Christmas break always sounds wonderfully cozy before it actually begins. No school runs, no packed lunches, no homework, just slow mornings in pajamas, Christmas movies, twinkling lights and nowhere particularly urgent to be.
Lovely, isn't it? And then, approximately three days in, somebody announces, "I'm bored." Usually while standing in a house containing approximately 4,000 toys.
If you're looking for Christmas break activities for kids, I've put together this huge winter break bucket list to give you plenty of inspiration for those wonderfully slow, and occasionally very long, days at home. There are indoor activities, outdoor adventures, free things to do, family days, boredom busters and plenty of ideas for that strange little stretch between Christmas and New Year's Day when nobody really knows what day it is anymore.
You absolutely don't need to do all 50. In fact, please don't turn this into another Christmas checklist you feel you have to complete. Let the children choose a few favorites, write some ideas on scraps of paper to pull from a jar when boredom strikes, or simply bookmark this page for whenever you hear those two familiar words.
Christmas break doesn't need to be packed with plans to be memorable. Sometimes children just need a little spark, and then they're off.
How to Make a Christmas Break Bucket List With Kids
Before we get into all the ideas, one of the easiest ways to use this list is to let the children help create their own Christmas break bucket list.
I like the idea of choosing a mixture rather than filling every day with elaborate plans. Pick something outdoors, something cozy, something creative, something active, something free, something you can do together and something the children can do independently.
You could write your favorites on a sheet of paper and stick it to the fridge, or pop individual ideas into a jar and choose one whenever everyone is getting restless.
And remember, this isn't homework. Nobody gets a certificate for completing all 50 before school starts again.
Cozy Christmas Break Activities at Home
Some Christmas break days are made for staying home. When it's cold outside and everyone is quite happy in pajamas, these are the sorts of simple activities that can make an ordinary day feel surprisingly special.
1. Have Breakfast Beside the Christmas Tree
Move breakfast from the kitchen table to the floor beside the Christmas tree. You don't need to make anything special either — cereal and toast are absolutely fine.
Leave the main lights off, switch the Christmas tree lights on and enjoy one of those deliciously slow school-break mornings when nobody has to find a missing shoe at 7:42 a.m. It's such a tiny change to the normal routine, but children tend to love anything that involves eating somewhere they're not usually allowed to eat.
2. Build the Ultimate Blanket Fort
Christmas break is blanket-fort season. Use chairs, couch cushions, sheets and blankets to create a den big enough for everyone, then bring in pillows, books and stuffed animals.
Let the children decide what it becomes. It might be a winter cabin, Santa's secret hideout, a bear cave or a spaceship heading to the North Pole. Try not to direct things too much — half the fun is watching children turn four dining chairs and an old blanket into an entire world.
3. Start a Family Puzzle
Choose a puzzle that will take longer than twenty minutes and give it a permanent spot on a table for a few days.
Nobody has to sit down and finish it in one go. Someone might add a few pieces after breakfast, another person might work on it while dinner is cooking, and eventually it becomes one of those quiet little things everyone contributes to throughout Christmas break.
4. Have a Living Room Picnic
Spread a blanket across the living room floor and eat lunch picnic-style. Add cushions, put some music on and let the children help choose what to eat.
There's no need for special picnic food. Sandwiches, fruit and crackers suddenly become approximately 400% more exciting when they're eaten on a blanket six feet away from the perfectly functional dining table. Parenting is mysterious like that.
5. Have a Read-All-Afternoon Day
Bring home a big stack of books from the library and create a ridiculously cozy reading area with blankets and pillows. Add warm drinks and maybe a plate of cookies if you have them.
You can read aloud together, let older children disappear into their own books or put on an audiobook while everybody lounges around. There is absolutely no requirement to be productive every day during Christmas break.
6. Have a Pajama Day
Don't get dressed.
That's pretty much the activity.
Have a slow breakfast, play games, build things, read books and enjoy having nowhere to be. Children spend so much of the year being moved from one scheduled thing to another that a completely unhurried day can feel surprisingly special.
7. Have a Hot Chocolate Taste Test
Make two or three versions of hot chocolate and become extremely serious Christmas beverage critics for the afternoon. You could try different toppings, different types of chocolate or simply compare whipped cream versus marshmallows.
Children can give each one a score for chocolateyness, creaminess, marshmallow compatibility and overall deliciousness. I feel strongly that marshmallow compatibility deserves its own category.
