The kids’ table has room for a maze at one place and a coloring sheet at the next. The crayons stay in the middle, and cousins can trade pages as they finish.
Download free Christmas activity pages for kids, with coloring, a word search, a maze, and sheets for letters, Advent, reindeer, poems, elves, Christmas Eve, and a Spanish greeting. The sampler has ten activity pages and two separate answer sheets. Choose by age, reading help, or the time you have today. Jump to: free pages by activity · choose by age · activities for 4-year-olds · choose by time · classroom ideas · make a stocking stuffer · help with puzzles
Which free Christmas activity pages can you print?
Start with the sampler below. It includes one free sheet for each activity in the table; the links take you to the fuller collection or guide. If your child already knows what they want, go straight to Christmas coloring pages or choose another type below. Print the pages you want at actual size, single-sided, on US Letter or A4 paper. Keep answer sheets 11 and 12 with you. Pencil and crayons are enough for the sampler; you can fold the greeting page after coloring it.
The sampler uses original Idunn illustrations. Get the complete free set with your email, or select an individual activity sheet.
“Picture-led” means you read the direction and your child responds by drawing, pointing, or tracing a route. “Read together” means there are words or labels to work through. These describe the task; use whichever suits your child today.
| Free sampler page | What your child can do | Where to start | More pages and ideas |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Coloring | Decorate a tree with large open spaces, then draw something beside it. | Picture-led, ages 3–5; older kids can add a whole room. | Christmas coloring sheets from easy shapes to detailed scenes |
| 2. Word search | Find six words in an 8 × 8 grid: TREE, STAR, BELL, GIFT, ELF, and SNOW. Words run across or down. | Read together, ages 6–8. Pictures sit beside the word list. | Christmas word search and picture bingo |
| 3. Maze | Lead Santa’s sleigh to a house along wide paths with a few dead ends. | Picture-led, ages 3–5, using a finger before a pencil. | Christmas mazes in three difficulty levels |
| 4. Advent | Draw four things to do together and choose a December date for each. | Picture-led or read together, ages 3–8; you write dictated plans. | advent calendar printable, book advent calendar, and kindness advent calendar |
| 5. Letter to Santa | Draw something to tell Santa, add a wish, and sign a name. | Picture-led or read together, ages 3–8. | letter to Santa template; adults can prepare a letter from Santa in reply. |
| 6. Reindeer | Match four pictured reindeer name tags to the identical names on their blankets; decorate a fifth blank tag. | Read together, ages 6–8; younger children can color the reindeer. | Santa’s reindeer names and their order |
| 7. Poem response | Draw one thing heard in a Christmas poem and tell you which words suggested it. | Picture-led, ages 3–5, or add a written caption at ages 6–8. | Christmas poems for kids to read aloud |
| 8. Elf play | Draw a silly place for a paper elf to sit, then find that spot together at home. | Picture-led, ages 3–5; older kids can write a clue. | Christmas elf ideas |
| 9. Christmas Eve | Draw a plan for before dinner, after dinner, and bedtime in three large boxes. | Picture-led or read together, ages 3–8. | Christmas Eve traditions to start with your kids |
| 10. Spanish greeting | Color and fold a card with the greeting “Feliz Navidad,” then add a message inside. | Picture-led or read together, ages 3–8. | how to say Merry Christmas in Spanish |
The poem response sheet leaves space for a drawing and the poem’s title. For a reading to go with it, Project Gutenberg has A Visit from St. Nicholas, credited to Clement C. Moore and illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. Read a few stanzas together and let your child choose an image to draw. You can also use a poem from a book you already have.
The Advent sheet is a small planner you fill in yourselves. The linked calendars supply the full December countdown, books, or acts of kindness. Use the sampler to try a format before printing a longer set.
Which Christmas activities suit each age?
Choose by the amount of reading, the space on the page, and the help your child wants. The age groups below are Idunn’s starting suggestions. A child can enjoy a simpler page, dictate a longer answer, or return to the same puzzle another day.
Ages 3–5: pictures, wide paths, and spoken directions
Offer the tree, easy maze, elf scene, or poem response. Put two sheets on the table and let your child choose. Read one direction, then leave room for whatever they want to add: a dog beside the tree, a driveway for the sleigh, or a chair for the elf.
A letter can be a drawing with a message you write underneath. Ask what the drawing says and use those words. Your child can add a name, a mark, or a few letters beside your writing.
For the maze, point out the entrance and destination. Let your child try the path with a finger while you hold the paper still. If the finger crosses a wall, show where the path narrows and give them another turn. The coloring page is also there if that feels better today.
What are fun Christmas activities for 4-year-olds?
Coloring a large tree, drawing a letter to Santa, following a wide maze, and finding a pretend elf around the room are four activities to try. You can turn the pages into a short visit to Santa’s workshop:
- Decorate the tree. Your child chooses the colors and adds a decoration of their own.
- Plan a delivery. Follow the sleigh maze together, stopping at a turn to choose a route.
- Write to Santa. Your child draws or dictates; you write down the message.
- Move into pretend play. Set a paper drawing of an elf beside a book and let your child choose its next stop.
One of those may fill the whole visit. In Gaye Gronlund’s NAEYC guidance on playing together, the preschool example includes adults joining pretend play, offering paper and crayons, and accepting the child’s marks as writing. You can take that approach with the letter and leave its spelling in your hands.
Ages 6–8: short word games and shared plans
Try the word search, reindeer matching, four-plan Advent sheet, or greeting card. Read the direction together and check the puzzle’s rules before starting. On the sampler word search, every word goes left to right or top to bottom. The word list has six entries, so a child can cross off each one as they find it.
Someone who enjoys writing can add a sentence to the poem drawing or explain a Christmas Eve plan. If writing slows down a story they are eager to tell, let them dictate the caption and add their own signature.
