To help everyone cope with their different experiences during the break, we thought of putting together an almanac of activities and free entertainment that you can enjoy on the go or sitting at home. So here are some of our top picks that you can choose to dabble in. 

Free BBC Sounds Podcasts 

In the spirit of winter, we thought of sharing some festive and winter themed entertaining, educational and wellness podcasts which you will find below: 

• Winter Well is a BBC Radio 4 production consisting of five episodes which give bitesize advice on surviving the dark winter months. This may be a good listen for those who find long dark days a bit challenging to get through.  

• You’re Dead to Me is another BBC Radio 4 production which is a comedy podcast where some very interesting historical events and people are talked about. It is educational and funny with Greg Jenner as your host who invites historians and comedians on the show. We have curated some festive episodes as out top picks which you can find below, however, they cover topics from across the globe! 

• Christmas with Charles Dickens  

• Medieval Christmas  

• History of Chocolates 

• The Victorian Christmas 

There are various other genres for podcasts, old radio shows, documentaries and much more that you can enjoy for free. If you would like to check them out, click here. 

Audiobooks 

• BBC Sounds have lots of selected audiobooks which are free to public, and you can access them either on the BBC Sounds App or website. We have curated a select list of audiobooks which you may want to listen: 

• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carol 

• Classic Stories for Christmas 

• The Signs of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle 

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 

• Audible from Amazon has a webpage where you can listen to some audiobooks for free without any membership, or without the need to buy these books. They have a select and rotational catalogue of free audiobooks from various genres which cater to kids and family, biographies and memoirs, literature and fiction, language learning and much more.  Check it out here. 

Free Activity Sheets for Children 

We understand that for student parents, finding ways to keep your children occupied may be tricky and so we have listed some free resources that you can find online: 

• The Works have got lots of free activities, puzzles and colouring sheet which are printable, and you can find them here. 

• Bloomsbury Publishing have some free activity packs for children filtered by age-range or themes such as festivals and occasions that you can choose to use. You will find the page here. 

• Your Students’ Association Colouring Sheet: After the success of the Halloween colouring sheets, we have created some for the winter break which you can find here. 

Winter Warmer Recipes 

If you are one who likes to put a chef’s hat on and enjoy cooking, then we have some budget-friendly winter warmer recipes curated below from various sources: 

• Aldi have lots of warm food options that one can cook on budget, and they look absolutely delicious. You can find the recipes here. 

• Morrisons have put together some family favourites and some quick to cook recipes on their website. 

• Tesco has gone a step further by not only sharing some recipes for free but also by sharing top tips for anyone who wants to cook on a budget. You can find it here. 

We hope that you enjoy the last few weeks of this year and we will see you in the next one!  

Have you checked out our 2025 Unwrapped? We would love to hear what you are proud of achieving this year, share your thoughts with us on our social media