Merry Monster Mayhem! FREE Christmas Countdown fun!

The Yellow Monsters have escaped from Busy Things and they’re ready to cause all sorts of mischief in the run up to Christmas 2023!! They’ve got your countdown to Christmas activities sorted; setting you Merry Monster Missions throughout December and giving you access to FREE festive games and FREE printable Christmas activities!!

Let the Merry Monster Mayhem commence!

It is officially time to start the Christmas countdown!! To celebrate, all of our lovely kids Christmas games and activities are now live!

We know the festive period is a very hectic time of year for families so our monsters have your Christmas countdown activities ready-made! They have set a Merry Monster Mission for each day of the December countdown, it’s all hassle-free and completely free to play…

Free Countdown to Christmas Activities

Here’s your Christmas countdown at a glance. Click on the day to shoot straight to those activities – for most days there are at least two! Or keep scrolling for details of all our fun, free Christmas countdown activities for children.

1. Free advent calendars
2. Play free Christmas maths games
3. Decorate Christmas trees; free festive printable and online Christmas game
4. Free penguin activities
5. Free Christmas colouring sheets and Christmas colouring game
6. Pop-up Christmas card template and design a free Christmas card
7. Free winter printable: design a winter jumper and online game
8. Christmas competition!
9. Free Christmas reading challenge and free Christmas learning game!
10. Play Snowball shootout on Busy Things and free printable snowball game
11. Free snowman activities
12. Crack the elf code! Free Christmas puzzle.
13. Free letter to Santa templates
14. Jolly Jingles! Free Christmas song challenges
15. Play free Christmas jigsaws
16. Free Christmas maths printable and fun maths game
17. Christmas drawing challenge
18. Free Christmas mazes
19. A Christmas shape game to play free today!
20. Christmas traditions activity sheets
21. Free snowflake activities
22. Try a Christmas early coding challenge today
23. Free Christmas wordsearch
24. Christmas shape puzzle free printable and play a free educational game

Advent Activity Day 1: 1st December, 24 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission: Begin your Christmas countdown!

To help with today’s mission we have a FREE advent calendar and FREE Xmas activity pack which includes a printable advent tree, ready for you to decorate…

Open the first door of your jigsaw advent calendar, it’s completely FREE to play! We hope this will bring you and your children some jigsaw joy in the lead-up to Christmas day. The jigsaws start nice and easy but by Christmas Eve you will need a little extra brain power and a tad more patience! 

AND fill your advent Christmas tree with colourful baubles as you countdown to the big day. This is just one of many activities included in our FREE Christmas activity pack!

Advent Activity Day 2: 2nd December, 23 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission: Play Candy Cane Races!

Today the Monster’s want you to have fun with some free Christmas maths games!

Be the first to grab the candy cane treasure in our FREE to download Candy Cane Races game…

AND we’ll make Miner Birds: Christmas edition FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things for this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas Countdown: Play Candy Cane Races blog!

Advent Activity Day 3: 3rd December, 22 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission: Decorate a Christmas tree!

The monsters think it’s time to get those Christmas trees up! Today we’ve got everything you need to make beautiful FREE paper and digital Xmas trees…

Craft a Christmas tree or a mini forest of them! Just one of many activities in our FREE Christmas activity pack:

AND this week you can play our Christmas trees activity FREE! There are no baubles to break in Busy Things! Children can decorate, dismantle and re-arrange our digital trees to their hearts’ content.

Advent Activity Day 4: 4th December, 21 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission: Become a penguin expert!

As 4th December is World Wildlife Conservation Day, the monsters wanted to set you an animal mission. They want you to learn all about penguins!

Our FREE penguin pack is full of interesting facts about penguins, penguin jokes, penguin activity ideas and some lovely penguin colouring sheets!

AND some of the polar activities will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas countdown: It’s penguin day! blog.

Advent Activity Day 5: 5th December, 20 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission: Christmas colouring!

The Monsters love a spot of calming Christmas colouring, it’s a great break from the pre-Christmas chaos! You’ll find some FREE Christmas colouring fun on Busy Things this week…

In our Christmas colouring game each colour makes a different Christmassy sound!

AND our Christmas colouring sheets will be FREE to download too!

Advent Activity Day 6: 6th December, 19 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission: Make a Christmas card!

Today the Monsters want you to spread some festive cheer and wish your friends and family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We have some lovely FREE Christmas card templates for you to use…

Children can make this special pop-up Christmas card to surprise people with their favourite festive Busy Things character!

AND our ‘Make a Christmas card’ activity will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas countdown: Make a Christmas card! blog.

Advent Activity Day 7: 7th December, 18 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Design a Christmas jumper!

