15 Santa Activities for Kids (Jolly Fun)

The countdown to Christmas is on, and if you’re a parent, you know that the relentless question “Is it Christmas yet?” starts around December 1st and doesn’t let up until the big guy in the red suit has come and gone.

You need reinforcements. You need fun, festive, and (dare I say it?) relatively quiet activities to keep the little elves entertained. I’ve been there, scrambling for ideas while trying to sip a cold cup of coffee. So, I’ve rounded up 15 of our favorite Santa-themed activities that are guaranteed to bring on the jolly. No fancy supplies needed, just a willingness to get a little messy and have some fun.

1. Santa Says (A Festive Twist on a Classic)

You know the drill with “Simon Says,” right? It’s the perfect way to burn off some of that boundless holiday energy. This version is a hit in our house because it requires zero prep and maximum giggles.

How to Play “Santa Says”

One person plays Santa and gives commands. But—and this is key—the kids only follow the command if it’s preceded by “Santa says.” If you just say “touch your nose” without the magic words, anyone who does it is out for that round.

• Shout commands like: “Santa says… twirl like a candy cane!” “Santa says… shout Ho Ho Ho!” “Santa says… waddle like a penguin!”
• Try to trick them: Throw in a fast “Stomp your feet!” without the “Santa says” and watch the chaos ensue. 🙂

It’s a great way to practice listening skills, and honestly, watching a three-year-old dramatically freeze mid-jump is pure entertainment.

2. Build a Santa Pancake

Let’s talk about the most important meal of the day. On a random Saturday in December, why serve boring round pancakes when you can build Santa’s face? This is less of a recipe and more of an art project you can eat.

The Santa Pancake Blueprint

Make your favorite pancake batter. Pour one large pancake for the face. Then, use smaller amounts of batter to make one medium pancake (for the hat pom-pom) and several tiny pancakes (for the mustache and beard).

• The Assembly: Place the big pancake on a plate. Cut the medium one in half—one half becomes the hat, the other gets cut into a triangle for the hat’s brim.
• The Decorating: Here’s where the kids go wild. Use whipped cream for the beard and mustache, a strawberry or raspberry for the nose, and banana slices or chocolate chips for the eyes. The hat pom-pom can be a dollop of whipped cream with a berry on top.

IMO, the messier it looks, the more they love it.

3. Cotton Ball Santa Beard Craft

Ever wondered why cotton balls and paper plates are considered a parenting lifesaver? This classic craft is simple, tactile, and perfect for even the tiniest toddlers. It keeps little hands busy for a surprisingly long time.

What You’ll Need for This Project

Grab a paper plate, some cotton balls, glue, and red construction paper for the hat. You’ll also need googly eyes because everything is better with googly eyes.

1. Cut the paper plate into the shape of a Santa face (basically a big circle with a flat top).
2. Cut a hat triangle from the red paper and glue it to the top of the plate.
3. Let the kids go to town gluing cotton balls all over the bottom half of the plate for the beard.
4. Glue on the googly eyes and a small pink pompom or a cotton ball painted red for the nose.

The best part? You end up with a cute decoration, not just a mountain of wrapping paper scraps.

4. “Magic” Reindeer Food

This is a tradition in our house, and I love it because it combines a craft with a little bit of Christmas Eve magic. The kids get to mix up a special batch of food to lure Santa’s reindeer to our roof.

The Secret Recipe for Sparkle

You just need three things: rolled oats, magic glitter (the edible kind or biodegradable kind, please—we don’t want to hurt the wildlife!), and a small paper bag or a ziplock bag.

• The Mix: Let your kids mix the oats and glitter in a bowl. We use about a cup of oats to a tablespoon of glitter.
• The Magic Words: On Christmas Eve, we write a little note and sprinkle it on the lawn. We always say a little rhyme together:
  > “Sprinkle on the lawn at night,
  > When the moon is shining bright.
  > Reindeer will stop and prance with glee,
  > They’ll know you’re here, thanks to me!”

It takes five minutes to make, but the belief it builds is priceless.

5. Pin the Nose on Rudolph

Is there a party game more perfectly suited for Christmas than “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”? Nope. But “Pin the Nose on Rudolph” is a major upgrade. It’s silly, it’s active, and it’s hilarious to see where those noses end up.

Setting Up the Game

You’ll need a large drawing or poster of Rudolph (minus his red nose). Then, cut out several red circles from cardstock. Put a piece of rolled tape on the back of each “nose.”