8. Have a Family Games Tournament
Pull out several board games or card games and create your own family tournament. You can keep a scoreboard if your children enjoy competition, although I'd recommend keeping the stakes fairly low if your family is anything like mine.
You could also award completely meaningless prizes for the best dramatic reaction, most surprising comeback or person most likely to accuse everyone else of cheating.
9. Have a Cozy Story Evening
When it gets dark, switch off the bright overhead lights and make the room as cozy as possible. Turn on the Christmas tree lights, use battery-operated candles or lamps and gather under blankets to read stories together.
Winter evenings are made for this. There is something about lowering the lights that seems to make everybody naturally slow down.
10. Have Afternoon Tea at Home
Put ordinary snacks onto little plates, make some drinks and call it afternoon tea. Children can help set the table, choose cups and arrange everything.
You could even dress up for the occasion if you fancy it. Equally, everyone can attend in pajamas. Both are perfectly acceptable during Christmas break.
Fun Indoor Christmas Break Activities for Kids
There will inevitably be days when everybody has been inside for hours and you need something that gives the children a little direction without creating loads of work for yourself.
These indoor Christmas break activities are great for those moments.
11. Build a Cardboard City
Christmas usually leaves families with one particularly useful resource: boxes.
Before recycling them, let the children turn them into a cardboard city. Boxes can become houses, stores, garages, castles, animal shelters or roads for toy cars.
Don't worry about making it Pinterest-perfect. The goal isn't a beautiful cardboard village that coordinates with your Christmas decor. It's play.
12. Create a Toy Olympics
Ask the children to invent a series of ridiculous challenges using their toys. Which toy car can travel furthest down a homemade ramp? Which stuffed animal can balance longest on a cushion? Can a toy dinosaur clear a cardboard hurdle?
Older children can create events, keep scores and award medals. It's wonderfully silly and can become far more elaborate than you originally intended.
13. Go Indoor Camping
Set up sleeping bags or blankets in the living room and pretend you're camping. Eat picnic food, use flashlights, tell stories and make shadow puppets.
You could even sleep there overnight if you're feeling particularly committed. Or pack everything away at bedtime and enjoy your actual mattress. I know which option I'd be choosing.
14. Create a Domino Challenge
If you have dominoes, blocks or anything else that can safely stand upright, challenge the children to create the longest chain they can.
This is especially good for older kids who enjoy building and experimenting. Just be prepared for somebody to knock the whole thing over before it's finished. Possibly an adult.
15. Build the Tallest Tower Possible
Use LEGO, blocks, cardboard boxes, plastic cups or anything else that's safe to stack. See how tall the children can make their tower and measure it when they're finished.
Can they build something taller than themselves? Can they make it stronger? Can they build a tower that survives a gentle shake? One simple challenge can lead to a surprising amount of experimentation.
16. Set Up a Stuffed Animal School
Let the children become the teachers and their stuffed animals become the students. They can arrange a classroom, take attendance, teach lessons and deal with the inevitable badly behaved teddy bear at the back.
Older children might enjoy making worksheets or a timetable too. Meanwhile, you can enjoy not being the person responsible for education for once.
17. Make a Family Time Capsule
Find a box or large envelope and fill it with little pieces of your family life right now. Children could add a drawing, their favorite song, favorite food, something funny that happened this year, their current height and something they hope to do next year.
Parents can add a little note too. Seal everything away and choose a future Christmas to open it. This is one of those simple activities that becomes more precious with time.
18. Play the Mystery Bag Game
Put a selection of ordinary objects into a pillowcase or bag. Children reach inside without looking and try to identify each item using touch alone.
A spoon, pinecone, toy car, sock, block or hairbrush all work perfectly well. In fact, the more random the collection, the funnier the game tends to become.
19. Make a Family Quiz
Ask everyone to write questions about your family. They might ask what Mom's favorite dessert is, where you went on vacation, what the dog's funniest habit is or who takes longest to get ready.
Mix all the questions together and have a family quiz night. Children often love discovering that they know tiny details about their family that nobody else remembers.
20. Let the Kids Plan an Afternoon
Give the children a set amount of time and let them decide what everybody will do. Set any necessary boundaries first, then hand over some control.
Their afternoon might involve a walk, a game, snacks and a blanket fort. Or you may find yourself being instructed to pretend you're a cat for forty minutes.
You've been warned.