Happy Christmas jumper day!! The monsters want you to get creative and design your own Xmas jumper today, we’ve got everything you need to channel your inner fashion designer…

Colour stitches to design super snazzy knitwear!! Just one of many activities in our FREE winter activity pack:

AND this week you can play our ‘Fashion fun‘ activity FREE on Busy Things! Children can become creative fashion designers with our easy-to-use tools.

Advent Activity Day 8: 8th December, 17 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Guess what Monster has wrapped?

The Monsters will have a competition for you on this day! They have been doing some wrapping. Can you guess what they have wrapped? You could win a 1 year family Busy Things subscription, a cuddly Yellow Monster plush and some lovely Busy Things goodies!

All you have to do is tell us what Monster has been wrapping! Head to our social channels now to enter on Facebook or Instagram.

To enter:

1. Make sure you are following us
2. Like the competition post
3. Tell us in the comments what it is you think Monster has wrapped

We’ll be picking winners at random next week – one from Facebook and one from Instagram. You can enter on them all! Good luck!!

Terms and conditions at bottom of the page.

Advent Activity Day 9: 9th December, 16 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission: Play Santa’s Sleigh Dash

Today the Monsters want you to help Santa deliver presents! To do this we have a reading challenge for you AND you can play all the Santa’s Sleigh Dash games FREE on Busy Things…

Make sure Santa is delivering the right present down the correct chimney in this FREE Christmas reading challenge:

AND ALL our Santa’s Sleigh Dash Christmas games (maths, shape and colour, words and just for fun) will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas countdown: Play Santa’s Sleigh Dash! blog.

Advent Activity Day 10: 10th December, 15 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Play Snowball shootout!

Today the Monster’s want you to shoot some snowballs!! Create your own snowballs and targets, who will be crowned snow King or Queen in your house? Full details of how to play and free scoreboard download in our blog: Christmas Countdown: Snowball Shootout!

AND our fun Christmas game Snowball shootout will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas Countdown: Play Snowball shootout! blog

Advent Activity Day 11: 11th December, 14 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Make a snowman!

Even if it’s not snowing where you are, we have the perfect tools for making a whole snow family! Start by creating a mix and match snowman in our FREE winter activity pack…

AND then play our ‘make a snowman’ activity FREE on Busy Things this week!

Advent Activity Day 12: 12th December, 13 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission: Crack the elf code!

The monsters have some real Christmas crackers for you to solve today! Crack the elf code to reveal the answers to some festive brain teasers AND they’ve left you clues in Busy Things – solve them all and you could WIN some goodies!

The monster elves have chosen their favourite Christmas cracker jokes – use the elf code to find the punchlines! FREE to download Christmas Countdown: Crack the elf code! blog

AND the cheeky Busy Things elves will be busy hiding our Christmas baubles again! Will you help us to find them so that we can decorate our tree? Find them all and you could WIN some goodies! Find out all the details in our Christmas Countdown: Crack the elf code! blog

Advent Activity Day 13: 13th December, 12 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Write your letter to Santa

If you haven’t done it yet, today is the day to write down your Christmas wishes for Santa. To make it easy, we have a lovely FREE printable template for you or you could practise your computer skills and create one FREE on Busy Things!

Let Santa know some of the nice things you’ve done this year and ask for your Christmas wishes. This is just one of many activities included in our FREE Christmas activity pack!

AND you can use our ‘Letter to Santa‘ activity FREE on Busy Things this week…

Advent Activity Day 14: 14th December, 11 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Sing some jolly jingles!

The monsters want you to tune up those singing voices today! Test out your Christmas carol knowledge in our Jolly Jingles activity FREE to download AND Jolly Jingles is FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things!

Can you complete the Christmas song lyrics? Cut and stick or practise writing yourself in this FREE Christmas challenge...

AND our Jolly Jingles game will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas Countdown: Sing Jolly Jingles! blog

Advent Activity Day 15: 15th December, 10 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Do a festive jigsaw!

You’re spoilt for choice today! Catch up with our FREE jigsaw advent calendar, enjoy a FREE festive jigsaw printable activity or have a go at the famous skylines of New York and London, FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things at the moment!…

We’re on to Door 15 on the Busy Things jigsaw advent calendar and they’re starting to get tricky! It’s completely FREE to play! Are you enjoying playing? Let us know in the comments!

AND have a go at cutting out some festive puzzles. This is just one of many activities included in our FREE Christmas activity pack!

AND in honour of all the lovely festive films, we’ll make our New York and London jigsaws FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Along with ‘Picture Perfect’ so that the little ones don’t miss out on the jigsaw fun! Go to busythings.co.uk/play and hit ‘Try a free game’ to play!

Advent Activity Day 16: 16th December, 9 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Play Cracker Stackers!

We’ve got a cracking FREE download for you today as the monster elves are getting ready for a big Christmas cracker-athon! AND Rocker Shocker is FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things week too…

Can you help split the monsters into equal groups ready for pulling their Christmas crackers? Crack on!