1. Blindfold the first child, spin them around gently a few times, and point them in the direction of Rudolph.
2. The goal is to stick the nose as close to the correct spot as possible.
3. The winner gets to be the official present hander-outer later. Or just gets a candy cane. Whatever works.

Fair warning: watching a blindfolded kid stumble toward a wall while everyone yells directions is peak holiday entertainment.

6. Design a Santa Trap

Okay, hear me out. This activity is genius. If your kids are the engineering type (or just really, really want to catch a glimpse of Santa), challenge them to build a trap. The premise is simple: Santa is fast, so you need a clever plan.

Trap Ideas to Get Them Started

I usually show them a few concepts to get the creative juices flowing, but then I step back and let them lead. The results are always amazing.

• The Cookie Lure: A box propped up with a stick, tied to a string, with a plate of cookies as bait. When Santa takes the cookie, SNAP… the box falls. (The string is for the kids to pull, just in case Santa misses it.)
• The Flour Trick: A bag of flour balanced on the door. When Santa opens it, he gets dusted, leaving white footprints for the kids to follow in the morning.
• The Jingle Bell Tripwire: Stringing jingle bells across the fireplace opening so they’ll hear him come in.

FYI, this can keep them occupied for a whole afternoon. The planning, the building, the testing… it’s pure problem-solving fun.

7. Santa’s Frozen Hands

This is the perfect activity for a moment when you need some peace and quiet. You know, like when you’re trying to wrap the presents you bought on Amazon two days ago and hide them in the closet. It’s a “sensory play” activity that feels like a rescue mission.

How to Create the Rescue Mission

The night before, take a few pairs of disposable gloves. Fill them with water, and drop a few small Santa or reindeer toys into each finger. Tie the gloves shut and lay them flat in the freezer overnight.

The next day, you have frozen “Santa hands”! Give them to your kids in a baking dish with some warm water in a squirt bottle, a small hammer (for supervised tapping), and some salt.

• The Mission: They have to free the toys from the ice!
• The Science: You can even talk about how salt melts ice. It’s an activity and a science lesson. Boom.

It’s messy (do it in the kitchen or outside), but it’s the kind of mess that keeps them busy for a solid 30-40 minutes.

8. Santa Hat Minute to Win It

Got a house full of kids and need to burn off some steam? This game is your answer. It’s fast, frantic, and the only supplies you need are some red party cups and white cotton balls.

The Challenge Explained

Give each child a red cup (the Santa hat). Place a pile of cotton balls on the table. They have to put the cup on their head.

On “Go!”, they have to grab cotton balls one at a time and try to drop them into their own cup on their head. They cannot use their hands to guide it once the cotton ball is in the air. The player with the most cotton balls in their cup after one minute wins.

It’s way harder than it looks, and the result is usually cotton balls flying everywhere and kids falling over laughing. Total chaos. Highly recommended.

9. Handprint Santa Canvas

This one is less about playing and more about creating a keepsake. I’m a sucker for anything that captures how small their hands are. This handprint Santa is ridiculously easy and looks so cute framed.

Creating Your Masterpiece

You’ll need a small canvas or some thick cardstock, plus red, white, black, and gold paint. A paintbrush helps, too.

1. Paint your child’s entire palm and thumb red. Paint their four fingers white.
2. Press their hand firmly onto the canvas, fingers together, thumb out. The red palm/thumb is Santa’s face and hat, and the white fingers are the pompom and beard.
3. Let it dry. Then, use a tiny brush or a Q-tip to add:
   • Two small black eyes.
   • A small gold or yellow circle on the tip of the thumb for the hat’s pompom.
   • A tiny pink or red nose.

You’ve just created a masterpiece that Grandma will cry over. You’re welcome.

10. Santa Sticker Line-Up

This is the lowest of low-prep activities. It’s perfect for a restaurant wait or for a quick distraction while you answer emails. If you have a pack of Santa or Christmas stickers, you’re good to go.

How to Make it Engaging

Grab a long strip of paper (or just use the table edge) and give your child a sheet of stickers.

• The Task: Tell them they need to line up all the Santas in a row to help them get ready for their sleigh ride.
• Level Up: For older kids, make it a pattern. “Santa, reindeer, Santa, reindeer…” or “Big Santa, little Santa, big Santa, little Santa…”

It works on fine motor skills (peeling stickers is hard work!) and pattern recognition. And it buys you at least 10 minutes of quiet. Total win.

