Engage toddlers to preschoolers in Christmas-themed learning and play activities with these festive Christmas sensory activities. You could even turn them into a DIY advent calendar! Here you will find so many fun December activities from Christmas sensory bins, Christmas slime, playdough, and more. We love coming up with new Christmas activities for little ones!

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Make Your Own Advent Calendar

It just dawned on me what a perfect advent calendar idea this would be for kids! Easy play ideas and holiday activities everyday until Christmas. We also have a great list of tips and hints for busy families to create a simple advent calendar.

Grab some note cards and envelopes, write out a list of Christmas activities, make sure to gather supplies. Leave a card on his or her plate each morning for breakfast or decorate a small tree {clip cards on with mini clothespins}! 

Not into an Advent Calendar? Why not pick and choose a few of the following Christmas sensory activities to do this month. All of these December activities use easy supplies you can get at the grocery store. I bet you have most of them already!

What kinds of Christmas activities are there? You and your kids can enjoy our favorite Christmas slime recipe and make gingerbread slime, turn peppermints into oobleck, put together Christmas sensory bins, and so much more!

Our Christmas sensory ideas are filled with wonderful tactile experiences and many of them are also simple science experiments. There is even a very fun ice melting idea you have to check out!

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Favorite Christmas Books For Young Kids

Why not pair an engaging Christmas story with one or more of these Christmas sensory activities below! I am an Amazon Affiliate.

“The Gruffalo’s Child” by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler: This charming story follows the Gruffalo’s child as she embarks on a snowy adventure, encountering various forest creatures.

“Bear Stays Up for Christmas” by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman: Join Bear and his woodland friends as they try to keep Bear awake for Christmas in this heartwarming tale.

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” by Dr. Seuss: Dr. Seuss’s classic story of the Grinch and his change of heart is a timeless Christmas favorite for young readers.

Check out our list of fun Grinch activities to pair with this book!

“Pete the Cat Saves Christmas” by James Dean and Eric Litwin: Pete the Cat grooves through this festive story as he steps in to save Christmas when Santa falls ill.

“The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg: A magical tale of a boy’s journey on the Polar Express train to the North Pole, where he learns the true spirit of Christmas.

“Llama Llama Holiday Drama” by Anna Dewdney: Little Llama deals with the excitement and impatience of the holiday season in this adorable and relatable story.

“The Littlest Elf” by Brandi Dougherty and Kirsten Richards: Follow the adventures of the littlest elf who proves that even small acts of kindness can make a big difference during the holiday season.

“Snowmen at Christmas” by Caralyn Buehner and Mark Buehner: Discover the imaginative world of snowmen at night as they celebrate Christmas in this whimsical and beautifully illustrated book.

“Olivia Helps with Christmas” by Ian Falconer: Join Olivia the pig as she helps her family prepare for Christmas, adding her own unique flair to the holiday festivities.

“Merry Christmas, Mouse!” by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond: Mouse decorates the Christmas tree with different items in this counting book, making it a festive and educational read.

These Christmas books for preschoolers combine engaging stories with delightful illustrations, making them perfect for creating holiday traditions and sparking the season’s magic.

Get Your Free Quick Start Sensory Bin Guide

It’s as easy as 1-2-3-4 to make a sensory bin! Get started today with this simple sensory bin guide.

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20 Fun Filled Christmas Sensory Activities For Toddlers & Preschoolers

These Christmas sensory activities are truly quick and easy with a simple set up! I wouldn’t have it any other way. I want our Christmas activities to be fast, frugal, and fun to share with my son any day of the year.

>>> Check out our huge collection of sensory play ideas for anytime of the year!

Christmas 5 Senses Lab

Sensory play can also include science fun! Kick off the season with a Christmas 5 senses lab filled with the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures of the holiday season!

If exploring the 5 senses is on your list this year, check out our complete collection of preschool 5 senses activities here.

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Santa’s Lab

Gingerbread Playdough

Playdough is on my must-do list for December activities for preschoolers. What’s better than a scented dough, and a tray of inspiration to bake their own cookies!

We paired this Christmas activity with one of our favorite Christmas books called the Gingerbread Mouse! A very simple book about a little mouse, a new gingerbread house, and a little girl who befriends her and gives the mouse a gingerbread cookie.

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Gingerbread Play Dough

Christmas Playdough

Add this Christmas playdough recipe to your Christmas activities, and you are sure to have something fun to whip up this holiday! Includes a free printable Christmas playdough mat!