Outdoor Winter Break Activities for Kids
Getting outdoors can completely change the mood during a long day at home. You don't need elaborate winter activities either — sometimes everybody simply needs coats, fresh air and somewhere to run.
21. Go on a Winter Adventure Walk
Don't call it a walk. Apparently that matters.
Call it an adventure.
Let the children help choose the route where it's safe to do so. Climb over logs, follow interesting paths and notice frost, berries, bare trees, puddles and animal tracks. You don't need a destination or an educational objective. Just go exploring.
22. Have a Winter Nature Scavenger Hunt
Make a simple list of things to spot before you leave home. Look for a pinecone, something red, an evergreen tree, a bird, interesting bark, animal tracks, something frozen and something tiny.
There's no need to collect everything. Spotting it counts, which also means you don't arrive home with seventeen wet leaves in your pockets.
23. Take Hot Chocolate on a Walk
Fill a thermos with hot chocolate and take it on your winter walk. Find somewhere nice to stop halfway and enjoy it together.
There's something wonderful about wrapping cold hands around a warm cup outdoors, and even a familiar neighborhood walk feels much more like an occasion when hot chocolate is involved.
24. Try Geocaching
Geocaching can turn an ordinary walk into a proper treasure hunt, making it especially useful for children who aren't particularly impressed by the suggestion of "going for a nice walk."
Choose an easy beginner cache for your first attempt and make the searching part the adventure. You may discover little places near home you've walked past dozens of times without ever noticing.
25. Have a Winter Photography Challenge
Let children use a camera or supervise them with a phone and give them a list of things to photograph.
Ask them to find something beautiful, something tiny, something red, something funny, something that looks like winter and something they'd normally walk straight past.
It's a lovely way to encourage children to really notice what's around them.
26. Find a New Playground
Instead of heading to your usual playground, find one you've never visited before. Pack snacks and make a morning or afternoon of it.
The equipment may be almost identical to what they have at home, but children will generally react as though you've personally discovered Disneyland.
27. Go on a Family Bike or Scooter Adventure
Choose a safe trail, park or neighborhood route and take bikes or scooters out together. Pack water and snacks and let the outing be leisurely.
There's no need to turn it into an endurance challenge. The aim is fresh air, movement and hopefully some nicely tired children afterward.
28. Visit a Nature Center or Wildlife Area
Winter is a wonderful time to notice birds and wildlife, so visit a local nature reserve, wetland, forest or wildlife center if you have one nearby.
Bring binoculars if you have them and let the children keep count of the different birds or animals they spot. Keep it relaxed — nobody needs to produce a field report afterward.
29. Go on a Sunset Walk
Winter sunsets happen early enough for children to actually see them, which feels like a small seasonal win.
Check the sunset time and head somewhere with a nice open view. Wrap up, bring a warm drink if you like and simply watch the sky change color.
Sometimes the world does a pretty good job of entertaining us by itself.
30. Take a Flashlight Walk
Take flashlights and go for a short walk after dark somewhere safe and familiar. Look at shadows, shine lights onto trees and listen for nighttime sounds.
Children experience familiar places completely differently in darkness, so even walking around your own neighborhood can suddenly feel adventurous.
Free Christmas Break Activities for Kids
Christmas can become expensive incredibly quickly, so I think it's important to remember that fun Christmas break activities don't have to cost anything.
Some of the days children remember most are often the simplest.
31. Visit the Library
If Christmas break is stretching ahead of you, the library is your friend.
Let everybody choose a big stack of books and don't limit yourselves to stories. Look for comics, audiobooks, activity books, cookbooks, nature guides and anything else that catches their interest.
It's also worth checking whether your local library has free children's events during winter break.
32. Visit a Free Museum or Gallery
Look for museums, galleries or community spaces offering free admission or family days.
And don't feel you need to see everything once you're there. An hour spent genuinely enjoying a handful of exhibits is infinitely better than dragging tired children through twelve galleries because you feel you should get your money's worth — particularly when you didn't spend any.
33. Explore Somewhere Near Home You've Never Walked Around
Choose a neighborhood, trail or part of town you've never properly explored and simply wander.
Look at houses, find a park, notice murals or interesting buildings and let children choose which direction looks interesting where it's safe.
Tiny adventures close to home still count.
34. Have a Playground Tour
Choose two or three playgrounds and visit them all in one day. Pack lunch and rate each playground afterward.
You can judge the best slide, best swings and best climbing equipment. Parents should, of course, also be allowed to score the quality of available seating and proximity to coffee.
