Keeping the kids engaged in the classroom in the run-up to Christmas can be a very difficult task. During the holiday season, they are excitable and full of energy.
One great way to keep the kids engaged and entertained is to involve them all in some brilliant classroom Christmas games!
These games are designed to expel some of their extra energy, engage their minds, and help them to develop connections and friendships.
If you like the idea of bringing some Christmas games into the classroom, you’ve come to the right place!
We’ve compiled a list of the best classroom Christmas games for you to try with your students today!
These games are suitable for kids of any age and they will help to spread the cheer of the holiday season!
Pin The Nose On Rudolph
This is a fantastic game that plays on the classic birthday party game: pin the tail on the donkey. This game is very straightforward and heaps of fun!
For this game, you will need to print out a large picture of Rudolph, sticking a piece of white tape over his nose.
Then, you will need to cut a red nose out of cardboard. Attach some rolled-up tape to the back of this, too and voila, the game is set up!
To play, you will need to divide your class into teams. One member of each team will be blindfolded, and the rest of the team will have to guide them to stick their nose on Rudolph.
The teams will need to use language such as:
Left and right
Up and down
Stop
Keep going
The aim of this game is to get the nose as close to where it should be on Rudolph by working together as a team and guiding your teammates in the right direction.
The kids should attempt to put the nose on Rudolph as accurately as possible.
In another version of this game, the students will need a nose each. This version is very inclusive, allowing every student to feel a part of the game.
Each student will then take turns being spun around three times, they will then have to attempt to pin the nose on Rudolph while they are dizzy.
This game is great fun, and it will have all of the kids in stitches! It also encourages your students to work together, boosting the morale of the class.
‘Santa Says!’
This is a play on the traditional game ‘Simon Says’. This game targets the use of verbs and action words, making it educational as well as great fun!
In this game, there will be one person who plays Santa. Santa will give a series of instructions by either saying ‘Santa Says…’ or just by instructing the students to do something.
The kids will have to use their listening skills in this game.
If they are not instructed by the phrase ‘Santa Says’ they should not carry out the instruction, so they will have to listen closely to the instructions that are being given.
For instance, if the instructor says ‘Santa Says touch your nose’, the children should follow the instructions. However, if the instructor simply says ‘touch your nose’, the children should not react!
You can up the Christmas spirit of this game by having Santa direct the class to complete holiday activities with him.
Word Find
Word finds are a great way to up the Christmas spirit while keeping your kids calm and entertained!
In this game, students will work in teams to find as many different words as they can that are hidden within some classic Christmas words.
For example, in the word ‘Christmas’, the kids will be able to locate the following words: air, ham, its, mat, miss, it, is, rim, cat, car, hats, cash, star, and has.
You can use a word unscrambler tool online to create a list of the possible words within the holiday-related words or you can work them out for yourself before you start the game!
Give your students a time limit to locate as many of these words as possible!
Remember to adjust the difficulty level of this game depending on the age of your students.
For older kids, you can choose much more difficult words, or you can provide them with a more difficult time limit!
The team who locates the most words within the Christmas words will be the winner of the game.
Santa Bag Relay Race
This is a great game that uses Santa’s bag in an untraditional way. In this game, the bag will be filled with students rather than toys!
The object of this game is to cross the finish line and fill the bowl at the finish line with marshmallows.
This is a great game that will work for any age. High school students and preschool students will both love this game.
You should adjust the distance between the start and finish line of the game depending on the age of the students who are playing the game.
To set up this game, you will need to designate a starting and finishing line. Start with these being 20 feet apart, and increase the distance if you have older students or fewer players.
The students should be split into teams.
They should line up at the starting line and when the starting whistle blows, they will need to jump into the Santa sack with a marshmallow in their mouth.
When the player reaches the finish line, they will need to drop the marshmallow into the bowl at the finish line, jump out of the bag, and run it back to the next player at the starting line.
The game will continue until all of your students have crossed the finish line. The team crossed the finish line first after transferring all of their marshmallows into the bowl.
This is a great game for all ages that will allow your kids to burn off some of their excess energy! It will also spread the Christmas spirit.
Christmas Pictionary
Christmas Pictionary is a great game that incorporates the kids’ drawing and communication skills into a fun and exciting game!
This can be played in teams or individually. Set an amount of time for your students to guess what their peers are drawing so that this game doesn’t last an eternity!
If you are playing individually, have one member of the class up at the front drawing on the board. Ensure that the person drawing can hear as people shout out their guesses.
The person drawing is only able to nod and shake their head, but they cannot speak or make any noises.
The person who correctly guesses the drawing will be next up! This is a great game to get the whole class involved and interacting with each other.
Christmas Charades
Christmas Charades is a perfect activity for the classroom. It is an engaging game that is entertaining and easy to prepare.
It is also very easy to play, and you can customize the charade’s word list depending on the age of the players.
This game is hilarious when played in teams, and your kids will learn how to work together to succeed.
You can prepare for this game for around 5 minutes, and it will create lots of fun for the classroom! You will have tons of fun and lots of giggles with this game.
Ensure that all the words are Christmas related to help increase the Christmas spirit!
Christmas Celebrity Heads!
Celebrity heads is a well-known game, and this Christmas twist creates a great classroom Christmas game to engage your kids and get them in the Christmas spirit.
In this game, choose three students to sit at the front of the class with their backs to the board. Behind each student, write the name of a Christmas character or item.
This can be things like Santa Claus, Christmas Tree, Stocking, An Elf, or Rudolph, among others!
The students should then ask yes or no questions to figure out who they are. They can ask questions like: ‘Am I a person?’.
Set a maximum number of questions for each student to be able to ask and see if they can get their answer!
Then you can repeat this game with new students and characters.
This game is perfect for keeping the kids engaged in the lead-up to Christmas. You can add some educational aspects to this game, too.
Use it as a chance to teach your students that Christmas is different for those around the world. Choose some words that relate to Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere as well.
Final Thoughts
These games are sure to keep your students entertained for hours during the Christmas season. They are also great at spreading Christmas cheer!
All of the games on this list are quick and easy to set up, and they are designed to also have some educational value.
Hi, my name is Helena Waters and I was a teacher for 40 years before retiring last year.
During my time as a teacher I dedicated the majority of it to making classrooms as fun as possible, with educational parties, fun activities, and low cost entertainment that made the children excited about learning.
I taught children of all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. Now, with the pandemic having uprooted everything that children once knew about school and learning, I think that the need for my ideas is bigger than ever.
That is why I created School Sparks, a place in which I can write down and share all of my ideas on how to get students excited about going to school again. I hope that you’ll find some useful within a school setting, even at home too!
