10 Simple Christmas Invitation to Play Ideas
Activities for toddlers, pre-schoolers and beyond
If you’re looking for simple Christmas invitation to play ideas for toddlers and pre-schoolers, then you’re in the right place! Featured here are 10, easy to set up activities, that will help your child (and you) get into the Christmas spirit.
Christmas is an exciting time, especially for young children but it can also be stressful for us as parents when we have a million things on our plates. The majority of these activities take less than 5 minutes to set up and most can be used more than once.
5 Benefits of Invitations to Play:
All play invitations have many benefits, but it can feel off putting when the play is messy! As well as being a great way to make connections to the world around them, here are some more reasons why you should try these play ideas:
Gives children the freedom to explore new materials which in turn fosters curiosity and imagination. There is no right or wrong outcome when it comes to sensory play.
Helps to develop fine motor skills and hand strength. This is crucial for learning to write later on down the line
Encourages communication and language development. Play invitations can be a social activity, particularly if you invite friends to join in!
Helps to develop spatial awareness as children begin to understand the environment around them via exploration of materials.
Boosts brain development which in turn helps ability to problem solve. Sensory play is a great introduction to STEAM learning.
You can read more about invitations to play here:
Age Recommendations
All of the Christmas invitations to play are suitable for children aged from 3 onwards and are intended to be done under supervision. If your child is at the stage where they put items into their mouths avoid small object that might pose a choking hazard – pompoms and small beads, for example.
10 Christmas Invitation to Play Ideas
Simply use these ideas as inspiration for play at home. You don’t need to use the exact same resources as I did, but here are some core materials that we use for play all year round.
A tray – the IKEA Flisat table or a tuff spot tray are great purchase options for sensory play
wooden serving platter
Learning Resources fine motor set
pipettes
wooden scoops and tongs
small craft resources – e.g. buttons, beads and pompoms
1. Create a Christmas tree with loose parts
If you have a set of magnetic tiles, invite your child to create a Christmas tree. Let them think about the shapes that would work best and provide some small loose parts and Christmas decorations.
Try to include some magnetic items (like jingle bells), to add a STEAM based element to play. Whilst it’s tempting to simple say – ‘use triangle to make the tree’. Allow your child the opportunity to explore for themselves too.
2. Explore Decorations
We all know that children love to explore the Christmas tree and decorations. One of the ways you can avoid getting the tree pulled down is to provide a small selection of Christmas ornaments for them to explore.
When you add in mirrors to this exploration, they – quite literally – add a new dimension to the play invitation.
3. Washi Tape
Make a basic triangle shape from washi tape, then invite your toddler or pre-schooler to decorate it. You can use loose parts from your toy collection, Christmas decorations or recycling to make this work.
4. Tuff Spot Tray
For this invitation to play, I drew a large Christmas tree onto a tuff spot tray by using a paint stick. Then I provided a selection of Christmas decorations and loose parts so that my children could decorate it.
5. Sensory Play with real snow
Over the Winter months, I often leave an empty IKEA Trofast tray outside in the garden when snow is predicted. Once we have a full tray of snow, I add a selection of liquid food colouring into the Flisat table so the children can explore colour mixing. An even easier and less messy version of this is featured below.
Even in the Winter months, we try to get outside as much as possible - and having the right clothes certainly helps with this goal. Below, my daughter had a joy-filled morning playing with snow and leftover pumpkins in the mud kitchen.
6. Polar Express Sensory Bin
Polar Express is a classic Christmas story which makes it ideal for bookish play too. For this Christmas Invitation to play, we simply added some expired chocolate pops to a Flisat table along with scoops and cups.
7. Starbucks ‘Red Cups’ Sensory Bin
If you’re a Starbucks fan, Christmas time is also synonymous with red cups. Whilst we try our best to take along our Keep Cups, sometimes we end up with a takeaway coffee cup or two! When this happens, we simply wash out the cups and reuse them for play.
To make the bubble foam:
This is so simple to make and looks really pretty too! All you need is:
2 tbsp of dish soap
2/3 cup of water
splash of food colouring
We made this batch in a food processor, but whisking by hand works just as well.
8. Christmas Themed Play Dough Box
Every season, we tend to make at least one batch of homemade playdough. Featured below is vanilla and cinnamon playdough that smelt absolutely divine!
Storing playdough in an IKEA Glis box is also a great way to set up an easy invitation to play that can be brought out repeatedly.
9. Letters to Santa
This really simple Christmas Invitation to play is great for children who are just starting to learn how to write. ‘Letters to Santa’ will help your child to make marks on the paper, then use stickers and stampers to personalise it.
At this stage, don’t worry about the writing – it’s very likely there will just be a few scribbles on the paper! The point is, your child will start to make connections between what their hand is doing and what happens on the paper.
10. Hot Chocolate Playdough Box
Chocolate playdough is one of our favourite playdough options for the winter months. Not only does it smell gorgeous, but it really evokes the rich scents of Christmas-time hot chocolate.
Find out More about Sensory Play
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