The holidays are a wonderful time of year, but they can also be full of stress and overwhelm. Make this holiday season fun with these 24 days of holiday mindfulness activities for kids!
Everyone loves the holidays, but for most of us, especially those who are parents, Christmas time also means hourly meltdowns, dealing with the gimmies, and throwing all healthy practices out the window.
The Holidays are an amazing opportunity to cultivate mindfulness in your kids!
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How Can Kids Be Mindful During The Holidays?
Mindfulness is not just meditation and yoga! Mindfulness is simply a state of mind where we pay attention to our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and surroundings.
Practicing mindfulness with your kids this holiday season doesn’t have to be stressful and it is so incredibly important that we keep our mindfulness with us during Christmas time.
Signs Your Kids Need Mindfulness This Holiday Season
As much as you love your kids you gotta admit, this is the time of year where your kids get a bad case of the gimmies, blood sugar meltdowns, and unrealistic expectations. Common heard phrases are…
- “I want to buy my friend this!”
- “I hope Santa brings me this”
- “Can I have more cookies?”
- “Can we make this?”
- “I don’t really want to eat my dinner” Having seriously eaten way too many cookies and candy canes
- “I want to wrap the presents!”
- “Can we go ice skating and shopping and pick out a tree?”
- “Can we put up the tree now?”
- “I want to put the star on top! She already got to last year so it’s my turn!”
On and on and on. And it’s not their fault, we know, it just that they get a bit too tied up with getting more and more because it’s fun.
But what if we can do all these things with a touch of mindfulness this year? What if it can take the stress down by a TON!
Guess what? It will.
So without further ado, here are 24 amazing, and festive mindfulness activities your kids will love as a countdown to Christmas. From peppermint hot cocoa meditation to brain dump snowflakes, all the way to Christmas tree pose, these holiday mindfulness activities will be fun, holly, and jolly for you and your kids to partake in this holiday season.
24 Holiday Mindfulness Activities For Kids
Don’t forget to click here and download my FREE Holiday Mindfulness For Kids Advent Calendar.
1 | Peppermint Hot Cocoa Meditation 🧘🏽♀️
Prepare a peppermint hot cocoa for you and your kiddo (psst. I put a great recipe in my free download).
Sit on the floor with your cocoa in hand and set a timer for five minutes.
Focus your attention on your cocoa, you can do this with eyes open or closed. I would recommend eyes closed but this could be a spilling hazard for some kids.
Use these prompts.
- What does your cup feel like? Is it warm? How does it fit in your hand.
- What does your cocoa smell like? Notice every small scent.
- Taking small, slow sips, what does your cocoa taste like? Notice all the flavors in the peppermint, the chocolate, the milk, the whipped cream.
- How does it make you feel? Happy, warm, excited, joyful etc.
Continue noticing these things as you sip your cocoa until the timer goes off. Then talk about what you noticed, how it made you feel, and how you feel different than before .
2 | Mindful Present Wrapping 🎁
When present wrapping comes around, do it mindfully. How to mindfully wrap presents with your kids? Here are the prompts to use…
- First off, move slowly
- What can you hear? Notice the sounds of the wrapping paper cutting
- Notice the details of the paper
- What did you think of each present?
- What thoughts are coming up?
- Do you feel bored?
- Notice if you are gettin sloppier with the wrapping
- Are you not focused on what you are doing?
- Why do you think you feel this way?
3 | Gratitude Christmas Ornaments 💚
Paint your ornaments and have your kids write one thing they are grateful for on each one. Ask each other why you are grateful for those things. If your child is having trouble thinking of things here are some prompts…
- Who is one person you are grateful for?
- Name one food you are grateful for?
- Is there something that you couldn’t live without that you are grateful for?
- What is one freedom you are grateful for?
- How about something in every day life that you are grateful for?
- What is one thing from nature that you are grateful for?
4 | Christmas Music Dancing 💃🏽
This holiday mindfulness activity is a great way for kids to practice self expression. The goal is that they listen to the music, then dance in a way that makes them feel good, and notice how their body moves as they dance. Don’t overthink this one, just put on some Christmas music classics and get groovin’!
Prompts:
- Instruct them to move how they feel their body wants to move and parents, you should get some dancing in too.
- Whatever song comes on, how does your body want to move?
- Why did you want to move that way?
5 | Your Favorite Festive Character 🎭
I LOVE this exercise! It helps young kids with expressing their thoughts and it bring awareness to the things we value.
Simply just ask who your favorite holiday movie character is and talk about why you like them. Here’s some questions you can ask each other.
- Who is your favorite Christmas movie character?
- What do you like about them?
- Would you want to be friends with this person or do you want to be more like this person?