AND we’ve made Rocker Shocker (the game this printable idea came from) FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas Countdown: Play Cracker Stackers! blog

Advent Activity Day 17: 17th December, 8 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Draw something fun and festive!

Today the Monsters want you to have a go at drawing Busy Things characters in a winter or Christmas scene – use our FREE tutorials AND we’ll make our NEW Christmas drawing game FREE TO PLAY this week too!

Watch the how to draw tutorials of some of our favourite characters. Can you draw them in a winter or Christmas scene? We’d love to see your efforts! Please do add them to the comments or tag us on social.

AND our NEW for 2023 Copy the Christmassy picture game will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too!

Advent Activity Day 18: 18th December, 7 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Go on a turkey hunt!

Monsters have started thinking about Christmas dinner! Help them to find a turkey in our FREE Christmas printable AND Hen Hunt is FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too…

Can you help Chicken Santa collect the Christmas turkey? Make sure to avoid the Scrooge monsters! Go turkey hunting!

AND Hen Hunt (the game this printable idea came from) will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas Countdown: Go on a turkey hunt! blog.

Advent Activity Day 19: 19th December, 6 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Go on a Christmas present search!

Today the monsters want to know what you think of our brand NEW Christmas game ‘Where’s my present?‘, it’s FREE TO PLAY this week!…

Children must carefully search the scene of Christmas presents to find the matching gift! There are different difficulty levels in the activity settings.

Advent Activity Day 20: 20th December, 5 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Find out about Christmas traditions

Have you ever thought about why we do certain things at Christmas? Today the monsters want you to find out about Christmas traditions! We’ve got a FREE Christmas printable to help you AND our wrapping game will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too…

In today’s FREE Christmas Countdown download, we’ve given you some prompts to think about your family traditions and how people celebrate Christmas around the world. Start your Christmas research!

AND ‘Christmas presents’ will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! A
lovely festive activity, children can choose a gift and get creative with the wrapping! Find out all the details in our Christmas Countdown: Christmas traditions! blog

Advent Activity Day 21: 21st December, 4 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Make a snowflake flurry!

Today the monsters want to ensure it’s a white Christmas with DIY snowflakes! We’ve got FREE snowflake templates to cut out and you can make endless beautiful snowflake designs for FREE on Busy Things!

Use our templates to make beautiful symmetrical snowflakes! This is just one of many activities included in our FREE Winter activity pack!

AND our snowflake activity will be FREE TO PLAY this week on Busy Things!

Advent Activity Day 22: 22nd December, 3 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Test your sleigh skills!

Today the monsters want to test out your direction and reasoning skills – just in case Santa needs your help on the big night! Take a sleigh test in our FREE Christmas printable AND Path Peril is FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too…

Can you pass our two sleigh skill tests? Let’s find out!

AND we’ll make Path Peril (the game this free Christmas printable idea came from) FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas countdown: Test your sleigh skills! blog.

Advent Activity Day 23: 23rd December, 2 Sleeps to go…

Today’s Monster Mission is: Do a Christmas wordsearch!

The monsters want to help you expand your Christmas vocabulary today! Find the festive words in our FREE Christmas wordsearch. The monsters want to challenge you to create your own Christmas wordsearch on Busy Things too…

See if you can spot the Christmas words in our Christmas Countdown: FREE Christmas wordsearch

AND it’s very easy to make your own wordsearch! Find out all the details in our Christmas Countdown: FREE Christmas wordsearch blog.

Advent Activity Day 24: 24th December, 1 Sleep to go!!!…

Your LAST Monster Mission is: Play Santa Crossing

For your last #MerryMonsterMayhem mission, the monsters want to ensure Santa has a clear path to deliver all those presents! Help the monsters fill in the road holes in our FREE Christmas printable AND Road Blocks is FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too…

It looks like the chickens have been digging up the road in search of candy canes again! (Have you played Candy cane races from day 2 yet?) Help the monsters fill in the holes so Santa can complete his important journey! Claim your FREE Christmas activity in our Christmas countdown: Play Santa Crossing blog.

AND Road Blocks (the game this printable idea came from) will be FREE TO PLAY on Busy Things this week too! Find out all the details in our Christmas countdown: Play Santa Crossing blog.

Not a Busy Things subscriber? You can trial all our fun learning games free! Busy Thing is trusted by thousands of schools and families to make learning fun! Take a free trial to access all of our Christmas games and activities plus 100s more spanning the whole primary curriculum! Take your free Busy Things trial

We hope you enjoy counting down to Christmas with Merry Monster Mayhem! Which Monster Mission has been your favourite? We’d love to know if you are joining in and to see any photos – please do let us know in the comments and tag us on social!