This year many more people will be spending the last day of the year at home, and if you have kids these activities make it that much more memorable.

This will be our 3rd year of a New Year's Eve Countdown.  Check out this blog post for activities we did the first year (age 4 and 6).  Below, I will line out what we did last year at ages 5 and 7.  I will also include my plans for this year at the end!

I always like to mix in crafts, games, learning, and reflection!

And here's where you can buy a bundle of printable activities - time cards, activity labels, and activities!

The Basic Concept

Decide what time you'd like to start (the last two years we've started mid morning and I was exhausted by the end of the day).  There were just too many fun activities to do and I couldn't decide! I'm learning my lesson finally and going to start later in the afternoon this year.

Create countdown bags and label them with the time they should be opened.  Include any materials that will fit in the bag!  Then when that time comes, let the kids open the bag and do the activity inside.

Last Year's Plan

10:00 - My kids are really into making fortune tellers, and I found this free printable for a New Year's Eve themed fortune teller and here is a joke teller.

11:00 - We made the paper plate noise makers like we did last year.  Add dried beans or rice inside and decorate the outside.  See here.

12:00 - I got the book Snowflake Bentley to read to them, and then we'll create our own snowflakes using toothpicks and marshmallows.  They will learn that no two snowflakes are the same in this STEM activity.  

1:00 - Year in Review Photo Hunt like we did last year.  Hide a photo from each month for the kids to find and then have them lay them out in order to reminisce. This time each kid had their own color and pictures to find and it worked out beautifully.  It also turned out to be beautiful day so we hid them outside.

2:00 - We made our own Pom Pom Shooter with paper cups, a balloon, and pom poms.  It was a big hit!

3:00 - Black Eyed Pea Races - Use a party blower to move a black eyed across the table.  The first person to knock it off the end is the winner!

4:00 - We did an easy craft and made some fireworks out of cutting cute cupcake liners.

5:00 - Bingo time!  Use this free printable to play the classic Bingo game with a New Year's Eve theme.

6:00 - Glow Stick Hide and Seek - turn off the lights and each person gets a turn at hiding the glow sticks.  Then everyone else finds them!  This was also a favorite!

7:00 - Time to reflect!  We did a year in review and then a little goal setting for the new year.  A quick Google search will give you lots of free options, but here is what we are using this year.

8:00 - We are Lego fanatics around here, so I challenged them to create this Lego Ball Drop Tower.

8:40 - Prepare our festive drinks and snacks.  We'll also get our noisemakers and party poppers ready.

9:00 - Watch the ball drop on Netflix or the east coast feed.  Happy New Year!!

This Year's Plan

2:00 - Make party crowns with this printable.

3:00 - Crayon resist water color snowflakes

4:00 - Photo scavenger hunt (same as previous years above).

5:00 - Make noise makers out of paper plates (same as previous years above).

6:00 - Snowstorm in a jar - a little science activity! 

7:00 - Year in review worksheet with special Covid-19 pandemic section and goal setting for 2021 printable.

8:00 - Minute to Win it Style Game - put a cookie on your forehead and try to get it to your mouth without using your hands.

8:40 - Get festive drinks and snacks ready, along with noisemakers.

9:00 - Watch the ball drop online.

Wishing you a Happy New Year!!  If you'd like to get on my mailing list for more screen free activities  subscribe below.