- Do you feel like you are like this person?
- Do you feel like you are really different from this character?
- What are some pretty cool things about yourself?
6 | Plan A Dream Christmas Day ☑
Don’t let them say what they want to GET for Christmas. Instead, talk about what you would want to DO on a dream Christmas Day. Write it out in detail. Maybe even get a planner out! This mindfulness activity teaches kids a powerful lesson on expectations.
Get the prompts in my FREE download here!
Who knows! After this, maybe you com up with a new Christmas Day plan the would make everyone happy together on Christmas Day!
7 | Emotional Gingerbread Men 🍪
Do you normally make sugar cookies or gingerbread men for the holiday season? Great! Then here is an easy to incorporate holiday mindfulness practice you can do with your kids.
Bake some gingerbread men and have them decorate the cookies to match the emotions they are feeling. I.e put a happy face on it if they are happy or a sad face if they feel sad or use a lot of colors if they feel energized or a grayish color if they feel “meh.”
You can even make a variety of different colored icings and label them as different emotions i.e yellow is happy, blue is sad, pink is hyper, black is frustrated etc.
Prompts
- How are you feeling right now?
- Is there anything bothering you?
- Tell me more about this cookies design?
8 | Holly Jolly Breathwork 🌬
To keep your energy up for this holly jolly time of year, do some energizing and fun breathwork to recenter our minds and be festive! Try the two breathwork exercises below with your kids.
Wave breath:
Before we can do energizing breathwork we need to focus ourselves first.
Tell your child to picture their breath as a wave. And they breathe in, the wave builds up, and as they breathe out, the wave crashes on shore. Let the waves crash three times.
Breath of joy:
After you do wave breath together, instruct your child to stand up, take a deep breathe in, lift their arms over their head, and then swing their arms down, fold over their legs and breathe out their mouth, like they are a skier pushing their poles into the ground. And then repeat, breathing in, standing tall, reaching their arms up. Breathing out and swinging down. Do this three times.
9 | Brain Dump Snowflakes ❄️
Make paper snowflakes together and have them write down all of the thoughts going on in their head on the snowflakes. One thought on each snowflake. Once they’ve written all of their thoughts down on snowflakes, have them gather all of them up and throw them into the air! Tell them to picture all of their thoughts leaving their brain as they throw them.
Some prompts to give them after:
- Which snowflake thoughts were bothering you the most?
- Which thoughts do you think we should get rid of?
- Are there any thoughts you want to talk about?
10 | Mindful Christmas Lights 💡
If you live in a neighborhood that likes to get very festive, go walk to see their Christmas decorations at night with your child! This one is great for younger kids because they will be fascinated by the lights.
How this experience is mindful? Easy, ask your little one these questions.
- Which house did you like the decorations on best
- Why?
- What’s one small details you can see on each house we pass?
- Which kind of lights do you like? Ones that are colorful? Ones that blink?
- Do the lights make you feel happy?
- How is this house different than the last one?
11 | Roast Chestnuts or S’mores 🔥
I have never roasted chestnuts before but I have roasted s’mores many many times over a campfire and let me tell you, this can be a great way for kids to practice holiday mindfulness if done right. It’s also an amazing family experience.
Click here to get my FREE printable for the recommended ingredients list + prompts!
Before you allow them to roast their s’mores/chestnuts, set a timer for five minutes and sit in silence together just watching the fire. Once they do so, then you can roast s’mores and use the prompts to make this a holiday mindfulness activity you do with your kids.
12 | Do Christmas Tree Pose🎄
Have them place one foot on their inner thigh or calve, so they are balancing on the other foot, then connect their hands above their heads. Challenge them to how long they can balance here.
Add a spin to this by placing Christmas decorations i.e tinsel, lights, a star topper, on them the longer they stand there.
Prompts to give them during or after this exercise..
- Was it hard to balance?
- How did balancing make you feel?
- Did you feel very focused or calm?
- (If they have siblings) Were you busy thinking about how long everyone else was balancing?
13 | Festive Mantra Coloring
A mantra is a phrase that you repeatedly say or memorize that can helps kids affirm any belief! Help your child come up with a festive mantra then create a coloring and hang it up! What do they want to feel more of? What are they struggling with right now?!
Examples:
- “I am feeling ho ho happy today!”
- “May I, and all beings be merry and bright.”
- “I choose to be holly and jolly today.”
14 | Snowflake Glitter Jar
Get a mason jar, some water, dish soap and snowflake glitter.
Instructions:
- Fill your mason jar almost entirely with water then add your snowflake glitter and a few drops of dish soap.
- Close the jar and shake it up. If it is needed, add more drops of dish soap until glitter floats and mixture reaches desired consistency.
