• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
    • Meet Tara
    • Contact
    • Disclosure
    • Family Photography
    • PR & Advertising
    • Privacy Policy
  • CRAFT
    • Edible Food Crafts
    • Fabric Crafts
    • Home Decor
    • Kids
    • Papercrafts
    • Party DIY
    • Printables
    • SVG Cut Files
    • Wearables
  • PARTY
    • Baby
    • Birthday
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Father’s Day
    • Halloween / Fall
    • Mother’s Day
    • Patriotic / Summer
    • School / Grad
    • Sports
    • St Patricks Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Wedding
  • Home
    • Basement / Garage
    • Bathroom
    • Bedroom
    • Entryway
    • Kitchen
    • Living Room
    • Office
    • Outdoors
  • LIFE
    • Blog Life
    • Favorite Products
    • Organization
    • Parenting
    • Travel
Spot of Tea Designs

Spot of Tea Designs

Elf Ideas for a 5 year Old with Free Printable

in Celebrations, Christmas, Crafts & DIY, Printables

It may seem that Christmas comes sooner and sooner every year, but nope it’s still on December 25th! If you’re planning to have the elf visit December 1st (or even the day after Thanksgiving) to watch and see if your kids are naughty or nice, download this free printable schedule with ideas for hiding places and activities! Each night you can reference this schedule for ideas to make your life during this Christmas Elf season less hectic!

DISCLOSURE: Some of the links in this post contain affiliate links, which come at no cost to you. Know that I only promote products I personally use and stand behind. To learn more about my affiliates, please review my disclosure policy.

As I’ve shared in years past, this printable schedule is easy to download and use as a guide for hiding places and activity ideas. While I do name this particular one for a 5 year old, there’s a mix of activities that are not age specific or easy to alter for a younger or older child. I’m also linking to some recent Elf posts that include other free printables to create the activity mentioned. Make sure to scroll all the way down to see the ones shared for ages 2 – 4 to get even more ideas for that good old Elf!

Elf ideas for a 5 year old - free printable schedule of ideas | spotofteadesigns.com
Spotofteadesigns.com Download this free pdf printable here button

HIDING PLACES:

  • Playing an instrument – chances are you have SOMETHING that makes a noise in your house. Have Elf staged like he’s striking up a tune!
  • Taped to the wall with painter’s tape – hang them upside down for even more giggles
  • In the fridge with green milk – A leprechaun can do this for St. Patrick’s Day so why not Elf this Christmas season?
  • Inside a candy machine – unscrew the top and stuff that sucker in! If you don’t have one, any glass vase or jar will do.
  • Tea for two – Set up the Elf with a fellow toy friends having some tea or playing in the toy kitchen.
  • In the mixing bowl – If you happen to have a stand up mixer on your counter, add the Elf in and see the giggles. (Make sure it isn’t a day you plan to bake cookies as remember, you can’t touch the Elf!)
  • Blowing up a balloon. Blow up a balloon and attach to the mouth of the elf like he’s blowing his own bubble.
  • Coloring. Here’s a great opportunity to gift a new coloring book (especially a holiday themed one) to your child!
  • Between the window panes. If you happen to have a window with a screen and pane and there’s room, squeeze your elf inside. Make sure it’s a day you don’t expect rain!
  • On the TV. Sitting up top maybe with a message letting your kids know of a holiday special or favorite Christmas movie on TV that night!
  • In the microwave. Just make sure it’s a day you know you won’t be using the microwave, because, if you’re true to the Elf rules, you can’t touch or move him/her!
  • Gifting new PJs. This is a tradition in our house so they have new PJs to wear Christmas morning for all those photo ops!

ACTIVITIES:

Many of the activities this year include a large paper roll so add it to your Amazon cart now for lots of interactive fun!