With siblings, give each child a different job on the Advent sheet. One draws the plan, another writes the date, and you check whether the family can do it that day.
Ages 9–12: harder puzzles and plans they can lead
Choose a harder maze from the maze collection or the longer word search from the word-search page. That search has ten words in a 12 × 12 grid, running across or down. A larger grid and longer words give them more to look through; keep the matching answers separate.
The sampler’s open pages also leave room for more detail. An older child could write the elf clue, design a room around the tree, or organize a Christmas Eve reading with parts for the family. Give them a choice of those jobs and ask what materials they need.
What can you do in ten minutes, an afternoon, or a snow day?
For ten minutes, choose one page. For longer stretches, alternate paper activities with moving, talking, or reading together. These are suggested plans; printing and gathering supplies take extra time.
| Time available | A plan to try | What to set out |
|---|---|---|
| About 10 minutes | Follow one maze, decorate part of the tree, or dictate a short Santa message. | One sheet, a pencil, and a few crayons. |
| An afternoon | Choose a puzzle, fold the Spanish greeting card, take a snack break, then read a poem and draw its most memorable image. | Three selected sheets, crayons, and a poem or book. |
| A snow day at home | Start with coloring; later, search for the pretend elf. After lunch, solve a puzzle together. Finish by filling the Christmas Eve planner or reading aloud. | A small selection of pages, books, and a place to keep unfinished work. |
On a snow day, set out the first activity and keep the others in a folder. A child who spends the morning adding windows to the coloring page may want to keep drawing after lunch. The word search can wait in the folder.
For a family gathering, put a picture-led page and a word game at each end of the table. Cousins can swap when they want to. Keep an extra blank sheet nearby for anyone who wants to make a drawing of their own.
How can teachers use Christmas worksheets in the classroom?
Select sheets for the reading and tasks your group can manage, then decide how Christmas fits your classroom’s families and plans. Ask families about participation before setting up holiday activities. Offer a regular drawing, reading, or puzzle choice alongside them.
NAEYC’s Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards distinguish learning about a holiday from joining its celebration. That distinction helps with a December table: you might invite children to learn what a family does on Christmas Eve while keeping their own participation a choice.
Preschool: set up a small activity table
Put out the large tree and poem response sheets with crayons. Read the direction aloud and sit where children can show you their drawings. An adult can write down a child’s description beneath the picture.
At a second table, offer the wide-path maze. Show the entrance on a spare copy, then let each child try their own route. A child can point while you move a finger along the path they choose.
Elementary: offer a choice of tasks
Use three stations: a puzzle, a writing or drawing page, and reading with a partner. Put the word-search rules beside the grid. Leave the answer sheets in a teacher folder, ready for children to check when they ask.
Early readers can match the reindeer name tags one at a time. Children who want more writing can caption the poem response or add a message to the card. For a group working in English as an additional language, name the pictures together before starting the word search; let children tell you what they recognize in another language, too.
If you send pages home, choose a small selection and add a note saying which ones you used in class. Keep the reading available with the poem response: a title and access to the text give the adult at home somewhere to start.
How do you make a Christmas activity book as a stocking stuffer?
Print a small selection of the free pages, add a cover with the child’s name, and staple the stack into a homemade activity book. You choose its contents from the things that child likes doing.
You’ll need: the selected pages, one blank sheet or a piece of light cardstock for the cover, a pencil, crayons, and a stapler handled by an adult.
- Choose the pages. For a preschooler, try coloring, the easy maze, an elf drawing, and a dictated Santa letter. For a reader, add the word search, reindeer names, and a greeting card.
- Print at a comfortable size. Keep mazes and word grids full-size. You can roll the full-size booklet loosely for a roomy stocking, or place it beside a smaller stocking with the name visible.
- Make a named cover. Write “Christmas activities for” and the child’s name. Leave a space where they can draw the first thing they try.
- Put the answers aside. Keep sheets 11 and 12 in an envelope for the adult who will share the book. Include the title and reading link with the poem activity.
- Bind the left edge. You align the stack and staple it, then check that the staple legs lie flat. Keep the folded greeting card loose so it can open fully.
- Add a personal note. Name a page you would like to do together and a time that works: the maze after breakfast, or the poem when Grandma visits.
A homemade booklet uses the paper and printer supplies you have. Its cost depends on those supplies, so count them if you are working to a stocking-stuffer budget. A few pages you chose for one child can be ready for Christmas morning; save the rest for another packet.
How do you help without solving the activity for them?
Read the direction, establish the rules, and offer one small clue when your child asks. On a maze, ask where they could go next. In a word search, look for the first letter together and let them follow the rest of the word.
Give them time to try a suggestion before adding another. If a puzzle keeps catching them at the same point, bring out the answer sheet and trace that part together. They can decide whether to finish, try a simpler level, or switch to drawing.
A picture or open response has room for their own answer. Ask what they want you to notice in it. When the activity ends, let your child choose a page to keep, give away, or put in the booklet for another day.
Sources
- Gaye Gronlund, National Association for the Education of Young Children. “How to Support Children’s Approaches to Learning? Play with Them!”, undated. Preschool example and adult participation in play.
- Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards, NAEYC. “Anti-Bias Education and Holidays: Making Thoughtful Decisions”, November 6, 2019. Family traditions, participation, and learning about holidays.
- Clement C. Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas, with illustrations by Jessie Willcox Smith, Houghton Mifflin, illustrated edition first published in 1912. Project Gutenberg ebook 17135, digital text updated January 10, 2026. Suggested reading for the poem response sheet.
Sources accessed October 16, 2026. Age groups and time plans are suggestions for choosing an activity; adjust the reading and help to your child.
Leave a Reply