- When your child is feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or needs a break from the day, shake the jar up. Breathe deeply and let your thoughts settle as the glitter settles.
15 | Merry + Bright Meditation
METTA meditations are a great way for kids to practice kindness during the holidays.
How To Do A Metta Meditation
- Set a timer for 10 minutes and close your eyes.
- Bring your attention to yourself, and think “may I be merry + bright”
- Then, think about one person you love, and think “may they be merry + bright.”
- Next, send your love to someone you dislike, and think “may they be merry + bright.”This can be hard but it’s important to at least try.
- Finally, think of the entire world and think “may the whole world be merry + bright”
16 | Cleaning Up For Santa
Kids don’t realize that parents are always putting away laundry, doing the dishes, cleaning your room, vacuuming the floor, tidying up the living room, and more every day to take care of us! This holiday season, trick your kids into cleaning up the house by saying we’re cleaning up for Santa. This can include getting rid of things we don’t need anymore.
Get instructions in my free download!
17 | Create A Holiday Movie
You are the director and the star. What do you want the film to be about? Make the film about something that’s important to you. Think of potential film ideas, write out your script, and make a list of things you’ll need for the film. After you create it, show it to your family and tell them how it’s important to you.
Film Ideas:
- Make a music video
- Film an action ecene
- Create a musical
- Re-create a movie
18 | Make A Holiday Reel
Creating a reel on Instagram is a super fun way to practice of self expression and to become mindful of our insecurity. Why is this one of my holiday mindfulness activities for kids? Read on…
Some of us love making reels and others find it uncomfortable (which is okay) but either way, creating a reel will help you and your kids connect to your self expression and feel more confident. So go create a reel!
Make it mindful by noticing how you feel as you do it.
19 | Vision Board
Kids can get caught up in anticipating Christmas so much that they can feel a bit lost afterwards. A vision board can help them set intentions for what they will do after!
A vision board is a big piece of paper where you write dreams of who you want to be, things you dream of doing, and things you dream of having with glued on images from magazines + mantras/quotes that keep you inspired to achieve your dreams.
20 | Mindful Gift Receiving
When they receive a gift or after they receive one, prompt them to picture the process it took to get that gift to them. This practice will teach kids to be aware of the process it took for their gifts to get to them and have more appreciation for the effort that went into its creation.
Use the prompts below:
- What’s one part of your gift you’ve received? What did it have to go through to get to you?
- Picture it being built.
- Are there a lot of different parts in your gift? Picture those parts being built and put together.
- Imagine it being shipped to the store and shelved.
- Now visualize your gift giver going to the store and buying it.
- Once you’ve pictured the whole process, send gratitude to all the people that contributed to this gift!
21 | Snowglobe Auras
Instruct your child to draw a snowglobe, then draw themselves inside the snowglobe! Tell them to imagine that this snowglobe is around them right now surrounding their body with energy. How does your snowglobe energy feel? Do you feel happy, sad, or energized in your snowglobe? Write it down in the snowglobe you drew.
This is aura reading! Aura reading is a creative way to practice becoming mindful of our energy levels.
Prompts:
- Notice how energized you aura feels? Does it feel depleted? Does it normally feel depleted?
- What are things you do that make your aura feel full and energetic? Do you do those things often?
- What is something in your aura you want to release?
22 | Christmas Sensory Bin
Sensory bins are great holiday mindfulness activities for kids. Sensory bins are containers filled with a variety of sensory materials for kids to explore. Products such as sensory beads, weighted sand, or pellets are great to use as a base. Sensory bins typically include objects of various textures, shapes, and colors to provide more tactile and visual stimulation.
I saw this holiday mindfulness activity for kids via interest and I think it’s a great way for younger kids to practice mindfulness! Place the objects listed below inside a box and instruct your child to use their senses and be mindful of how each thing feels.
Find out what you need for this holiday mindfulness activity in my free download!
23 | Upside Down Christmas Tree Pose
Did you know in Germany, they used put their Christmas upside down?!?! That’s crazy! Learn how to do upside down Christmas tree pose for some holiday mindfulness with your kids (a.k.a learn a headstand.)
24 | Santa’s Sleigh Meditation
Picture yourself flying over an ocean and across the globe in Santa’s sleigh. What can you see? Picture the weightless feeling. Imagine the calm and the freedom you feel.
There you have it! Hope you find some mindful fun this holiday season with these 24 holiday mindfulness activities for kids.
Download The 24 Days Of Holiday Mindfulness Activities For Kids Printable For FREE!
If you end up doing these holiday mindfulness activities for kids, post it on Instagram and tag me @keepitmindful.kids to get re-shared!
Happy holidays!
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