  • Making an obstacle course – Let the Elf put together a little obstacle course in your basement or living room. Maybe the elf made a fort with tunnels to crawl in, hula hoops to jump in, chairs to climb around or pillows to climb. And bonus: if it’s a hit, remember the activity for those long winter days when you see an indoor activity that gets them out of the house!
Ugly Sweater Printable Template - design your own! | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Ugly sweater craft – Download my ugly sweater template and decorate as you please! Crayons and color pencils? Nice! Glue and pom poms? Great! Set up a morning invitation to play with this free printable!
Elf on the Shelf ideas for a 5 year old with free printables | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Secret message printable – Here’s another easy one you can set up! Just download and print my free printable and leave it on the table with a red and green crayon. The printable works on number and letter recognition to reveal a secret message! My 5 year old loved this!
elf ideas for a 5 year old - finish the pattern using stickers | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Pattern making with stickers – Grab a pack of stickers with repeat icons (like in the teacher’s aisle or holiday craft aisle of the Dollar store or Target) and a sheet of paper to create a pattern activity. Have kids use the remaining stickers on the sheet to complete the pattern. Update: My 5 year old thought this was awesome and then wanted to make her own version after completing what the elf brought her!
  • Easter Egg Bath – No this isn’t a typo! Why save the Easter Egg hunt activity for just one time of the year? Fill Easter Eggs with bath stickers and have a fun bath experience opening the eggs, closing them, filling them with water and mixing and matching the pieces. See more tips for this activity plus a free printable tag to explain it on this post!
  • Water beads sensory bin – We just experienced our first water beads activity last winter and they were so fun! Try putting some inside a tied balloon and check out that new sensory experience when you squeeze it! Tip: Don’t make too many!! I did the first time and it took a full week to shrink them back down. Really you only need ¼ cup to make enough for 2 kids to play.
  • Marshmallow painting – The supplies for this activity are easy: red and green paint, a large paper roll and marshmallows! Encourage more painting than eating and see if they can use this unique medium to create a fun polka dot pattern as gift wrap for the holiday season!
  • Large letter craft – Have Mr or Mrs. Elf leave your little one a big initial on a paper roll and some craft materials to decorate it. They can spend the morning before breakfast coloring in their special initial and hanging it on the wall!
Elf on the Shelf ideas for a 5 year old with free printables | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Post it note alphabetizing or number sequence – This idea was inspired by Kate of Learn And Play With Us on instagram. Fill a wall or room with Post It notes of all 26 letters of the alphabet or numbers and direct the child to put the in order. If the child is learning more advice skills consider writing numbers in tens and have them put them in order up to 100. Update: My 5 and 3 year olds both loved this! I did upper case for the 3 year old and lowercase for the 5 year old, each on their own colored post its. It took about 15-20 minutes to complete and they asked me to set it up again 2 more times after that!
Christmas Paper Chain Countdown | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Paper plate paper chain countdown – You can do this ahead of time or have the kids put this countdown together themselves! Visit my post to download the free printable and learn how to make it.
  • Letter sort – My Elf Ideas for a 4 year old post included a puzzle sort which was a huge hit. This time go the alphabet route! Find a large bin and dump all your alphabet puzzles, magnets and toys. Draw the alphabet on a large paper roll and have them empty the bin and match up each letter to the sheet! Go one step further and write out lines of the alphabet and leave a few spots blank where they need to find the correct letter that completes the pattern.
Elf Idea | Free printable measurement activity sheet | spotofteadesigns.com

If you’re looking for more ideas, make sure to check out my elf ideas including schedules made for different ages which includes more creative hiding places, activities, and free printables, many that are not necessarily age specific:

If you complete any in this post please tag me on Instagram so I can see!

Favorite products for a 5 year old girl | spotofteadesigns.com

Have a 5 year old in the house? Check out our list of favorite products my 5 year old loved!

More FREE printables:

Christmas Color by Number Free Printable | spotofteadesigns.com
Elf word bubble printable - make your elf talk with a this free printable and some tape! | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit

Related

in Celebrations, Christmas, Crafts & DIY, Printables # Elf ideas

Spotofteadesigns.com Signature Design showing ways to socially follow this DIY/Parenting blogSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on twitter. Username: spotofteadesignSOTD2019SignatureFollow4FacebookSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on pinterest. Username: spotofteadesignSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on instagram. Username: spotofteadesignsSpotofteadesigns.com Signature

Reader Interactions

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Meet Tara

You can probably find me in my craft room, in front of a computer or behind the camera lens.
LEARN MORE

EMAIL NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

Sign up and be the first to know about new posts filled with printables, svg cut file designs and gift ideas!

