Christmas for kids
Christmas is celebrated on 25 December. It is a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who, according to the Christian religion, is the son of God. The name is a joining of “Christ” and “mass” which means the holy mass (supper, celebration or festival) of Christ.
Many things we do at Christmas come from earlier festivals, like exchanging presents, eating a lot of food, and decorating a tree. It is a time when we enjoy being with our families, making decorations and crafts, singing Christmas carols, listening to Christmas stories and cooking some yummy treats!
Check our holiday hours and stock up on your Christmas reading!
Find out more about Christmas and local Christmas events.
Christmas card making at Upper Riccarton Library
20 December, 10-11.30am & 1-2.30pm
Join Māori & Multicultural Library Services for Christmas card making. FREE, drop in sessions for ages 7 years and up.
Christmas card making at Upper Riccarton Library
20 December, 10-11.30am & 1-2.30pm
Join Māori & Multicultural Library Services for Christmas card making. FREE, drop in sessions for ages 7 years and up.
Elves on the Shelves
Featured
Elves on the Shelves, part of a series
Guess who has arrived at Tūranga! Two of Santa's elves have come to stay on Hapori until Christmas! See if you can spot an elf on the shelf.
Featured
Elves on the Shelves
See an album of photos of Elves on the Shelves at Tūranga. Pop in to see an elf on the shelf at Hapori | Community, Level 1 unti 24 December
Christmas in the catalogue
More Christmas titles in the catalogue
About Christmas
Check out these fun Christmas websites:
Christmas facts
- Any Questions: Christmas
- Homework answers about Christmas from the Any Questions team.
- Celebrate Christmas
- Learn the meanings and traditions of Christmas with this book from National Geographic Kids. Access this with your library card number and password / PIN, or at our libraries.
- Why Christmas
- Explains the background to many Christmas traditions and different traditions around the world. Have a go at Christmas Karaoke! Access all the games, puzzles, colouring in, jokes and quizzes here.
- World Book Online - Christmas
- Get the basics about Christmas from World Book Online. Access this with your library card number and password / PIN, or at our libraries.
- Any Questions
Kiwi Christmas
- New Zealand Christmas Songs
- New Zealand Folk Song brings you New Zealand Christmas songs, with lyrics, chords and sound files.
- Xmas.co.nz
- A New Zealand site featuring Christmas carols that play to you, and a countdown to Christmas including how many hours, minutes and sleeps to go. From NZ City.
Christmas fun
- NORAD tracks Santa
- From December 1, you can find out where on earth Santa is. Every Christmas Eve since 1958 NORAD has tracked Santa’s journey around the world.
- Christmas Colouring In
- Print out and colour one of these great Christmas colouring in pictures, drawn by Elizabeth O. Dulemba, the lady who lets us use her amazing colouring in pictures at our Storytimes.
- Read Christmas Stories Online, opens a new window
- The International Children’s Digital Library has a number of kids books about Christmas that you can read online for free! There are also stories in other languages.
- Santa Claus and Christmas at the North Pole
- Explore Santa’s home, play some games, see if you are on the Naughty or Nice list, read and colour some Christmas stories and attend Elf Academy. Don’t miss the disco dancing Santa!
Christmas crafts
- Crayola Christmas Crafts
- The Crayola site has HEAPS of cool Christmas Crafts for you to print, colour and make.
- Origami Elf
- Make an origami elf with green paper, or an origami Santa with red paper. [1.26MB PDF].
- Pop-Up Cards
- Robert Sabuda, a pop-up book genius, shows you how to create some exciting pop-up cards for Christmas and other celebrations.
- The Toymaker Christmas Crafts
- The Toymaker has a wide range of Christmas cards, toys and containers for you to make. Some of them are quite difficult so might need an adult to help.