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Christmas Play Dough

Christmas Cloud Dough

Awesome Christmas cloud dough for easy Christmas sensory play! Our Christmas cloud dough feels amazing on the hands and smells like cookies. Add some simple kitchen tools; cookie cutters, measuring cups and spoons. 

Christmas Glitter Jars

These Christmas sensory bottles or glitter jars are easy to make and are a great calm down tool with their mesmerizing sparkle!

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Christmas Glitter Jars

Peppermint Oobleck

Give the classic 2 ingredient oobleck, a Christmas twist by adding Christmas peppermints to the mix. Or add items from a winter nature walk with our Evergreen oobleck recipe.

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Christmas Magnet Sensory Bin

Dive into this exciting Christmas sensory bin adventure filled with engaging activities. Your little ones will be thrilled to discover jingling bells, and Christmas-themed items using magnets.

Learn more about sensory bins and find tons of sensory bin ideas here.

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Christmas Water Play

Here’s a novel Christmas sensory activity that will have your kids playing happily for hours. Add plastic ornaments and Christmas glitter to warm water for active hands to dump, pour, and fill along with a baster for awesome fine motor skills.

Cinnamon Rice Sensory Bin

Make an amazing scented rice with vanilla and cinnamon. We added gingerbread-themed buttons left over from another project and these scented cinnamon salt dough ornaments!

Candy Cane Rice Sensory Bin

Dye rice red and white to create candy cane stripes. Add small Christmas-themed toys, mini candy canes, and scoops. See here for how to dye rice.

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Jingle Bell Sensory Bin

Fill a bin with red and green pom-poms and jingle bells for a festive sensory experience.

Christmas Sand Sensory Bin

Make a simple sensory bin with green colored play sand and red Christmas accessories. See here for how to easily color sand for sensory play.

Sand Ornament sensory play Christmas Sensory BinPin

Grinch Slime

And his heart grew three sizes that day… Make awesome Grinch slime to go along with the book or movie this season. Check out more Grinch Day activities here!

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Grinch Slime

Christmas Tree Slime

Turn your slime into a moving Christmas tree! Kids will love all the glitter, mini baubles and other decorations that can be added to this fun green Christmas slime.

Scented Gingerbread Slime

Add in any of your Christmas cookie cutters, not just the gingerbread man ones! You can also add buttons, glitter, and whatever else the kids will enjoy. Plus, who doesn’t love the smell of gingerbread cookies?

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Gingerbread Slime

Taste Safe Gingerbread Slime

Make amazing gingerbread slime you can taste. Just like baking cookies, edible gingerbread slime that smells so good!

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Fluffy Candy Cane Slime

The stretchiest, the coolest, the most fluffiest slime that we love to make! Mix up two batches of fluffy slime and twist them into an awesome candy cane.

Don’t want to use shaving foam, check out this candy cane slime recipe.

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Fluffy Candy Cane Slime

Erupting Christmas Ornaments

Baking soda and vinegar science activities are perfect for young kids and provide a hands-on learning experience too. We love anything that fizzes, bangs, and pops!

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Santa’s Frozen Hands

What do you get when you fill a plastic glove with water and freeze? Simple but super cool sensory science for young kids! Santa’s frozen hands will amaze your kids and keep them busy for maybe even a whole hour this holiday season.

Melting Snowman

Make a snowman from baking soda and then watch what happens with a cool chemical reaction for fun Christmas sensory science you can do with a classroom group or at home!

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Snowman Science

Christmas Sand Foam

This simple Christmas sand foam only uses two ingredients, shaving cream and sand. Our first play recipe was sandbox sand foam, but this time I used red craft sand and Christmas decorations for a Christmas theme!

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More Fun Christmas Activities For Preschoolers

Printable Preschool Pack

Get ready to explore this year with our growing Preschool STEM Bundle!

What’s Included:

There are 10+ preschool themes to get you started. This is an ” I can explore” series!

Each unit contains approximately 15 activities, with instructions and templates as needed. Hands-on activities are provided to keep it fun and exciting. This includes sensory bins, experiments, games, and more! Easy supplies keep it low cost and book suggestions add to the learning time.

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4 Comments

  1. This is really cool ideas! I got many options of craft and activities for my kids on this Christmas . Thanks for sharing this!

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  3. Pingback: Candy Cane Sensory Play Rice Sensory Bin

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