Privacy Policy

HALLOWEEN

Spooktacular Teacher Halloween Thank You Tag and Gift Idea | Spotofteadesigns.com
Broom Hair Don't Care Halloween T-shirt using SVG and Siser's Vernice HTV | spotofteadesigns.com
Group Halloween Costume - Prison Inmates and Prison Guards | spotofteadesigns.com
Dr Seuss Things Group Halloween Costume | spotofteadesigns.com
Gatorade Halloween Costume - colorful group costume idea! | spotofteadesigns.com
Shop the Spot of Tea Designs Amazon Store front | spotofteadesigns.com

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Tara Nehil is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

LATEST GRAMS

Some highlights of what my yard produced this year Some highlights of what my yard produced this year:
🎃 Gourds - currently 42 harvested and drying, but tons more coming!
🌞 Yellow Roses - these 2 plants bloom at least 4 times in spring and summer!
🍅 Tomatoes - tons of Roma and Supersweet 100 breeds used for appetizers, sauces and salads. Happy to grow and to gift these away!
🧄 Garlic - planted last fall and harvested in June. Doing this again this October! Should I also do onions?
💜 Lavender - The bees love them. I missed the window to dry them but putting that on my list to try next year. Would you want a little satchel of lavender? 
🥒 Cucumbers - slice it up and add some sea salt. Yum!
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #gardening #vegetables #vegetablegarden #homegrown #backyard
Visit the aerial park @treetopquestphilly for a gr Visit the aerial park @treetopquestphilly for a great adventure! #AD
.
Our group of 2 adults and 5 kids were hosted by TreeTopQuestPhilly and enjoyed a sunny Saturday exploring obstacles, climbing and ziplining and we'd highly recommend this park! 
.
Here some key details to know before you go:
- The staff is super knowledgable, friendly and patient with climbers of all abilities, but it is self paced where you are in control of your own equipment. 
- You attend an equipment fitting, safety instruction and practice course before you climb 
- Expect to spend the full 2.5 hours of your reservation and you likely won't need sunglasses in this shady spot
- Gloves are an optional purchase, but we didn't get them and no one got any blisters
- There are 4 levels of courses with Level 4 being for those 12+ only. It's HIGH but thrilling to those willing to check it out! 
- Porta potties and lockers are available at the check in area and there are plenty of benches and picnic tables to sit at in the park. Spectators are free to watch from below. 
.
PROMO CODE: Use code SPOTOFTEADESIGNS for 15% off your online ticket order to climb!
.
#spotofteadesigns #treetopquestphilly #treetopquest #ziplining #getoutside #familytravel #philadelphia #philly #njmom #kidsactivities
Cardstock pennant banner tip - create the separate Cardstock pennant banner tip - create the separate piece shown on the video and add it to the back of your pennant to help it hang more securely, hide the ribbon and not move as much when hung. 
.
Special thanks to @wildercrafting who shared this tip YEARS ago, and I still use it when creating my simple banners.
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #cardstockcrafts #cricutmade #cricutcrafts #craftersgonnacraft #makersgonnamake #lemonadestand #fundraiser #pennant #banner #garland
If you're on a fence about creating a garden next If you're on a fence about creating a garden next year.... do it! While I personally don't eat everything we grow (not a pepper fan!), I do enjoy being outside, caring for the plants, and feeding friends and family! 
.
You can start this fall with garlic! You start planting them in the fall, and you'll enjoy them by summer. 
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #gardening #garden #tomatoes #cucumbers #bruschetta  #homegrown #vegetables #vegetablegarden
Twins run on my dad's side of the family, so I gre Twins run on my dad's side of the family, so I grew up thinking I might have my own pair. Little did I know it would be a pair of birthday twins born 2 years apart! Join me in celebrating my favorite DIY creations turning 10 and 12 today! 🎉
.
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #happybirthday #tweens #thisis10 #doubledigits #thisis12 #birthdaytwins
Want to know how to celebrate National Potato Day Want to know how to celebrate National Potato Day thanks to @fairfieldworld AD ?
.
Craft a giant baked potato out of recycled goods and filled with fluffy Poly-Fil! This fun craft material can be used inside and outside of crafts! Whether it's to make an oversized starch filled vegetable statement piece or you use it to make a baked potato costume, this fluffy stuff should be a staple material in your craft closet!
.
.
.
#FairfieldWorld #PolyFil #PolyfilwithJoy #bakedpotato #giantfood #recycled #upcycled #nationalpotatoday #craftersgonnacraft #makersgonnamake
Follow on Instagram
2025 © Spot of Tea Designs
made by soulmuse