There’s no better time than the holidays, but if you’ve got kids, we know all too well that ‘bouncing off the walls’ feeling as the anticipation for Christmas beckons, right?
Having plenty of festive themed ideas up your sleeve will help keep your little one’s excitement levels controlled, whilst adding to the festivities too.
Here is our pick of the best Christmas tuff tray ideas for toddlers and beyond that can be adapted to suit your child, happy holidays!
19 Fun and Festive Christmas Tuff Tray Ideas For Toddlers
1.Snowflake Making
Can you make a snowflake? This fun and festive activity will be loved by little ones.
Setup your tuff tray with folded A4 sheets of paper, child friendly scissors, glue sticks and anything and everything they can stick onto their snowflakes. Use things like glitter, sequins and pom poms.
2. Build A Christmas Tree
Build and decorate a Christmas tree from scratch with this natural and super festive tuff tray idea.
Create a tree shape on your tuff tray with something like washi tape or masking tape and add plenty of natural materials to the tray that your little ones can position and bring the tree to life.
Use different natural materials such as, winter spices like cinnamon stars, real tree branches, pebbles and decorations.
3. Christmas Beebots
Programme the Beebots to navigate from one Christmas picture to another on the tuff tray.
This engaging activity helps children learn programming basics while enjoying festive illustrations of snowflakes, Christmas trees, and presents.
4. Decorate A Christmas Jumper
Celebrate Christmas jumper day with this interactive activity that your kids will adore!
Draw the outline of a jumper on the tray to get them started and add plenty of decorative accessories and paints for them to decorate their very own Christmas jumper.
5. Build Santa A Chimney
Challenge children to use colorful wooden blocks to construct a chimney for Santa.
This activity stimulates creativity, spatial awareness, and fine motor skills as they design and build a structure for Santa to deliver presents through.
6. Christmas Jigsaw
Nothing beats a Christmas jigsaw and you can create your own ones by printing off festive themed pictures and cutting into equal parts.
Jumble the pieces up on the tray and challenge little ones to rebuild the image.
7. Festive Phonics
Create a fun and educational phonics activity by arranging phonetic words and sounds in a Christmas tree shape.
Children can match the ornaments (word circles) to the correct branches (sound strips), enhancing their reading and phonics skills while enjoying the festive theme.
8. Christmas Rice Play
This tuff tray setup has all the sensory feels to it and is a good old fashioned open ended play idea that involves scooping, mixing, pouring and playing!
Dye rice red and green in different batches and create a striped effect with red, green and normal colored rice. Add Christmas ornaments and utensils for scooping, mixing and pouring.
9. Christmas Cutting Practise
Help Father Christmas get ready for the big day by trimming his beard!
This activity involves using scissors to cut along the lines of Santa’s paper beard, promoting fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination in a festive, fun-filled way. You could also create a similar setup by using cooked spaghetti for the beard.
10. Reindeer Number Bonding
Engage children in learning number bonds to 10 with this festive reindeer-themed activity.
Using colorful number blocks, children can place the correct combinations onto each reindeer, helping them understand basic addition and develop their numerical skills in a playful, holiday setting.
11. Christmas Play Village
Sometimes open ended imaginative play is the best type of play! Create a Christmas play village with a train track, characters and decorative accessories that you have to hand such as cotton balls for snow and snowman figurines.
12. Christmas Soup
Encourage imaginative play with a Christmas soup-themed sensory tray. Children can mix and scoop festive items like red and green pom-poms, shredded paper, and star cut-outs, promoting fine motor skills and creativity.
This tactile activity provides a fun, hands-on way for kids to explore textures and colors during the holiday season.
13. Rudolph Scooping & Mixing
This festive activity involves scooping and mixing materials to create Rudolph’s face. Children can use colorful cups and scoops to handle the sensory materials, enhancing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
The bright letters spelling “RUDOLPH” add a literacy element, making this a fun and educational holiday-themed activity.
14. Elf on The Shelf
Challenge children to match the elf bibs to the correct numbers on the hats by solving the simple math sums. Plus, it’s the ever popular, elf on the shelf (although you might be sick of seeing this elf by the time Christmas comes around!).
This activity combines festive fun with educational content, helping kids practice their addition and subtraction skills.
15. Shaving Foam Snowman
Create the cutest setup with a shaving foam snowman, even parents can have fun getting this one ready!
Add little scoops so children can scoop, mix and play and feel with their fingers for a fun sensory activity.
16. Santa’s Hat
Children can use tweezers to pick up and sort pieces of shredded paper to complete Santa’s hat.
This activity focuses on developing fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination while adding a festive twist. The colorful and tactile materials make this a fun and engaging exercise for young learners.
17. Christmas Small World
Create a magical winter scene with various Christmas-themed figurines and faux snow. Children can engage in imaginative play with characters like Santa, Mrs. Claus, reindeer, and polar bears, fostering creativity and storytelling skills.
The tactile elements of the faux snow and soft pom-poms add a sensory dimension to this festive small world play setup.
18. Christmas Tree Pasta
This festive activity involves scooping, pouring, and mixing Christmas-themed pasta shapes to create a Christmas tree design.
Children can use scoops and tongs to handle the pasta, enhancing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The addition of colorful pom-poms and festive images provides a sensory and visual element, making the activity both fun and educational.
19. Paper Chain Making
Encourage children to create festive paper chains to decorate the classroom. This activity involves cutting, gluing, and linking strips of colorful, holiday-themed paper.
It helps develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and creativity, while also adding a personal touch to the classroom’s holiday decor.
