Create a fun filled reindeer day! Use the 3 activities listed separately or all together.
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UPDATED: 12/22/2022
There is something so magical about reindeer. Maybe it’s the thought of them flying through the air pulling Santa’s sleigh. Or Rudolf’s red nose. Whatever it is, my kids can’t get enough of them. So I decided to put together a couple of fun activities and create a “Reindeer Day” for them.
At the time of this post, my kids were still fairly young (21 months and almost 4), so I had to keep it simple. We spent a total of about 3 hours doing these activities over the course of the day, however, if you didn’t want to do reindeer activities all day, you could choose any one of these, or split it up across a few days.
Hand Print Reindeer
My kids loved this activity! They are super hands on and don’t mind getting a little messy, so paint is right down their alley. They thought it was so fun to create a reindeer using their hand prints and some paint.
Step 1: Gather your supplies
We pulled out some blue construction paper, acrylic paint (white, red, brown and black), googly eyes, red or black pompom balls, bells and glue. You will also need a foam brush, paper plate and paper towels or baby wipes.
Step 2: Paint
Squirt some brown paint on your paper plate, grab your foam brush and paint the palm of your child’s hand (just one hand!). If they are old enough, you could let them do this part themselves. I had to make sure and use a little more paint on my kids’ hands since acrylic starts drying quickly. They thought this part was so funny and kept squishing their hands to feel the paint.
Step 3: Paint on paper
Have your child press their hand onto the paper and push on the fingers to make sure the paint touches the paper before lifting it off.
Step 4: Repeat
Turn the paper 180 degrees so the hand print you just did is upside down. Repeat steps 2 and 3, making sure to leave just a little space between the prints for the collar.
Step 5: Dry
Let it dry for 5-10 minutes, depending on how much paint there is.
Step 6: Reindeer Collar
Squirt a little bit of red paint on to the plate and using the pointer finger, dab a little on the end and put it in between the two prints to create a collar. Let dry.
Step 7: Glue
Glue the eye on the head, the bell on the collar and the pompom on the nose (or use black paint/black pompom if you don’t want a Rudolf reindeer).
Step 8: Snowflakes
Squirt some white paint on the plate and use the pointer finger to dip it in and make “snowflakes” all around the reindeer. Let dry.
Recommended Supplies for Hand Print Reindeer Activity
Reindeer Dust
I remember the first year my family did reindeer dust. It was freezing cold outside, but we ran out there with a handful of dust, threw it in the air and ran back inside. Sure enough, the next morning we’d been visited by Santa himself. *wink*
Reindeer dust is a fun family tradition, so remember to share the love with your friends and neighbors! We gave some out with our cookies that we took around the neighborhood. What kid isn’t going to be excited about a little reindeer dust to help Santa find their house on Christmas Eve?
I’ve got an entire post all about how to make reindeer dust, as well as a free printable reindeer dust poem.
CLICK HERE: Reindeer Dust Activity and Printable Poem
Reindeer Movie
We watched one we found on Netflix called Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure (2012) about a reindeer who goes on a journey to save his soon-to-be little brother reindeer. It was cute and my kids liked it too. (I’m not sure if it’s still available on Netflix but it can be watched on Amazon Prime Video.)
Here are a few other reindeer movie options:
- Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)–classic version
- Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1998)–animated
- Prancer (1989)–live action
- The Flight Before Christmas (2008)–animated, prequel to Little Brother, Big Trouble
- Little Brother, Big Trouble (2012)–animated, available on Amazon Prime (listed above)
My kids really enjoyed having a reindeer day! I enjoyed that the activities didn’t cost much, since I already had everything on hand. We will definitely be doing this again next year and maybe even adding a couple of new activities. I hope your kids/grandkids enjoy this as much as mine did.
