The best Christmas activities for toddlers are short, hands-on and use things you already own: a basket of unbreakable ornaments, a bowl of cookie dough to stir, a walk to look at lights in pajamas. A one- to three-year-old doesn’t need a packed December. They need one small festive thing a day, ten to twenty minutes long, with you next to them. Below are 20 ideas, then a section on toddler-proofing the tree.
Anything small enough to go in a mouth stays out of these, and an adult stays close for all of them.
Play at home (1–7)
-
Fill an ornament basket. A basket of large shatterproof balls with the hooks and caps taken off. They roll them, sort them by color and carry them around the house. A plain set like these Annecy shatterproof ornaments works. Check that every ball is too big to fit in a mouth.
-
Give them their own tree to decorate. Cut a tree shape from green felt and tape it to the wall at toddler height. Felt circles stick to felt. They decorate, strip it and start again, and the real tree gets a break.
-
Wrap and unwrap empty boxes. Toddlers want the paper more than the present. Loosely wrap three empty boxes in leftover paper and let them tear in. Wrap them again tomorrow.
-
Play Santa’s delivery. One sack or pillowcase, four soft toys. “This one goes to Daddy. This one goes to the dog.” Delivering things to named people keeps a two-year-old busy for a long time.
-
Freeze dance to carols. Music on, everybody dances. Music off, everybody freezes. One-year-olds just bounce, and that counts.
-
Make a jingle bottle. Put a few large jingle bells in a clear plastic bottle, then glue and tape the lid shut. It’s a shaker for the carols, with the bells sealed inside.
-
Set up a winter bin. A shallow tub with cotton balls for snow, scoops, cups and a few toy animals. For a child who still mouths things, swap the cotton for an inch of water and a few cups. My sensory bin ideas have more fillers sorted by age.
In the kitchen (8–11)
-
Stir and cut cookies. They stir the cold dough and press the cutter, and you do everything near the oven. Use big simple cutters like a star, a tree and a circle. They will try to eat the dough. Raw dough isn’t for eating, so hand over a banana slice or a baked cookie to nibble instead.
-
Decorate one cookie each. One cookie, one spoon of icing, one small bowl of sprinkles. With a single cookie the mess stays small and it’s finished before they lose interest.
-
Make the snack plate festive. Arrange banana slices and halved strawberries into a candy-cane stripe, or cucumber rounds into a tree. They help place the pieces, then they eat the activity.
-
Wash the cookie cutters. A sink or tub of warm soapy water, a sponge and the plastic cutters. It’s water play that counts as helping. It’s also the cleanup.
Out of the house (12–15)
-
Walk the lights in pajamas. Bath early, pajamas on, coats over the top, and a walk or slow drive around the block to look at lights before bed. Fifteen minutes is enough. Then it’s straight to books, with no screens in between.
-
Visit a tree lot just to look. Smell the branches, touch the needles, find the biggest tree and the smallest. You don’t have to buy one that day.
-
Go on a color hunt. At the store or on a walk: “Can you find something red? Something green?” It works from the stroller and in the checkout line.
-
See Santa from a distance first. Plenty of toddlers are frightened of Santa up close. Watch from across the room, wave, and let them decide whether to go nearer. A photo of a crying child on a stranger’s lap isn’t worth it. If the worry follows them home, my tips for a toddler scared of Santa at night can help.
Calm ideas for the evening (16–18)
-
Have a lights-off tree minute. Room lights off, tree lights on, everyone on the couch. Name the colors and count to five. It’s a good last step before the bath.
-
Read one Christmas book on repeat. A single board book, every night. Toddlers like the story they already know, and by the 20th they’ll be finishing the sentences.
-
Sing the same three songs. “Jingle Bells,” “Twinkle Twinkle” and one of your own, with actions. If you want more to choose from, Betteroo’s long list of holiday songs sorted by age has a section for toddlers and preschoolers.
December wrecking bedtime?
Late parties, skipped naps and tree lights add up. Betteroo builds a nap and bedtime plan for your toddler's age, so the fun days don't cost you the nights.
Take the 2-minute sleep quiz →
Giving, toddler-sized (19–20)
-
Make handprint cards. Washable paint, one handprint on folded cardstock, done. Grandparents get a card. Do it right before the bath.
-
Let them choose one gift to give. Offer two options (“the blue socks or the red socks for Grandpa?”), let them pick, and let them hand it over on the day. Giving makes more sense to a toddler when they’re the one carrying the present.
Toddler-proof the Christmas tree
A lit tree at eye level is hard for a toddler to leave alone, so set it up expecting them to touch it.
- Leave the bottom third bare, or soft. Nemours KidsHealth’s holiday safety page puts it this way: “Let kids decorate within their reach with non-breakable items. Hang breakable decorations and ornaments, lightbulbs, and tinsel out of kids’ reach.” Felt and wooden ornaments go low. Glass goes high.
- Skip metal hooks. Tie ornaments on with ribbon loops, so a pulled ornament doesn’t leave a sharp hook on the floor.
- Leave off anything that looks like food. The AAP’s holiday decorations safety tips say to “avoid trimmings that resemble candy or food that may tempt a young child to eat them,” and to keep trimmings with small removable parts out of reach.
- Check for batteries. The same page warns about button and lithium coin batteries, which “can cause life-threatening injuries if swallowed.” Its advice is to secure the battery compartments on string lights, flameless candles and musical ornaments.
- Keep the lights up high. The AAP notes that light strands may contain lead and says to keep them “out of reach of young children who might try to put lights in their mouths.”
- Anchor it, or fence it. A toddler who pulls on a branch can bring the whole tree down. Tie the top to a wall hook with fishing line, use a wide heavy stand, or put a play-yard gate around the base. A tabletop tree is a fair answer for a year or two.
- Pick the spot with care. The AAP says to place the tree “away from fireplaces, radiators or portable heaters” and out of the way of traffic.
How to fit it in
Plan for one activity a day. Keep naps and bedtime where they normally are on as many days as you can, and December goes a lot better. For a day when you’re stuck indoors with no festive energy left, my rainy day activities all work in winter too.
FAQ: Christmas with a toddler
What Christmas activities can a 1-year-old do?
Sensory ones, done next to you: an ornament basket, a jingle bottle, the lights-off tree minute, freeze dance and tearing wrapping paper. Keep each one to about ten minutes.
How do I keep my toddler away from the Christmas tree?
You mostly can’t, so make it safe to touch. Put soft ornaments low and breakables high, use no metal hooks, anchor the tree, and add a gate around the base if they pull on it. A felt tree of their own on the wall helps.