But first!
Read Our Monthly Themes for Play:
for our full list of themes
and to learn why we loveeee monthly themes.
December’s themes:
Christmas
Activities + toys:
a felt Christmas Tree for KK
a tabletop Christmas tree (from our dating days!) with felt ornaments
these three things from Target’s holiday section - KK’s favorite!
See a quick tour of our playroom (and how we store our toys) in this reel.
Here’s how we store monthly activity items the rest of the year.
When KK’s older, I’d love to try:
this candy construction activity kit (has serious Gingerbread House vibes)
Books:
Here's the three ways we store our toddler’s books.
We have a little bookshelf in our den, where we do a monthly book rotation. See a quick reel here!
And a gentle reminder that we love to ask for books for holiday/birthday gifts. Here’s the five gifts we love to ask from loved ones.
jingle, jingle, little reindeer: a finger puppet book
dear santa: a lift the flap book
santa’s big day: a finger puppet book
And we love these PaperPie books. Any time you purchase through my PaperPie links, I earn free books for our home library - KK and I send you the biggest hug of gratitude!
twinkly, twinkly Christmas tree (book actually twinkles!)
Tradition idea! Brett reads this book on Christmas Eve and write a one-line summary of what we did this Christmas season, thanks to the brilliance of this family's tradition. (PS there are lots of versions of this book out there - I just love that ours is a huuuuge, sturdy board book!)
Magnetic activity for our big ol magnetic chalkboard near the kitchen:
I’ll hang the Christmas Cards we receive
if time/energy, I’d love to grab any of the Christmas magnet craft kits you see in craft stores and/or Oriental Trading! I’ll definitely be grabbing some on clearance to save for next year.
if time/energy, I’d love to print, laminate, and add magnets to this nutcracker matching game
Art supplies + activities:
Here’s how we store our art supplies + activity books in our home.
And I’ll definitely be grabbing Christmas craft kits and art projects on clearance and tucking them away for next year!
We also love to work on these as apart of our beloved Evening Quiet Family Time ritual.
We only offer our Christmas-themed art supplies during December, our Christmas-themed month - so we reuse these things year after year. Here’s how we store monthly art items the rest of the year.
A gentle reminder that we love to ask for these things for holiday/birthday gifts. Here’s the five gifts we love to ask from loved ones.
Play dough favorites:
I love this Christmas Play Dough Invitation to Play.
so let’s set out:
play dough
Christmas cookie cutters
Christmas buttons/jewels
Christmas wood trinkets
But also? I love the holiday playdough kits from my favorite small shop.
PS:
Here’s how we store our art supplies and our play dough tools.
Here’s how we store these monthly play dough items the rest of the year.
Here's a post on our favorite play dough, our favorite tools, and when we use play dough.
When kk’s older, I’d love to try:
Sensory bins:
KK loves her two sensory tables! For this month’s sensory bin, I added:
I loved this jingle bell idea, so let’s do a bin with these things:
white beans
red bells + green bells (1 inch size)
scoops
See a quick tour of our playroom with KK’s two sensory tables in this reel.
Here’s how we store these monthly sensory bin items the rest of the year.
We have a separate, simple rice bin - like this Busy Toddler post! - that KK LOVES.
this month let’s do this Christmas Rice bin with Dollar Store Christmas trinkets!
Here’s how we store these monthly rice bin items the rest of the year.
Play Kitchen:
Here’s a quick reel on the 13 things we keep in our play kitchen. And then each month we rotate 2-3 “new” food or cooking toys. This rotation works really well for us!
So in December we’ll set out:
we also have these felt play cookies and these felt gingerbread men
eventually I’d also love to find a play fondue set, a play cinnamon roll set, or a play charcuterie board set, all as a nod to Our Christmas Traditions and Our New Year Traditions. Food traditions make the best play food inspiration!
Also:
Here’s how we store these monthly kitchen toy items the rest of the year.
See a quick tour of our playroom with our play kitchen in this reel.
Here’s a blogpost on our DIY-ish Play Kitchen with a Phone and Mailbox.
Resources + Other Ideas:
Our Christmas Gifts for 2022 (And Our Christmas Gift Formulas)
Our Christmas Traditions + Systems!!!
and a few things that make the holidays much easier (and more joyful!) for me
Whew!
Want to see photos? Follow me on Instagram - I’m always sharing peeks into our home and our daily life on my stories. I’m always tweaking our home and our routines and our systems to best meet our current needs in our current season, so my Instagram has the most up-to-date photos.
Loved this post? I highly recommend the “play area” highlight on my Instagram!
Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full year of play themes.
I created these monthly play themes as part of my baby prep for Baby #2. See the full list of other things I’m SO happy I did to make Joey’s arrival easier here!
And see my Amazon storefront for more of our favorite things.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.