9 Christmas Games for the Classroom - fun and easy
Play my easy prep Christmas games for the classroom to celebrate the holiday season with your students. These 9 fun and easy prep Christmas games are perfect for younger kids in preschool, kindergarten and first grade.
At this time of year, my regular classroom timetable gets pushed to the side and I’m on the hunt for ways to fill in all the little timeslots popping up in my planning! Between all the end of year celebrations and last-minute tasks we have to do, a teacher’s life gets pretty hectic!
I don’t want activities that take ages to prepare either!
The Christmas games and activities in this blog post are low prep and help me fill those unplanned gaps. They are also a wonderful way to enjoy those last couple of weeks together as a class.
Designed for younger kids in preschool, kindergarten and first grade. They are perfect to play in the early years classroom.
You will love them and so will your students!
And best of all – they are easy to set up because well - A Term 4 tired teacher here 🙋♀️ Anyone else hitting the snooze button every morning?
As the end of the school year and the holiday season approaches, we teachers have so much to do. There seem to be endless school tasks to finish and celebrations to attend.
This blog post's Christmas games and activities are low prep and will help you fill those unplanned gaps. They are also an excellent way to enjoy those last couple of weeks together as a class.
Oh - and by the way, these fun Christmas games are perfect for playing with the entire class, so they make lovely end-of-year class Christmas party games as well.
If, on the other hand, you are looking for Christmas themed educational activities for your young students, check out my Christmas resources 👇
Christmas Musical Chairs
Musical chairs is a classic game that gets everyone up and moving. Young children always love this fun game. This version is played with Christmas music.
It’s a great way to practice some traditional children’s Christmas carols too. You can usually pick up a cheap CD of children’s Christmas songs at the discount store or you can use this YouTube compilation if you don’t have a suitable CD.
What You Need:
Christmas songs
CD player or Computer Speakers
Children’s chairs
How To Set Up:
Each child brings a chair to the carpet area.
Arrange the chairs in a double line, back to back.
The children make a tight circle around the chairs.
How to Play:
Take away two chairs.
Start the Christmas music.
The children walk around the chairs in a clockwise circle.
Randomly stop the music.
When the music stops, the children need to find an empty chair to sit on.
Two children will be left standing without a chair. They sit over to the side and sing along to the song.
Take away another two chairs and start the music again.
The game continues until there are only two chairs remaining.
This time, remove one chair.
The child to sit on the last remaining chair when the music stops is the winner.
Game Variations:
To play a quicker game, each time the music stops, take away four chairs instead. Another variation is to roll a dice to see how many chairs will be removed each time.
If you are concerned about excited children hurting others as they scramble to find a chair, you can replace the chairs with pieces of paper.
This game can be an opportunity to develop social skills. Discuss with the children what to do when two children try to sit on the same chair. Learning to create and follow rules is one of the advantages of playing group games like this one.
2. Pin the Nose on the Snowman
This is a variation of the traditional “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” game. It’s a super easy game to set up - especially if you’re not too fussy about your drawing capabilities.
Yes - yes! I know it's Summer here in Australia, but my students still love snowman games.
What You Need:
Drawing of a basic snowman (without his nose!) – either on the whiteboard or a large piece of cardboard.
A snowman’s nose – use a whiteboard magnet or a cardboard cutout of a nose with blutac on the back.
A blindfold – I use a scarf or a small sleeping mask.
A whiteboard marker or pen
How To Set Up:
Draw a snowman shape low down on the whiteboard or stick a drawing of a snowman on the wall at the children’s height.
How to Play:
Put the blindfold on one of the children.
Gently spin the blindfolded child around a couple of times and point them toward the snowman.
The child sticks the nose onto the board where they think it should go.
Mark this spot with a dot or a cross.
The child that gets the nose closest to where the snowman’s nose should be is the winner.
Game Variations:
Depending on your drawing skills, this game has endless variations. Try Pin the Nose on Olaf if you have a class of Frozen fans.
Pin the Nose on the Reindeer is a fairly easy one to draw.
Pin the Hat on the Elf or Pin the Nose on Santa are other variations you might like to try.
3. Christmas Disco
What young child doesn’t love a disco?