Important criteria.
35. Choose Library Books for Each Other
Here's a little twist on your normal library visit: let each person choose a book they think another family member would enjoy.
It turns browsing into a game and encourages children to think about what their siblings or parents might like. You may also end up reading something you'd never have chosen yourself.
36. Have a No-Spend Adventure Day
Challenge yourselves to have an entire fun day without spending anything.
Pack lunch from home, visit a park or trail, go to the library, explore somewhere new and come home for games or a movie.
It's a lovely reminder that family days don't need an admission ticket, gift shop and $47 worth of snacks attached to them.
Creative Winter Break Activities
Not every creative activity needs paint, glitter and an adult silently regretting their choices. These ideas are more about making, inventing and experimenting.
37. Make a Family Recipe Together
Choose one recipe everyone can help make. It doesn't need to be Christmassy, things such as homemade pizza, bread, soup, cookies or pancakes are all lovely options.
Older children can read the recipe and measure ingredients while younger ones pour and stir. The best bit is sitting down afterward to eat something everybody helped make.
38. Have a Build-It Challenge
Put out a selection of recyclables and simple building materials such as cardboard, boxes, paper tubes and tape. Then give the children a challenge.
Can they build something that moves? A home for a toy? A bridge strong enough to hold five toy cars? Something taller than their knee?
This feels less like a craft and more like an invitation to experiment.
39. Make a Stop-Motion Movie
Yes, this one technically involves a screen, and that's okay. Christmas break doesn't have to become an anti-technology boot camp.
Older children can use toys, LEGO or figures to create a simple stop-motion movie. Let them come up with the story, build the set and direct the whole production.
A twenty-second finished film can occupy them for an astonishingly long time.
40. Create a Family Newspaper
Give children paper and let them report on the extremely important events taking place in your home.
Breaking News: Dad Burns Toast.
Local Dog Refuses to Leave Couch.
They can include interviews, weather forecasts, cartoons, sports reports and family news. This can get wonderfully silly very quickly.
Things to Do Between Christmas and New Year's With Kids
Then we arrive at that strange stretch between Christmas and New Year's when the main event is over, the fridge contains seventeen different leftovers and nobody is completely sure what day it is.
I actually love these days. The pressure of Christmas has passed, school hasn't started again and there's room to just be together.
41. Have a Leftovers Picnic
Put little portions of whatever needs using up onto plates and have a buffet-style picnic.
No cooking and no rules about which foods traditionally belong together. Everybody chooses what they want.
Excellent.
42. Take a Big Fresh-Air Walk
After several days indoors, getting everyone outside can feel like opening a window in your brain.
Head to a forest, beach, park or trail and give the children space to run. Bring warm drinks and snacks if you like, but don't worry about turning it into an activity.
Just be outside.
43. Have a New-Toys Afternoon
One of the easiest things to overlook after Christmas is that children often just want time to play with what they've received.
Give them an uninterrupted afternoon to build, read, pretend, experiment and combine new toys with old favorites. You don't always need to suggest another activity when they're perfectly happy making their own.
44. Declutter the Toy Shelves Together
This might not sound particularly magical, but the days after Christmas can be a brilliant time to sort through toys together.
Ask children whether there are things they've genuinely outgrown or no longer play with that could be donated where appropriate. Let them participate rather than secretly clearing beloved things away.
Apart from creating space, you may find they rediscover toys they'd completely forgotten they owned.
45. Have a Family Movie Marathon
Yes, screens again.
Choose two or three family movies, make popcorn, gather blankets and close the curtains.
Then do absolutely nothing productive.
Glorious.
46. Make a "Best of the Year" List
Sit down together and talk about the year you've just had. Ask everyone about their favorite day, funniest memory, favorite place you visited, something they learned and something they're proud of.
Children's answers are often completely different from what adults expect. The expensive family vacation might lose to the afternoon you found a frog in the backyard.
That's useful information.
47. Choose a Family Adventure for Next Year
Let everyone suggest somewhere they'd like to go or something they'd like to try next year.
It doesn't need to be an expensive vacation. Visit a new beach, go camping, find a waterfall, ride a train somewhere or have a sunrise picnic.
Write the ideas down and choose at least one achievable adventure to look forward to.
48. Have a Kid-Friendly New Year's Eve Party
You absolutely don't have to keep small children awake until midnight.
Choose your own countdown time, put music on, make snacks, play games and have a dance party. Count down to 7 p.m. if necessary.
