babies. It’s just not practical. But armed with the excuse there won’t be room to keep the new toys, your kids will happily fork over Tinky Winky for some other family to enjoy.
Teach them the importance of recycling
And by that I of course mean, get them sort your recycling. Yes, it’s fine you have so many empty bottles of knock off Baileys to go in the blue bin, how else will they learn if you don’t help them out like this? Kids love squashing cardboard and paper in the recycling bins too. Hint: if you need to squash down the contents, put your biggest child in the bin to help flatten in. If that doesn’t work, add your next smallest, and work your way down until the bin in flat. If you run out of children, visiting grandmas often aren’t too heavy to lift either.
Take them on a nature walk
The aim of this second part of the holiday is just to tire them out every day until they go back to school. Kids think most things are fun (unless you suggest something insane like “why don’t you play with your new toys, Maisie?”) so you don’t even have to make the walk interesting. If you want to make an effort though, I’d suggest a scavenger hunt for things like leaves or feathers.
Related: How to Encourage Your Kids Fall In Love With Outdoor Play
Teach them to cook
Yes, eating those weird cakes your kids have made is nice, but have you ever felt the joy of someone else making your dinner? If you have some bigger kids (who you can trust not to pick their noses), you can teach them some basic cooking skills. Spag bol, pizza, and a slow cooker stew are all nice and easy. Fish fingers and potato waffles are even easier!
Related: 7 Comforting & Affordable Healthy Family Meal Ideas