A class Christmas disco can be as long or short as you like. If your students are in a high-energy mood (which they seem to be consistently after the red and green craft supplies come out) you might like to get some of those wiggles out with a class disco.
This is also another opportunity to practice some of those traditional children’s Christmas carols – especially if your children need to learn some songs for an upcoming Christmas concert.
If you don’t have a CD of children’s Christmas songs, you might like these Christmas song YouTube compilations.
What You Need:
Christmas songs
CD player or Computer Speakers
How To Set Up:
Clear the carpet space so there’s plenty of dancing room.
Turn off the overhead lighting to help set the mood.
How to Play:
Just start the Christmas music and have some dancing fun.
Game Variations:
To add some fun to your Christmas disco, you might like to add a game of musical statues.
My kids just can’t get enough of this simple game.
4. Musical Statues - Christmas Style
Musical statues is so easy!
When the music is on, all the children are expected to pull out their best dance moves. When you stop the music suddenly, everyone must freeze in the position they're in.
I like to walk around the group trying to catch somebody out occasionally. For some added fun, you can try pulling a funny face or giving a child a gentle tickle.
If any child un-freezes, they are usually out of the game and sit to the side of the carpet area. We call that space the North Pole. You might like to invite these children to help you catch any of the remaining students not freezing when the music stops.
I like to have the kids sitting in the North Pole for only a few freeze sessions. It’s nice to give them a second chance. After all, it’s not that much fun sitting on the sidelines.
5. Heads down, Antlers up
Are you familiar with the Heads Down, Thumbs Up game? This one is a Christmas version of that fun idea. This classroom Christmas game can last as long as you like. Each round is very short so you can repeat it as many times as you want.
Heads down, Antlers up is a very quiet game and a great way to calm excitable kids!
What You Need:
nothing
How To Set Up:
Each child sits at a desk.
How to Play:
Choose four children to come to the front of the room.
The teacher says, "Heads down, Antlers up." This is the cue for all the seated children to put their heads on their desks, close their eyes tightly and raise their fingers next to their heads so they resemble reindeer antlers.
The four chosen children at the front of the room then quietly sneak around the room. They each secretly choose one person and gently fold their antlers down. Then, they very quietly return to the front of the room. Each sneaky child can only press down one friend’s antlers. There should only be four seated children with their antlers down.
The teacher then says, "Heads up, Antlers down." This signals to all the seated children that it is time to open their eyes and look up from their desks.
The four children that had their antlers pressed down now stand up. They must guess which of the sneaky four out the front touched them.
If a child guesses incorrectly, they must sit down and remain seated. However, if a child guesses correctly, they swap places and become one of the four standing at the front of the room.
That’s the end of the first round. You can repeat this process and keep playing for as long as you like.
Game Variations:
You can change the number of children sneaking around putting antlers down. The more children in this role, the more difficult it is for the others to guess the correct sneaky child.
6. Christmas Bingo
My students love Bingo, so of course, we have to play a Christmas version. It wouldn't be a holiday party without this fun activity.
What You Need:
Bingo Cards: Pre-made Christmas Bingo cards featuring Christmas-themed words or pictures. (You can also have the children make their own as a craft activity!)
Calling Cards: Separate cards or slips of paper with Christmas-themed words or pictures that match those on the Bingo cards.
Counters: Use counters, buttons, or cute little Christmas-themed mini erasers.
Caller’s Hat: For a fun holiday twist, the caller can wear a Santa hat or elf hat.
Draw Bag: A festive gift bag to mix and draw the calling cards from.
How to Set Up:
Give each player a Bingo card and a handful of counter.
Place the calling cards into the festive draw bag. Shake to mix them well.
Explain the Rules: The teacher will pull a calling card from the bag and announce it to the class. Students will then place a counter on the corresponding word or picture on their Bingo card.
Decide on a Winning Pattern: Whether it's a straight line, four corners, or full-house, decide in advance what the object of the game will be.
How to Play:
The teacher puts on their Santa hat and starts the game by pulling a card from the draw bag.
The card is announced or displayed to the students. Students find and cover the corresponding word or picture on their Bingo card with a counter.
The game continues like this until a student believes they are a winner. When a student believes they have a Bingo, they shout, "Bingo!"
