Christmas time can be a rollercoaster of emotions for kids. They are out of their normal routines, they may be staying up later and be really excited about all the Christmas festivities. Take some time to check in and practice a little Christmas calm with these 9 calming Christmas activities for kids.
In this list, you’ll find a lovely mix of calming Christmas activities for kids, including playful breathwork, mindfulness, relaxation and mindset positivity mixed with a little creativity. These lovely calming Christmas activities for kids can be weaved into your usual Christmas traditions and be used by the whole family. { Find the list below in my free printable library}.
{ 9 Calming Christmas Activities for Kids}
1. Smell the Cocoa
Activity: Hot Chocolate Breaths (Mindfulness for kids using the breath and senses).
Overview: Hot chocolate breaths is one of my favourite breathing activities and the lovely thing is you could make real Christmas hot chocolates together and then practice this breathing activity. If you do make real hot chocolates you can follow on by using your 5 sensing and savouring the experience. A great way to ground yourself in the present and really appreciate the time you have together.
Either with or with out a hot chocolate. Ask Children to breathe in the warm sweet cocoa smell and breathe out to cool down the hot chocolate.
You can find our printable Hot Chocolate Breaths Kit here.
{You may like – Hot Chocolate Breaths – Playful Breathing for Kids}
2. Share a Little Candy Cane Kindness at Christmas
Activity: Candy Candy Breaths (Mindfulness for kids using the breath and senses and mindset positivity using acts of kindness).
Overview: Use candy canes as a mindfulness prop, take a candy cane breath, then share a wish of kindness and savour eating the candy cane.
Ask children to pop their fingers at the top of the candy cane and breathe slowly and they trace their finger to the bottom. Then as they breathe out they can trace their fingers back up to where they started. When then finish take turns sharing a wish of kindness to someone.
Finally, eat the candy canes, but pay attention and really savour the experience. Who can eat their the slowest with out crunching it? Use all the senses and really enjoy eating the treat. It can be easy to gobble down our food when their is so many treats to eat.
Try using my printable and making a cute Candy Cane Breaths Christmas card too!
3. Relax with the Gingerbread Man
Activity: Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Kids
Overview: When we have busy times in our lives our minds and bodies can become overwhelmed. Often our bodies will be sending us a message if we pay attention. This activity helps us to recognise tense muscles in the body and relax them.
You’ll need: A ginger bread man (homemade or shop bought) or our printable activity kit and the gingerbread man story (optional).
Explain to your kids that the gingerbread man can show us how to, ‘Scrunch, Crunch and Crumble’. It’s a fun way to relax our muscles. Use the gingerbread man to get your kids to point to different areas of the body and then practice ‘Scrunch, Crunch and Crumbling’ them (tense and releasing the muscles). Practice the feet, legs, belly, arms, hands and face and then the whole body. When you are finished eat your gingerbread men and read a story.
{You can find the printable game version of the activity here}
4. Breathe like a Christmas Tree and Be a Star
Activity: Christmas Tree Breaths (Mindful, shape breathing for kids)
Overview: Try shape breathing and use a triangle shape to practice your Christmas Tree Breaths. Shape breathing is a great way to help kids to learn mindful breathing by focusing on using a shape to follow. Then think about what makes you a star!
Draw a triangle shape or use my printable Christmas Tree Breaths Activity Kit and ask children to breathe along one side, pause along the other and breathe out on the final side of the triangle.
{You may like: Teaching Mindful Breathing using Shapes}
You can find the printable activity here
5. Christmas Colour Hunt
Activity: Christmas Colour Scavenger Hunt (Mindfulness using the sense of sight)
Overview: Use the free printable activity sheet to take a mindful walk and discover all the beautiful festive colours around us.
Print off a Christmas colour treasure hunt sheet from the free resource library. Then ask children to either walk inside or outside and record when they spot a colour. it must be Christmas related in some way. They can write answers down, draw pictures or simply colour the square in.
6. Make some Festive Popcorn
Activity: Popcorn Popping (Positive connection for kids and mindfulness through the senses).
Overview: This is a really fun mindfulness activity for kids, which can lead to either sitting down and watching a Christmas movie together, making popcorn garlands or bagging up the popcorn as gifts for friends.
Whether you use a pan or machine, make some some popcorn together as a family. Notice how the corn kernals all look the same before they head into the popcorn machine. Then when they have all popped, get your kids to pick two out. What is similar and what is different about the two pieces of corn? How have they changed?
Then choose together what you’ll do with the popcorn. Make a garland, make popcorn bags as gifts or sit down and watch a Christmas movie or read a Christmas book and share the popcorn together. Savour this special moment that you are all getting to spend with each other.
7. Decorate with Gratitude
Activity: Gratitude Garlands (Mindset positivity through Gratitude for Kids)
Overview: Make your own Christmas gratitude paperchains. This easy activity is a lovely way to practice gratitude for the things and people we are thankful for and get creative!
Simply cut strips of paper, decorate and then write something you are thankful for on each paper strip. Use the free printable in my resource library. Then link them together and hang them up. Keep a few strips spare and add to your paperchain daily on the run up to Christmas.
{You can get access to 50 free gratitude prompts for Kids in my free resource library.}
8. Christmas Colouring
Activity: Christmas Colouring (Mindfulness through using the senses and relaxation)
Overview: Colouring in is a lovely way to encourage kids to relax.
Set up some colouring pages and your child’s favourite crayons in a nice quiet place. Ask your child to pick out their colours carefully, as they colour in encourage them to notice the pen in their hands, the music playing and the smells around them.
Find some printable paperchains to decorate in my Free Resource Library
9. Shake a Snow Globe
Activity: Make and Shake a Snow Globe
Overview: Use the snow globe to calm the swirling thoughts in your mind and relax. Watching a snow globe is a festive version of a calm jar. You could even make your own with a snow globe kit. We love this one from Etsy
You make like my Easy Calm Jar Recipe {with no glitter or glue}
I hope you enjoy this list of calming Christmas activities for kids and try out some with your kids. The beauty of all these activities is that with just a little tweak we can add these exercises into our family Christmas traditions. So have a merry, mindful Christmas and healthy, happy new year. Take Care Emma.