11. The “Nice List” Writing Prompt

As we get closer to the big day, this is a fun way to gently steer the conversation toward gratitude and kindness. It’s not about asking for more presents, but about reflecting on why they deserve a visit from Santa in the first place.

Prompt Ideas for Different Ages

For younger kids, you can write down what they dictate. For older ones, let them write it themselves on some fancy “official” stationery.

• For Little Ones: “Santa, I was nice because I shared my toys with…”
• For School-Aged Kids: “My kindest act this year was…”
• For a Laugh: “The one time I was naughty this year was when I…” (This always gets interesting answers).

It’s a simple way to get them thinking. Plus, sealing it in an envelope addressed to the North Pole adds a layer of magic.

12. Roll a Santa Drawing Game

This is a fantastic group activity or a great way to keep an only child entertained while you sip that coffee I mentioned earlier. It combines a dice game with drawing, so it’s double the fun.

How the Game Works

All you need is paper, a pencil for each kid, and one die. Before you start, create a key at the top of the page. For example:

• Roll a 1: Draw Santa’s hat.
• Roll a 2: Draw Santa’s face.
• Roll a 3: Draw Santa’s beard.
• Roll a 4: Draw Santa’s eyes.
• Roll a 5: Draw Santa’s nose.
• Roll a 6: Draw Santa’s mustache.

Players take turns rolling the die. Whatever number they roll, they add that part to their Santa drawing. The catch? You have to keep rolling until you have all the parts. The first person to complete their Santa wins. It’s hilarious to see how the drawings progress, and it’s totally luck-based, so even the least artistic kid has a fair shot.

13. Snowball Toss into Santa’s Sack

You know all those balled-up pairs of socks that lost their mate? It’s time to put them to use. They are officially “snowballs.” This game is simple to set up and great for hand-eye coordination.

Setting Up the Game

Find a large laundry basket or a cardboard box. Decorate it with some red paper and a black belt drawn on to look like Santa’s sack. Write “Santa” on the side if you’re feeling fancy.

Place the “sack” a few feet away from your little ones. Give them the sock snowballs and challenge them to toss them into the sack.

• Make it harder: For older kids, move the sack further away, or have them stand on one leg.
• Make it a competition: See who can get the most snowballs in the sack out of ten tries.

It’s a great indoor activity for a cold day when you can’t go outside.

14. Create a North Pole Fort

Forget blanket forts. This is the season for a North Pole fort. This activity can take over your living room, and you just have to be okay with that. It’s about creating a magical, dedicated space for all things Christmas.

Building the Ultimate Hideout

Drape white sheets or blankets over chairs and tables to create the icy landscape of the North Pole. Pile up all the pillows you own.

• The Decor: Throw in some battery-operated fairy lights for the Northern Lights. Add all their Christmas stuffed animals—the reindeer, the snowmen, the Santas. Bring in a small, safe candle (battery-operated!) for “warmth.”
• The Activity: This becomes their headquarters. They can read Christmas books in there, play with their small toys, or just hide from their siblings. It’s their own little snowy world.

Sure, your living room will look like a bomb went off in a linen closet, but the imaginative play that happens inside that fort is worth it.

15. Santa’s Cookie Tasting

This is the one you do on Christmas Eve before the big event. It turns a simple tradition into a full-blown scientific experiment. The premise? You need to find the absolute perfect cookie to leave for Santa.

How to Host a Tasting

Buy (or bake, you overachiever!) a few different types of cookies. Think classic chocolate chip, a peanut butter cookie, a sugar cookie, an oatmeal raisin (though, who’s picking that?).

1. Set up a tasting station with small plates and a glass of milk for “cleansing the palate” between tastes.
2. Give each kid a scorecard. For non-readers, you can use smiley faces. For older kids, rate them on a scale of 1 to 5.
3. The cookie with the highest score wins and will be the official cookie left out for Santa that night. The runners-up are, of course, for the taste-testers to enjoy.

It’s a delicious way to build anticipation and includes the kids in the tradition in a new, fun way.

Let the Jolly Times Roll

So, there you have it. Fifteen ways to keep the kids busy, happy, and full of Christmas spirit without losing your mind. From frozen toys in gloves to official cookie taste tests, there’s something here for every age and energy level. My advice? Pick one or two to sprinkle throughout the week. You don’t have to do them all.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s about making a little magic and maybe, just maybe, getting a moment to enjoy a warm drink. Now go forth and be the fun parent. And if all else fails, just put on the Santa Says game. It works every time. 🙂