32 of the best and easiest Elf on the Shelf ideas for toddlers! Fast, simple, and fun for your little kids!
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Ever since I discovered the story of Elf on the Shelf
This year, Little J understands more of what is going on with Christmas, so I decided that he was old enough for our family to have our own little Elf on the Shelf. But the number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be up to 32 days, and that is a lot of days to try and come up with ideas that are going to be fun for a toddler.
I took to Pinterest to try and find some good ones that would be easy for me and simple for Little J to find and understand. And now I am going to share the 32 best Elf on the Shelf ideas for toddlers with you!
1. North Pole Breakfast. This is a great way to introduce your little elf to your kids.
2. Super Elf. I think every toddler would be thrilled to find out that their elf is really a superhero!
3. Elf with the Nativity. I love this idea because it helps your kids remember why we are actually celebrating Christmas.
4. Elf with a Dry-Erase Marker and your Picture! How funny is this? Your littles will love finding that someone has given them a mustache or a hat!
5. Fishing. Super easy. Who doesn’t have goldfish and floss? Little J is going to love this one!
6. TP’ing the Christmas Tree. Another fast idea that your toddler will love to find!
7. Snow Angel. I would recommend using rice so it will clean up easily.
8. Froot Loop Garland. Super easy, and you can hang it on the tree the next day!
9. Driving a Toy Car. With a little boy, we have a ton of cars, so this is really easy to put together!
10. Coloring a Picture. You could make it a Christmas picture, or your child’s favorite cartoon.
11. Playing Basketball. Little J is going to LOVE this one! Basketball is his favorite, so he will have fun seeing that our elf loves it, too! We just used Little J’s hoop, but you could make a tiny one if you wanted, too!
12. Sledding. A piece of cardboard and a toilet paper roll make a super easy sled!
13. Reading to Other Toys. Since our littles love to read, I thought this would be so fun!
14. Riding a Stuffed Animal. Who wouldn’t want to ride a dinosaur?
15. Wearing Doll Clothes. We don’t have a lot yet since Little A doesn’t have any Barbies, but I know in a year or two we will have some doll clothes to do this!
16. Taped Up By Other Toys. Who knows what that elf did to deserve this one!?
17. With Cookie Ingredients. What little kid wouldn’t want to help make cookies?
18. Doctor Elf. Since the Mister is in medical school, we thought Little J would really like this one!
19. Trying to Open Presents. I’m sure before Christmas I will catch Little J trying to do this, so it would be funny to have our elf do it, too!
20. On Top of a Block Tower. Little J loves building, and he has a lot of blocks, so this one is perfect! And it’s really easy!
21. With Tissues. I hope your little elf doesn’t catch a cold, but if he does, here’s a fun way to set him up!
22. In the Car. This is perfect if you are going to drive somewhere to visit family. You can’t forget your elf!
23. Lifting Weights. Really easy to make some tiny weights out of toothpicks and marshmallows!
24. Inside Your Advent Calendar. I just made a new advent calendar, so I thought it would be really fun to have our elf hanging out in one of the pockets!
25. Wrapping a Present. We got Little J and Little A some special presents to open before we visit our family, and we thought it would be fun to have our elf wrapping them. This is great if you have something you want your littles to open early!
26. In a Stocking. Another really easy idea that your kids will have fun finding!
27. Making Paper Snowflakes. And then you can hang them up in your house after!
28. On the Fridge. Either on top or on the handle. Easy to do.
29. Tee-peeing the Christmas Tree. I know Little J is going to love this one! And it’s easy to find!
30. In a Cup with Marshmallows. It’s like a tiny elf bubble bath!
31. In a Pizza Box. Our family loves pizza, so it was easy to have our elf sneaking the leftovers!
32. On a Zipline. A little harder to set up, but way fun for your toddler!
I can’t wait to do all these fun Elf on the Shelf ideas for toddlers with Little J. I will share a few of them on my social media over the next few weeks!!
Misty says
We have the Pop-In-Kins elf, but the same concept… He/She can dance with a Christmas doll, like the nutcracker or a snowman. Today ours was wrapped up in our littlest's baby doll blanket with one arm tucked out like he was cuddled up in it asleep on the shelf after a long night. They can "hide" candy canes in the room for the little ones to find. They can make hot cocoa so it's ready for them when they wake up (complete with a peppermint stick to stir lol … and marshmallows! Walmart has a cocoa kit in the Christmas aisle that has snowman marshmallows and the sticks, ect.. together) Gosh, I can't think… they can perform an act of service like setting out clothes to wear the next day at end of bed, or bring back breakfast from the north pole. They can do a snowball fight with kids – throw cotton balls on them and the floor then put one in his hand like he's gonna throw it… or you can stage a snowball fight with him and a few toys… build a wall out of legos and have tiny marshmallows or pieces of cotton on both side and have them throwing them at each other (you can have another toy on the side keeping score) hope these help!
Chelsea says
I love those! Now I can make sure that I won' t have duplicate ideas next year! Thanks so much!!!
Brook says
Cute ideas, I'll definitely be using some of these with my 3 year old!
Chelsea says
I'm sure your toddler will love them! My son sure has!
Andrea says
We built an igloo out of the jumbo marshmallows, played a game of operation that the kids left out, he hung his own stalking….it was my daughters with a priece of paper over her name with his on it, then we had to have a talk to "Elfie" about personal property and stealing 🙂 he felt bad and the next night he left a note apologizing and asking if he could share it with her…..she hugged him and said yes 🙂 hope you like these
Chelsea says
These are so cute! I love how you used Elfie to teach them something!
Amanda says
Love your elf ideas! Any tips on how to keep the arms in certain positions?
Chelsea Johnson says
Thanks!! I have been looking at tutorials on Pinterest for how to make the arms bendy. I think it’s pretty easy, but I have yet to try it! I need to, though!
Christy says
I put wire in the arms and legs you may need to add a few stiches but the wire I used I didn’t need to. I just pushed it through.
Chelsea Johnson says
Oh, awesome! That’s so simple!
Kristen says
Thank you for sharing some of our Elf posts. I just received my 2015 blogging report and you were one of our top referrers this year! Thank you! Off to pin some of your content as a thank you! 🙂
Chelsea Johnson says
Great! I’m so glad! I always make sure that I link back to where I find things for that reason! That is definitely my top post during Christmas!! Thanks, Kristen!
Jamee Chandler says
I shared your ideas on my blog and linked to your site. Thanks for sharing such great ideas. The post will be public on Wednesday afternoon. http://scissorsandcrayons.blogspot.com/2016/12/elf-on-shelf.html
Chelsea Johnson says
Thanks, Jamee! I hope you gave proper credit to the original photo sources and not just to me, though! Only some of these are my photos!
Lisa says
I gave each of my grandson’s an elf. We exchange photos of our elves doing silly things every day during December. It is my hope that when I am gone they will continue the tradition with their kids and grandkids and remember me when they do. Great ideas here. I cannot wait to try some of them.
Chelsea Johnson says
That’s such a fun idea! Thank you for sharing!!