December Family Fun: 32 Activities to do with Your Kids

December Family Fun: 32 Activities to do with Your Kids

There’s so much to celebrate in December!

It’s Bingo’s Birthday Month. Grab a dauber and play!

  •  Download our Christmas Traditions Bingo game and mark off the holiday activities you do all month long. download icon
  • Order a Bingo Set and play with your household. buy icon
  • Share this Virtual Bingo link with friends and family and you can all play the game together online. online icon
  • bingo birthday month

    The game we know today was created in December 1929 by Edwin S. Lowe. It’s based on the US carnival game called “Beano,” (named for the beans used to mark off the spaces). Bingo-type lottery games date back to the 1530s in Italy.

      Every single day in December there’s something to celebrate and do for fun. Be creative! Leave a comment below and let us know how you spend your special days. 

      one National Christmas Lights Day

      Take a drive tonight and enjoy the glow of the holiday season. #ChristmasLightsDay

      two National Mutt Day

      Show a mixed breed dog some love today. Visit your local animal shelter and ask if you can walk or play with the pups on #NationalMuttDay.

      three Make A Gift Day

      Grab a glue stick and make something meaningful! There’s something extra special about handmade gifts. Here's one to try:

      christmas tree shaped word cloud

      Make meaningful, customized Word Clouds for everyone on your list. This free site lets you choose a shape, colors, fonts, words to include, and their weight and size. It's super easy and very personal. Plus, it will get your kids thinking of nice things to say about the recipient. #MakeAGiftDay

      Want to make this? These can help (affiliate links) buy icon:

       

      four National Cookie Day

      What’s your favorite kind of cookie? Bake some today for #NationalCookieDay.

      five International Ninja Day

      Practice your Ninja stealth skills today:

      • Plan a route through your house—the more twists, turns, and obstacles, the better.
      • Take turns going through the course as quietly as possible while everyone else has their eyes closed (or wears a blindfold).
      • If someone hears you, you’re out!
      • Whoever makes it the furthest through the course wins. A gold Shuriken for anyone who makes it all the way through without being noticed. #InternationalNinjaDay
      Want to play this? These can help (affiliate links) buy icon:

        buy icon

      six Mitten Tree Day

      Read The Mitten Tree, by Candace Christiansen buy icon, about a woman who knits mittens for a boy in need and leaves them for him to find. Then grab some yarn in your favorite color and learn how to knit your own mittens for #MittenTreeDay.

      seven Letter Writing Day

      Reach out to someone you care about the old fashioned way—with a handwritten letter on special stationery. It’s a great way to practice handwriting and develop storytelling skills. (And you’ll probably brighten someone’s day.) #LetterWritingDay

      eight Pretend To Be A Time Traveler

      Ready to fire up your imagination? Choose one player as the time traveler and one who is from the current day.

      The time traveler wears something from the era they’re from, asks questions about the modern things they see, and shares stories about life in their time.

      The current day person asks questions and tries to guess the era the time traveler has come from.

      This is a great game to play with friends or family online. online icon #PretendToBeATimeTraveler

      nine Christmas Card Day

      Work on Christmas Cards together. Reading through your list and addressing envelopes is a great time to share stories about friends or family who live far away. Have a map or an atlasbuy icon handy and ask your kids to find the places your loved ones live, for a quick geography lesson. #ChristmasCardDay

      christmas card day

      ten Nobel Prize Day

      Each year, Nobel Prizes are awarded “to those who have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind” in literature, physics, chemistry, peace, economics, and medicine. Learn about Malala, the youngest Nobel Laureate, who won the Peace Prize at age 17. Encourage your kids to dream big on #NobelPrizeDay.

      Want to learn more about this? These can help (affiliate links) buy icon:

      eleven Official Lost And Found Day

      Today’s the day to look for items you’ve lost. Celebrate when you find that missing sock from the dryer! Then have a fun game of hide and seek with your kids on #OfficialLostAndFoundDay.

      twelve Gingerbread House Day

      Have fun building and decorating a sweet structure together for #GingerbreadHouseDay.

      gingerbread house day

      thirteen National Cocoa Day

      Whipped Cream or Marshmallows? Any way you like it, hot cocoa is comforting and delicious. Grab some mugs and enjoy a drink of the sweet, warm goodness while you read a book or watch a holiday movie together on #NationalCocoaDay.

      fourteen Monkey Day

      There are lots of ways to celebrate our Simian friends: visit the zoo, snack on bananas or monkey bread, make a sock monkey, or gather a group of friends online for a fun game of Monkey See, Monkey Do. Finish up Monkey Day with a bedtime story about everyone’s favorite monkey, Curious George buy icon. #MonkeyDay

      Want to make this? These can help (affiliate links) buy icon:

      fifteen National Cupcake Day

      Bake some tiny treats, add sprinkles, and celebrate with your sweet little cupcake. #NationalCupcakeDay

      national cupcake day

      sixteen National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

      Grab some Candy Melts and have fun experimenting! Cover foods with chocolate that have never been covered in chocolate before. You may just discover the next big candy craze! #ChocolateCoveredAnythingDay

      seventeen Wright Brothers Day

      Celebrate the Wright Brothers’ first successful flight in 1903 with a paper airplane contest or by building a model plane. #WrightBrothersDay

      eighteen Answer The Phone Like Buddy The Elf Day

      Answer every call today with, “Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?” It’s sure to bring a smile to an underappreciated telemarketer’s face. #AnswerThePhoneLikeBuddyTheElfDay

      nineteen National Hard Candy Day

      Put down the cookies and put away the fudge! Today is the day to enjoy the sweet, colorful goodness of hard candy. Decorate the tree with some candy canes, try some exotic flavors like X or Y, or make your own lollipops. (Don’t forget your toothbrush!) #NationalHardCandyDay

      twenty Games Day

      Today’s a day to play! Let each family member choose their favorite game—whether it’s Monopoly, Jenga, Go Fish, Chess, or Soccer buy icon—and play them all throughout the day. Or enjoy online games with faraway friends or family:

      Download one of our printable games, or playdates for virtual fun. #GamesDay

      twenty one National Flashlight Day

      Light up the darkest day of the year (the winter solstice) with some fun flashlight activities. Play flashlight tag, make shadow animals, send secret messages via morse code, or go for a night hike together to celebrate #NationalFlashlightDay.

      twenty two National Cookie Exchange Day

      2020 won’t allow a traditional cookie exchange party, but you can swap recipes, fire up the oven, and make Grandma’s gingerbread at your house. Or invite Grandma (or whomever) to demonstrate her technique on a Zoom call, as you follow along and enjoy creating the warm goodies ‘together.’ #CookieExchangeDay

      twenty three National Roots Day

      Are there any colorful characters in your family’s history? Do you know where your forefathers came from? Are there any physical characteristics that you can trace from generation to generation? Talk to your oldest family members and research public records or genealogy sites like ancestry to learn more about your family history on #NationalRootsDay.

      twenty four National Eggnog Day

      Celebrate Christmas Eve with your family and enjoy this sweet, creamy holiday drink. Learn to make your own kid-friendly egg nog for #NationalEggnogDay.

      national eggnog day

      twenty five No “L” Day

      Add some punny fun to your Joyeux Noel by celebrating No “L” Day. Do the No “L” Challenge:

      • Each person in your household starts with three (short game) or five (longer game) stick-on bows, stuck on themselves.
      • If someone catches you saying a word that starts with the letter L, they take one of your bows.
      • The player with the most bows at the end of the day wins a prize. Maybe a LoLLipop buy icon, or a Lunch date with Dad. #NoLDay

      twenty six National Thank You Note Day

      Remind kids to show gratitude, and practice communication and penmanship skills by writing thank you notes (NO, a text doesn’t count)! Collect each kid’s opened gifts in a bag or box and let them ‘buy back’ each present with the thank you note to its giver. #NationalThankYouNoteDay

      Want to encourage this? These are great stocking stuffers (affiliate links) buy icon:

       

       

       

      twenty seven Visit The Zoo Day

      Enjoy the brisk December air with a visit to the zoo. Take pictures of the animals, and of yourselves mimicking their stance or facial expressions for a funny side-by-side comparison. (Be sure to check your zoo’s website for covid-related safety regulations or restricted hours. OR do a virtual zoo tour). #VisitTheZooDay

      twenty eight National Short Film Day

      Ready for your closeup? Celebrate the day motion pictures were born by making a short, 1-minute film of your own. (In 1895, the Lumiere brothers of Paris, France wowed the first cinema audience with 10, 50-second moving pictures.) Plan out your story, gather some props and costumes, grab your smartphone, and...Action! #ShortFilmDay

      national short film day

      twenty nine Tick Tock Day

      Tick Tock Day is a reminder to complete any unfinished tasks for the year. Grab your planner from last January and get to work on those goals! (Or, you could spend the day making dance challenge videos and posting them on TikTok—Your choice.) #TickTockDay

      thirty National Bicarbonate Of Soda Day

      Use it to leaven baked goods, brush your teeth, de-stink your fridge, or explode a model volcano. Have some fun experimenting with all that baking soda can do on #BicarbonateOfSodaDay.

      Want to experiment with this? These can help (affiliate links) buy icon:

       

      thirty one Make Up Your Mind Day 

      It’s hard to make up your mind, especially when the stakes are high. This last day of the year is time to push aside indecisiveness, overcome your overthinking, make a decision, and stick to it (without looking back).

      Start small: take a walk with your kids. At every corner, take turns deciding right, left, or straight. You may end up in a new part of your neighborhood, and discovering something wonderful.

      Now, go home and decide on something bigger. It’s sure to turn into something wonderful, too. #MakeUpYourMindDay

      What Do You Think?

      Which activities from the December list did you try? How did it go? Share your stories and pictures in the comments below.

      I hope you enjoy your holidays and celebrations all month long this December.

       signature block jens virtual parties

       

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