Last Minute Christmas Ideas for Kids

It’s the week before Christmas… Do you need some help? I’ve got a list of Festive and Fun Last Minute Christmas Ideas for Kids. It’s packed with crafts, science, baking, and more stuff the kids will love.

Last Minute Christmas Idea #1: Make homemade gifts.

I adore homemade gifts. Because they are loaded with love. Here are a few homemade gift ideas that the recipient will actually use! And they’re perfect last-minute Christmas ideas because you can use what you have at home to make them.

Perler Bead Change Holder – Got some Perler beads lying around the house? This is a fun build kids can make for their parents or grandparents.

And be sure to wrap up the gift in something special and homemade with Upcycled Art Bows!

Last Minute Christmas Idea #2: Do a Christmas Science Experiment

Science can be totally fun, especially when it has a dose of Christmas added on top!

Christmas Candy Chemistry – Edible chemistry could be the very best kind… Learn about states of matter and more with peppermints and chocolate. Many of these experiments can be done in a few minutes while you’re cooking for Christmas.

Snowy Christmas Tree Oobleck – Cut a few sprigs off the Christmas tree and pour on some snow. Oobleck snow, that is! kids will love this cool, sensory science.

Last Minute Christmas Idea #3: Build Something for Christmas

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches… Especially when they’re made of cool stuff like gumdrops and hardware.

Gumdrop Christmas Trees STEM Challenge

Tinkering Trees – I know I share this one alllll over the place. But it’s one of my favorite (and a ton of my readers’ fave) holiday activities on the blog. Mainly because it’s so easy and so fun. And basically a Christmas fidget.

Last Minute Christmas Idea #4: Make some holiday arts and crafts.

December is a great month for crafting! You can hang your crafts on the tree or wrap that homemade present in them.

Snowflake Fairy Dolls – These paper snowflakes and bead dolls are the sweetest things! And they’re as individual as the kids that make them because their skirts are made out of snowflakes the kids cut.

Light-Up Rudolph Ornament – This Rudolph ornament is so fun! It gets its glowing nose from the lights on your tree. All you need are some pipe cleaners and googly eyes to make it happen.

Candy Cane Coding – Do some screen-free coding this holiday with these festive bead candy canes which use binary to make the stripes.

Click HERE to learn more about the activity or fill out the form below to have the printable emailed to you.

 

Last Minute Christmas Idea #5: Grab a fun and festive Christmas printable.

Need a little time to get some things done? These Christmas printables will do just that for you! Plus they’re perfect for adding to the kids’ table.

• Christmas Word Search (Who doesn’t love a word search??)

• Christmas Tree Color by Coding (This one has a fun learning spin!)

• STEAM Kids Christmas Coloring Book (Grab the color by coding plus a ton of other fun Christmas coloring pages with a learning spin.)

Last Minute Christmas Idea #6: Bake and cook with the kids.

One of my absolute favorite things to do this time of year is bake with the family. It’s a huge memory maker, it’s delicious, and baking really teaches kids cool skills. Here are some of my favorite cookie recipes. (Oh and idea #2 can become idea #1 if you wrap up these baked goods for others. Perfect for the mailman and teachers…)

• Foolproof Shortbread Cookies with Royal Icing (I turned these into edible tangrams, too !)

• Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies (These are a family favorite!)

• Swedish Pepparkakor Gingersnaps (They make such a nice gift!)

• Snowy Orange Crinkle Cookies (They’re so pretty on a cookie tray!)
• M&M Cookie Bars (These stack into fun towers!)
• Gummy Bear Filled Heart Cookies (Show your love for someone with these sweet bites!)
• Pour Art Pretzels (These gorgeous cookies will make your tray shine!)

And as it turns out, I always wanted to be a STEM and Cookies blogger. Here’s what I’m calling my new cookie blog :)

Last Minute Christmas Ideas for Kids

Still looking for a last-minute gift? I have you covered (well with Amazon’s help…). Here are my mom-tested, engineer-approved STEM and STEAM gifts for Kids. Check out Books, Robots, and the full Gift Guide here.

Every year I pull together some of the best STEM & STEAM gifts for kids. You’ll definitely find something for your kiddos on these idea lists! Books, robots, and more! Check out the full list of The Best STEM Gifts for Kids HERE.

Looking for something specific? You can check out these lists of books and robots, too.

The Best STEM & STEAM Books for Kids – Books are the gifts that keep on giving, all year round. Here is my list of faves for the year.

The Best Robots for Kids – Robots are a big investment. Figure out which is the right one in this helpful guide.