Need an easy Christmas activity? Use sticky notes to make a Christmas matching game that’s perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. This easy indoor activity will keep your kids busy all Christmas season.
What is a Christmas matching game?
I love Christmas activities. I love sticky note activities. Put it together: this Christmas matching game is the best.
Full credit for this awesome idea goes to Toddler Approved and her Christmas Hunt activity. Check out how she set up her original version of this.
I’m all about sticky matching activities – we’ve done them with letters, numbers, shapes, and names.
This was our first time doing one Holiday-themed and it was absolute perfection. I can’t recommend this enough.
Sticky matching activities are so easy to personalize for kids or set up at exactly their level – from young toddlers to elementary age students. This activity just works.
RELATED: Looking for more Christmas activities for kids? Check out my list!
Supplies
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- Sticky notes (tip: get the name brand sticky notes… the ones Romy and Michelle “invented”)
- Black marker – I couldn’t live without this size
- White butcher paper
- Painter’s tape – It’s wall safe tape
Not a ton of supplies for this activity and that’s the way I like it. Christmas activities for kids do not need to be fancy to be fantastic.
RELATED: I love holiday themed activities! Check out these Christmas games for kids to play.
The set-up
On the white butcher paper, draw 8 Christmas, Holiday, or Winter-themed symbols.
Grab your sticky notes and draw the same symbols there. I use two-different colors (because I was running out) and repeated the symbols four times each for a total of 32 sticky notes to hide and find.
Spoiler alert…I was not an art major which is fine for this activity. You do not need to be an professional artist for this Christmas activity. Kids do not judge or care (and thank goodness).
RELATED: Are you planning on making Christmas ornaments with your kids? Find an easy and doable one on my list.
How to play the Christmas matching game
Take the sticky notes and hide them around the house. My 3-year-old needed to find the sticky notes and match them to the drawings.
I started this activity by having my 4-year-old hide them for my 3-year-old. Why not out-source part of this set-up? She had a ball hiding the sticky notes.
Over the next few days, all my kids (including my kindergartner) hid these sticky notes, looked for them, and had a magical little time.
My 11-year-old neighbor got involved too and announced it was one of the most fun activities we’d ever done.
I’ll take that review!
RELATED: Are you doing any Christmas crafts with your kids? I have a great list of doable and simple ones.
Tip – Leave this out all season
My kids kept setting this up for each other and I was left to drink all the hot coffee and unload all the dishwashers I needed to. This was one Christmas activity worth its weight in gold.
Don’t be in a rush to pull this activity down. Leave it out as an option for the kids to bounce back and forth to over the week.
Finally, after about 5 days, our sticky notes had lost their stick. I sometimes wonder how long this would have lasted if the sticky notes petered out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Two things: remember think stages not ages. What stage is your child in? Can they see the difference between shapes? Carry a sticky note? Push it onto the paper?
Additionally, it’s more important to consider a child’s interests rather than their age. Activities are like food. Every child has different tastes and different foods they like. Age doesn’t play a role in what foods kids like, and it doesn’t often play a role in activity-enjoyment either.
Check the packaging always. I’m just some lady on the Internet. But generally speaking, painter’s tape is created to be on wall so it should be just fine.
You should remember that these are children and they think whatever we draw is magnificent. Children are not art critics (thank goodness) and they have no idea you didn’t go to college for art course. Just draw the symbols as best you can. The kids will love it.
Susie Allison, M. Ed
Owner, Creator
Susie Allison is the creator of Busy Toddler and has more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram. A former teacher and early childhood education advocate, Susie’s parenting book “Busy Toddler’s Guide to Actual Parenting” is available on Amazon.
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Lauren says
Thank you for this super fun, super easy activity. It has provided so much fun and busy-ness in ways I didn’t even expect. Much appreciated!