24 Screen-Free Christmas Countdown Activities for Kids (One a Day, Dec 1-24)

An advent calendar full of chocolate is lovely, but by December 3rd most parents are looking for something that keeps kids busy for more than ten seconds. A countdown of small activities, one per day, gives children something to look forward to every morning, builds real skills, and quietly cuts down on screen time during the busiest month of the year.

Here are 24 ideas, one for each day from December 1 to Christmas Eve. Each takes 5 to 20 minutes, needs little or no prep, and works for kids aged roughly 4 to 8. Younger kids will need a grown-up beside them; older kids can do most of these alone.

How to set up a countdown that actually lasts

• Make it visible. A paper countdown tree on the fridge, where kids color one ornament each day, works better than a list in your phone.
• Keep it short. Five to ten minutes is enough. The goal is a little daily ritual, not a lesson.
• Do it at the same time. Breakfast or straight after school works for most families.
• Mix the types. Alternate puzzles, crafts, kindness and "big" activities so no two days in a row feel the same.

Week 1: Getting into the Christmas spirit

1. December 1: Welcome to the North Pole. Start with a simple coloring page and tell your kids how the countdown works.
2. December 2: A Christmas maze. Mazes build pencil control and planning. Draw one yourself or print one.
3. December 3: Word search. Pick five Christmas words (tree, star, bell, elf, gift) and hide them in a grid. Picture clues help non-readers.
4. December 4: Cookie counting. Draw cookies on a plate and count the chocolate chips. Early math disguised as a treat.
5. December 5: Dot-to-dot surprise. Kids love finding out what the picture is.
6. December 6: Mitten matching. Draw pairs of mittens with different patterns and ask kids to match them.
7. December 7: Kindness day. Choose one kind mission: make a card for a neighbour, help set the table, or share a toy.

Week 2: Puzzles and making

1. December 8: Gingerbread friend. Draw a gingerbread outline and let kids decorate it with crayons, stickers or buttons.
2. December 9: Spot the difference. Two nearly identical pictures with five changes. Great for attention to detail.
3. December 10: Trace Christmas words. JOY, ELF, STAR, SNOW, GIFT in dotted letters. Perfect handwriting practice for 4 to 6 year olds.
4. December 11: Color by number. A stocking or ornament with a simple color key.
5. December 12: Shadow matching. Match each Christmas object to its silhouette.
6. December 13: Roll and draw a snowman. Roll a die: 1 is the body, 2 the head, 3 the hat, and so on. Turn-taking for siblings, too.
7. December 14: Picture sudoku. A 4x4 grid with pictures instead of numbers. Real logic, kid-sized.

Week 3: Bigger activities

1. December 15: Santa's sleigh word search. A bigger grid for the older kids.
2. December 16: What comes next? Simple patterns: star, tree, star, tree, ?
3. December 17: Joke day. Read Christmas jokes at dinner. ("What do elves learn at school? The elf-abet!")
4. December 18: Snowball math. Picture addition with snowballs: 2 + 3 = ?
5. December 19: I spy Christmas. Hunt for hidden objects in a busy picture, or play it live around your home.
6. December 20: Design a Christmas sweater. Give kids a blank sweater outline and let them go wild.

The final countdown

1. December 21: Deliver the presents. A maze where Santa reaches every house.
2. December 22: Missing letter word. Fill in the gaps: R_INDEER, MI_TEN.
3. December 23: Paper snowflakes. Fold, cut, unfold. Tape them to the window.
4. December 24: Christmas Eve. Write a letter to Santa, leave a note for the reindeer by the cookies, and present each child with a "Nice List" certificate before bed.

Making it work with siblings of different ages

Give the older child the "big" version (a larger word search, a harder maze) and the younger child the picture version of the same activity. Doing the same theme side by side means they can still chat about it together. Older kids can also be the "helper elf" who reads instructions aloud.

When you're short on time

Some days are hectic. On those days, swap in the shortest activity you have (a dot-to-dot or a joke) rather than skipping the day. The ritual matters more than the activity.

Start tonight with a free sample

You can try three pages from our countdown book for free (a coloring page, a maze and a festive puzzle): get the free Jolly Little Elves sampler.

Or print the whole countdown in one go

Every activity in this list is ready to print in Jolly Little Elves: My Countdown to Christmas, a 45-page printable activity book for ages 4-8. It includes the countdown tree, one page per day from December 1 to 24, a letter to Santa, a wish list, gift tags, a Nice List certificate and answer keys. It prints on US Letter or A4, with an ink-saver version too, and you can print it again for siblings. See Jolly Little Elves ($4.99 launch price, regularly $7).

If you also want preschool learning pages and class party games, the Christmas Activity Bundle has all three of our packs, 147 pages, for $9.99.

Happy counting down!

Jingle & Pip Printables makes screen-free printable activities for kids. The illustrations in our packs are created with the help of AI tools and finished by hand.