20+ Christmas Sensory Activities (2024)

Add these Christmas sensory activities to your Christmas activities for preschoolers and kindergarten kids. They’ll be fun, engaging additions to your holiday lesson plans!

Christmas sensory experiences help children connect with the world around them. They use various senses to categorize and explore as they play and learn. What looks like “just” having fun is a really complicated learning opportunity for young kids.

All of the Christmas sensory ideas below are hands-on. And super engaging! They take aspects of the holiday season to inspire playful learning, keeping the children focused for quite some time.

I don’t know about your students, but mine have almost always adored sensory play. So it made sense to gather a collection of Christmas-themed sensory ideas to share with other teachers and parents.

Since this is a collection, you’ll find individual links that lead to the more detailed posts about each idea. Peruse all of this ideas on this list, choose a few that intrigue you, and then click through for all the specific information.

Table of Contents

What Do Children Learn with Christmas Sensory Play?

As I mentioned above, children really get into sensory activities. The fact that they enjoy the Christmas sensory activities is enough reason to incorporate them into your plans, right?

But we all know that young children learn so much through playing. And sensory exploration is no different! Here are some of the things kids learn with sensory play:

Sensory exploration
Descriptive vocabulary
Colors
Visual discrimination
Auditory discrimination
Cause and effect
Counting
Patterns
Letter identification

You can really touch on almost any subject area using sensory play, too! So this list is most definitely not an exhaustive one.

Materials for Christmas-Themed Sensory Ideas

Before you get started, take stock of the items you have in your teacher stash. Then make a list of anything missing that you can use with the Christmas sensory activities you prefer. Here are some materials you might want (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post):

Of course, that’s not every single item you’ll need. But it’s a good start!

Christmas Sensory Activities

Now let’s take a look at all the Christmas-themed sensory fun! I’ve separated the ideas into bins and bottles so you can find what you’re looking for a little easier.

Christmas Sensory Bins

First up, here are 11 Christmas sensory activities you can put into a bin or a table.

Use sensory snow as the base of a reindeer sensory bin this winter.

Learn how to make fake snow with flour so you can create endless sensory bins.

Put together a three-dimensional Christmas tree sensory bin that lets the kids decorate over and over again.

Add scent to a candy cane sensory bin for even more engagement as the kids play.

Wow the children with colors and textures in this fun Christmas sensory play bin.

Challenge the kids to find the magnetic letter in a sensory bin.

Let the kids make a three-dimensional contact paper Christmas tree as part of their holiday sensory bin.

As part of some evergreen tree activities for preschoolers, put branches in your sensory table, along with a variety of tools.

Integrate a variety of senses with a poinsettia Christmas sensory bin.

Use a base of white beans to make the colors pop in a simple Christmas sensory bin.

Make a colorful pasta Christmas sensory tub that has some bells for added engagement.

Christmas Sensory Bottles

Now let’s take take a look at Christmas sensory activities that you can make with bottles and jars. These are great for kids of all ages, even babies and toddlers (as long as the tops are on securely).

Use pom poms and other sparkly materials to make a simple Christmas sensory bottle.

Turn an empty jar into a Christmas tree sensory bottle. I love the star at the top!

Add a beard and a jolly hat to make a Santa sensory bottle for the kids.

And of course no collection of Christmas sensory activities could be without a jingle bell sensory bottle!

Work on visual discrimination skills with an I-Spy Christmas sensory bottle.

Make magnetic sensory bottles with Christmas-themed colors and additions.

Turn the sensory fun into a bit of a science experiment with an oil and water beads Christmas sensory bottle.

Create a kind of snow globe with this Christmas tree discovery bottle.

Craft a Grinch sensory bottle after reading about a favorite mischievous book character.

Put together a Christmas tree in a bottle with real or fake tree pieces.

Which of the Christmas sensory activities are you and the kids going to try first? Be sure to save this post for future reference. If you have a Christmas Pinterest board, that’s a great place to start!

More Holiday Sensory Activities

Here are a few more sensory ideas to try this Christmas that aren’t quite sensory bins or sensory bottles:

Header: something about done-for-you resources

Let Preschool Teacher 101 make your life so much easier this holiday season! We have hundreds of lesson plans, digital games, dramatic play packs, classroom management guides, and more.

Our goal is to help lessen your plan timing so you can focus on connecting and teaching your students. We have a membership, called The Pack, for preschool and kindergarten teachers. Members have access to our materials at a steep discount.

Click on the image below for our Christmas 5 Senses Interactive Book project:

I think the bookmaking project would pair very well with all of the Christmas sensory activities!

You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers.