Christmas Activity Mats (Free Printable Placemats for Kids)

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These Christmas activity mats give kids a little of everything: pictures to color, puzzles to solve, and space to draw their own holiday details. Print a mat for the kids’ Christmas table, set out some pencils, and let everyone choose where to begin.

Looking for more ideas for your holiday activity table? Browse our free Christmas printables or choose a group game from our printable Christmas games.

What You’ll Get

• A four-page PDF: two different activity mats and two answer-key pages.
• Black-and-white activity pages: color the Christmas pictures however you like. The answer keys use red markings.
• Landscape A4 pages: use the printing tips below to fit them onto US Letter paper.
• Free with email signup: use the form below to have the printable sent to your inbox.

Why You’ll Love These Christmas Placemats

There’s no cutting, folding, or assembly to prepare. Each mat combines several activities on one page, so kids can switch between coloring, drawing, and puzzles. The open-ended tree and snowman spaces also let children make their mats look different from everyone else’s.

Materials

• The Christmas activity mats PDF, available through the signup form below.
• White printer paper and a printer.
• A pencil and eraser for the puzzles, plus crayons or colored pencils for decorating.
• Optional: a reusable dry-erase sleeve and a suitable dry-erase marker for repeat play.

What’s on Each Activity Mat?

Page 1: Christmas tree and Santa activity mat. Design and decorate a large Christmas tree, solve a 15-word Christmas word scramble, follow the maze from Santa to the fireplace, and fill in the missing sections of an ornament picture. Four tic-tac-toe grids and festive illustrations give kids more to play and color.

Page 2: Snowman and gingerbread house activity mat. Find 10 Christmas words in the word search, add a face and accessories to a blank snowman, connect the numbered dots on a smaller snowman, and color the gingerbread house. This mat also has four tic-tac-toe grids.

Pages 3–4: Answer keys. These show the word scramble answers, maze route, completed ornament, word-search locations, and connected snowman dots. The tree and snowman decorating areas are left open for each child’s own ideas.

How to Use the Activity Mats

1. Print the activity pages. Select pages 1–2 for the children. Keep pages 3–4 on a screen or print a separate adult copy so the answers don’t end up on the back of a child’s mat.

2. Set out a pencil and coloring supplies. Let each child choose a design. They can start with a picture, puzzle, or drawing area rather than following a fixed order.

3. Try the puzzles together. Some scrambled words, such as “mistletoe” and “gingerbread,” may need a hint. Offer the first letter or a small selection of answers from the key if a child gets stuck. In the word search, look across, down, diagonally, and backward.

4. Add the finishing touches. Draw ornaments on the tree, give the snowman a hat and scarf, and invite a partner to play tic-tac-toe. Compare puzzle answers with the keys when everyone is ready.

Ideas for Home and the Classroom

At the Christmas table: put a mat at each child’s seat for the wait before food arrives. Move it away from plates and drinks while eating, then bring it back for another round of coloring.

For a classroom party or early finishers: offer both designs with a shared basket of pencils. Keep an answer key at your desk and let children work independently or with a partner.

For mixed ages: younger children can color, decorate the tree or snowman, and connect the dots with help. Children who are comfortable reading can tackle the word puzzles. There’s no need for every child to finish every section.

If the little snowman dot-to-dot is a favorite, try our Christmas dot-to-dot pages. Our Christmas I Spy printable is another option for a find-and-count activity.

Printing Tips: A4 and US Letter

The PDF is designed for A4 paper in landscape orientation, about 11.7 × 8.3 inches. You can also use US Letter paper, 11 × 8.5 inches in landscape: select Letter as your paper size and choose “Fit” or “Fit to printable area” to scale the wider A4 design down.

The artwork runs close to the page edges, so check the print preview on either paper size. Make sure the outer pictures and the bottom answer lines are visible. Print one test sheet before making a class set. Avoid “Fill” or borderless enlargement settings that crop the design.

Print one mat per sheet so the puzzle letters and writing spaces stay readable. Pages 1–2 only need black ink. The answer keys are easiest to distinguish in color, or you can keep them open on a screen. These activities don’t require an exact finished size, so fitting the page is fine.

For repeat puzzle practice, slide a printed mat into a dry-erase sleeve. Use a fresh paper copy when kids want to keep their coloring.

For another quiet holiday activity, our Christmas pixel art printables let children reveal pictures by following a color key.

Grab the Free Christmas Activity Mats

Get both Christmas activity placemats and the two answer-key pages in one PDF.

Put your name and email in the pink box below, and we’ll send the free printable straight to your inbox.