Time is a social construct when you have a four-year-old who normally goes to bed at 7:30.
49. Start a Family Memory Jar
Before the new year begins, find an empty jar and some scraps of paper.
Throughout the coming year, add little notes whenever something funny, lovely or memorable happens and make it your happiness jar. Open them together at the end of next year.
Don't overcomplicate it. You don't need a special printable label or a beautifully decorated jar.
A jar is already extremely good at being a jar.
50. Do Absolutely Nothing
I'm serious.
Leave a day empty. Don't book an outing, prepare an activity or create a schedule.
Let everyone potter around. Children might play, read, build, go outside, complain they're bored and eventually find something else to do.
Christmas break doesn't have to become a two-week children's entertainment program.
Rest belongs on the bucket list too.
What Are the Best Christmas Break Activities for Kids?
The best Christmas break activities for kids aren't necessarily the biggest or most expensive. They're the ones that suit what your family actually needs that day.
If the children have lots of energy, get outdoors or choose something active. If everyone is tired, build a fort, read books or embrace a pajama day. If siblings are starting to get on each other's nerves, an outing or some independent play can work wonders.
And if everybody is perfectly content doing absolutely nothing, don't interrupt it because Pinterest told you that you should be making snowman pancakes.
How Do You Keep Kids Busy During Christmas Break?
One thing I've learned is that keeping children busy and entertaining children aren't the same thing. Parents don't have to provide a constant stream of activities throughout winter break.
Instead, make it easy for children to begin playing independently. Keep building toys accessible, leave books somewhere inviting, save a few cardboard boxes, put a puzzle on the table and have outdoor clothes within reach.
Sometimes a simple challenge is all they need. Ask, "Can you build a bridge for your cars?" or "Can you make a den big enough for three people?" and see where they take it.
Often children only need the beginning. Their imaginations can handle the rest.
What Can Families Do Over Winter Break on a Budget?
Some of the best winter break activities for kids are completely free. Visit the library, go on a winter walk, explore a new park, build a blanket fort, play games you already own or turn leftover cardboard into something enormous.
You can also take a flashlight walk, watch the sunset, visit a free museum, explore a new neighborhood or challenge yourselves to have a completely no-spend family day.
If you do want to spend money on outings, I'd choose one or two things that genuinely matter to your family rather than feeling as though every day needs an admission ticket attached to it.
Children don't measure Christmas break by how much we spent.
How to Plan Christmas Break Without Overplanning It
I wouldn't schedule all 50 of these activities. Instead, I'd choose five loose anchors for the whole break.
Plan one bigger family outing that everyone is excited about, one outdoor adventure, one cozy home day and one day for seeing friends or family. Then, and I think this one matters, deliberately leave one day completely empty.
Leave space around those plans too. That's where children's own play happens, and it's also where parents get to enjoy Christmas instead of spending the entire break managing everybody else's fun.
A Simple Christmas Break Bucket List
If your children are old enough, sit down together at the beginning of winter break and let everyone choose a few favorites. Your family bucket list might end up looking something like this:
• Build a giant blanket fort
• Visit a new playground
• Take hot chocolate on a walk
• Make homemade pizza
• Have a pajama day
• Visit the library
• Take a winter nature walk
• Have a family games tournament
• Explore somewhere new
• Watch a winter sunset
• Have a no-spend adventure
• Do absolutely nothing
Stick it to the fridge and cross things off if you remember, but don't turn it into homework. A bucket list is there to give you ideas, not deadlines.
Christmas Break Doesn't Have to Be Extraordinary
I think there's a temptation, particularly at Christmas, to believe that childhood memories have to be deliberately created. We want the perfect outing, the perfect tradition, the perfect activity and perhaps the perfect photograph to go with it.
But when I think about childhood, the things that stay with us are often much smaller. A blanket fort that took over the living room. Cold cheeks after a winter walk. Hot chocolate that was slightly too hot. A board game everybody became ridiculously competitive about. Eating lunch on the floor for absolutely no reason. Being allowed to stay in pajamas all day.
Christmas break gives families something increasingly precious: time together without quite so many places to be.
You don't need to fill all of it. Choose a few adventures, make room for play, go outside, stay home, say yes to something silly and let everyone be bored occasionally.
Then enjoy those strange, slow days between Christmas and the new year when the ordinary rules of life seem to soften just a little.
Those are often the days that become memories without us even realizing it.
