More than anything, Christmas is a chance for quality time with your loved ones. But now that traveling is off the table for the meantime, it’s time to go all in with your at-home family activities. 

When it comes to kids, engaging hands-on projects are what will keep their buzzing brains focused. To kickstart your planning, here are a few ideas you can try to create new holiday memories with your family.

Bake holiday pastries

When there’s a celebration, there will probably be pastries. Instead of heading out for store-bought cookies, why not buy an oven online and make your own with the kids? The best part—right after eating them, of course—is decorating the pastries. Sky’s the limit with what cookie shapes or icing drawings you and your kids can make.

Craft Christmas ornaments

Make your Christmas decor more homey by creating the ornaments yourselves. There are easy materials to work with like paper or string, but if you want to take it to the next level, try polymer clay. You and your kids can shape it like regular classroom clay, but to harden it, the adults can bake the creations in their trusty kitchen oven. Voila, you now have sentimental Christmas ornaments that can last for years to come.

Stage a play in your living room

Watching a Christmas movie is all fine and good, but wouldn’t it also be fun to act out the stories yourselves? You and your kids can work on a little living room production: It could be a reenactment of Christmas classics like The Gift of the Magi, or it could be something totally original. Once the kids are ready to put on a show, fire up your cooker to make some snacks, then sit back and let the curtains rise.

Gather up toys for a donation box

This is a great opportunity to teach your kids the spirit of generosity, not to mention an opportunity to also clean up their cluttered toy box. Gather the kids and let them pick out which toys they want to share with a child, then let them know how important it is to be kind to others. It’s both a bonding activity and an important life lesson for the children.

Part of creating healthy habits for life is maintaining a loving connection with your children. With these holiday activities, you’re sure to make the season special for you and your family. Who knows? You might just be building new traditions together.