10 Beautiful Christmas Montessori Work Ideas for Toddlers

The Christmas season can be a very busy and exciting time of the year, so what better way for your toddler to connect to their environment with some special Christmas Montessori work? We can incorporate simple Christmas elements into our Montessori environment to provide new, exciting activities for our child while staying true to Montessori principles. There are a lot of different smells, slights, and experiences we have this time of the year. Here are 10 great ideas for Montessori Christmas activities for your toddler to try this holiday season! 

Hanging Candy Canes

I found these plastic candy canes and thought they would be great for isolating the skill of hanging things on a Christmas tree or garland. You could set up a small basket with some candy canes by your Christmas tree or garland. Alternatively, you could use them on a separate mini Christmas tree, in a more isolated way, for hanging these candy canes on. This small activity could help a toddler be ready to help decorate the Christmas tree with other Christmas ornaments!

Stocking Stuffing

In-and-out activities are fun for toddlers. Offer a small object and a mini stocking for them to stuff the object into. For an older toddler, you could have a hook available on the wall for them to hang the stocking up on. For a temporary option, use a small Command Hook. 

Jingle Bell Scooping

Set up a tray with two dishes or containers, craft jingle bells, and some sort of scoop. A mini ladle could be a fun variation that would require your child to use a different wrist motion for transferring. I went with a tablespoon. This activity is a great way to develop fine motor skills with young children. Alternatively, you could use pom poms. 

Jingle Bell Pouring 

Make transfer work more exciting with jingle bells during the Christmas season! I like to use these stainless steel pitchers, but any small pitcher will do. Set up the work on a tray and fill one pitcher with jingle bells. Practical skills like pouring are so purposeful for toddlers Take the time to model how to do this activity to your child.

Pine Needle Sweeping

Using a lid from a shoe box, draw a Christmas tree outline. Get some pine needles from your Christmas tree or from outside! You could even have your toddler pull the pine needles off of the branch to put into the box. Using a larger paintbrush, show them how to sweep the pine needles into the outline. 

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Snow Paint Spray Bottles 

I live in Minnesota, so we often have lots of snow around Christmas time. Offer spray bottles with colored water for your toddler to spray paint the snow, this will be a great time for them! For older children, you could do snow painting with a cup and paintbrush. I thought the spray bottles would b e a little easier and wouldn’t get dumped out. Toddlers are still developing all their gross motor skills and moving in snow can be a challenge, especially while holding something. But spray bottles make for great grip strength opportunities!

Wrapping Paper Tearing

A fun way to get your toddler prepared for opening gifts on Christmas is to offer some practice! Tearing can be a practical skill and motion for our toddlers. Isolating this skill of tearing wrapping paper can help prepare them for those moments. Cut some wrapping paper into small squares and place it in a basket or tray. Offer another bin to place the torn pieces into. Set this whole activity up on a tray. 

Christmas Tree Peg Board Posting Activitiy

Using a lid from a shoe box, outline a Christmas tree. You could do this for a variety of Christmas things like a candy cane, gingerbread man, snowman, stocking, or snowflake. Use a screwdriver to poke holes into the image you made. Take Q-tips and cut them in half. Depending on what outline you chose, will determine what color, if any, you use for the Q-tip. Use a marker or dot paint markers, to color the tops of the Q-tips. These will be the Christmas lights on the tree. Posting activities are great for hand-eye coordination, building concentration, and fostering independent work. Place the Q-tips in a small dish and set the entire activity up on a tray. 

Christmas Smell Matching Bottles

There are so many new smells during the Christmas season. We can offer smelling bottles to our toddlers. For older toddlers, you could offer it as a matching activity, creating two bottles for each scent. Here are a few ideas of what smelling bottles you could make.

• Christmas Spirit
• Cinnamon
• Bergamont
• Frankincense
• Pine, fir or spruce
• Peppermint
• Vanilla
• Orange

I like to use old spice jars for this work. You can put drops of essential oils on a cotton ball. For spices we use in cooking or baking, you could wrap them into some cheesecloth or open up a cotton ball, sprinkle some within, and wrap the spice back up. We don’t want to offer loose ground spices near our child’s nose.

Jingle Bell Color Sorting

Use jingle bells of different colors for a simple sorting activity. Younger children love to sort objects as it supports them in their sensitive period for order. 

These are some different Christmas Montessori work ideas for you to try out and bring into your home to engage your toddler and support problem-solving skills. Save these Montessori-inspired activities for later by pinning this graphic! I’m looking forward to enjoying quality time with my twin toddlers this Advent and Christmas season trying these fun activities.  If you are looking for the perfect gift for your toddler, check out my Christmas gift list for my 2-year-old toddlers!