Christmas Activities for Kids at Home: Mazes, Puzzles and Quiet Games

December is busy, and children often have more energy than the day has room for. A small stack of printable activities gives them something calm to do while you wrap gifts, cook or take a rest. Here are ideas that work for ages 5 to 10.

Mazes

Mazes build focus and planning. Start with an easy one so a child can feel success, then move to larger mazes. Encourage them to trace with a finger before using a pencil. If a maze is hard, look at the end and work back. Solutions are handy for checking, but try not to peek.

Word searches

A holiday word search with words such as sleigh, mittens, star and bells practices spelling and visual scanning. Younger children can search for just the first three words. Older children can race a timer.

Word scrambles and secret codes

Unscrambling a word asks a child to think about letter patterns. A number code, where A is 1 and B is 2, adds a puzzle element and gives practice with the alphabet order. Let children make a code message for a sibling to solve.

Counting and tic-tac-toe

Counting groups of stars is simple practice for younger children. Tic-tac-toe is a good game for travel, waiting rooms and gatherings, and it teaches turn-taking and planning ahead.

Make it part of the season

• Put a new page on the table each morning in December.
• Pack a few pages and a pencil for trips and visits.
• Do a page together after dinner as a quiet family activity.
• Give a certificate when the whole book is finished.

Print what you need

Print pages in black and white to save ink. Use a pencil so mistakes can be erased, and print extra copies of favorites for friends or cousins.

Choose by age

Children aged 5 and 6 usually enjoy the easier mazes, counting pages and tic-tac-toe. Seven and eight year olds can handle word searches and scrambles on their own. Nine and ten year olds often enjoy the secret codes and the hardest mazes. Sit with younger children and read each instruction aloud, and let older ones work alone so they feel proud of finishing.

Keep screens out of quiet time

Paper puzzles give eyes and brains a rest from screens. A pencil, a cushion and a page can fill twenty quiet minutes, and children often ask for another one when they are done.

More ideas

Alongside paper activities, try a Christmas lights walk, baking cookies or writing cards to family. A quiet page and an outing together make a good mix.

Printable Christmas activities

Our Kids Christmas Activity Book has eight mazes with solutions, three word searches, scrambles, secret codes, counting and tic-tac-toe. Try the free Christmas activity sample first.

You can also browse every free sample on the Free Printables page, or see all digital downloads.