Pause the game to check their card against the called items to confirm.
If the student's Bingo is valid based on the pre-determined winning pattern, they are the winner!
You can keep the game going to see who the next player to call "Bingo!" is - or start a fresh new game with a different winning pattern.
Game Variations:
To make it more challenging and educational, you can ask questions or give clues about each Christmas word or picture instead of just announcing them.
For example, if the calling card is Santa, you can give clues like:
I start with /S/ and have 5 letters in my name.
I might visit you on Christmas Eve.
I like cookies and milk.
Want a Christmas Bingo game already done for you? Check out this one:
This Christmas Bingo game is not your standard bingo game. In this version, your students will enjoy colouring in their very own Christmas Bingo card and then be able to play a fun class game of Christmas Bingo together!
This is a super engaging Christmas activity your students will love.
You will love it too, because this activity is so easy to prep!
Simply print and play.
Just what you need at this busy time of the school year!
7. Snowball Toss
This high-energy game is a fun way to use up any old worksheets or scraps of paper destined for the rubbish bin at the end of the year.
This is the most requested game in every single class I have ever taught.
A snowball fight would have to be the ultimate all-time favourite classroom game. We played it whenever we had a class set of papers to throw away.
A word of warning, though – the children get incredibly excited! Only play this one if you have a settled class and excellent behaviour management strategies.
What You Need:
A piece of scrap paper for each child
How To Set Up:
Each child scrunches their paper to make a paper snowball.
How to Play:
When all the paper snowballs have been made, the teacher calls “Snowball Fight”
Then take cover. Paper snowballs will fill your classroom along with a lot of giggles and much laughter.
Continue throwing any snowballs that land close by until the teacher signals to finish the game.
8. Santa, Santa, Rudolf
Another Christmas variation on a children’s classic circle game.
Duck, duck, goose is now called Santa, Santa, Rudolf.
What You Need:
nothing
How To Set Up:
The children sit in a circle on the carpet. Ensure there’s enough room behind each child so others can walk safely around the outside ring.
How to Play:
The teacher chooses a child from the circle.
This child stands, leaving an empty spot in the circle.
This child then walks around the outside of the circle. As they walk around, they gently tap each person's head, saying whether they are a "Santa" or a "Rudolf".
The tapping child randomly chooses a child to be “Rudolf”. When they call a child “Rudolf”, Rudolf has to get up and chase the tapping child around the circle. The tapping child must return to their empty spot in the circle before Rudolf catches them.
If Rudolf cannot catch the tapping child in time, they become the tapping child. If Rudolf manages to capture the tapping child before they get back to their spot and are seated, then the tagged child has to sit in the centre of the circle.
The child sitting in the middle of the circle can't leave until another person is tagged and they are replaced.
9. Santa Says
This one is easy and will fill in any short gaps in the school day.
Another variation of a popular children’s game. Instead of Simon Says, this game is Santa Says. It’s a simple game, but the children find it so much fun.
What You Need:
nothing
How To Set Up:
Children stand on the carpet space.
How to Play:
The teacher gives instructions by saying, “Santa says…” telling the children to perform some simple physical action. It’s nice to give Christmas themed instructions. For example, "Santa says pretend to eat a cookie," "Santa says pretend to hang a decoration on the Christmas tree." Each child must perform the action.
If the teacher leaves out “Santa says” before giving an instruction, any child who performs the action is out and sits to the side of the group.
Game Variations:
Instead of children sitting out to the side of the group with nothing to do for the remainder of the game, you might like to invite them to help you catch any of the remaining children not following the instructions or doing an action when Santa has not said to.
It is a good idea to only have children sitting on the sidelines for a short time. Invite them back into the game after a couple of minutes.
This game is just as much fun when played as “Rudolf says,”’ “Frosty says” or “Olaf says”.
I’m sure you’ll agree all these games are great Christmas party games.
We often play our favourite ones again on the last day of school or at our classroom break-up party. I know your young students will love these fun holiday games.
Because they are so quick and easy to prep, you will love them too!
It is such an exciting time of year!
Now you’ll have plenty of fun and engaging ways to fill in all the little timeslots popping up in your planning! Wishing you a less hectic end of year!
Merry Christmas and enjoy your Christmas activities!
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