Christmas Games for Girls & Boys

Musical Gifts

• Play lively Christmas music for this game. You can either wrap one small present for each child, or you can have each child bring a wrapped gift to the Christmas party. Everyone starts out with his own gift. Once the music begins playing, everyone passes gifts to the right. The kids keep passing the gifts to the right until the song ends. You may want to choose a relatively short song to play this game so the kids do not get bored. During the song, tell them to pass the gifts quickly and then tell them to pass the gifts slowly just to mix it up a little bit. At the end of the song, the gift the child has is what he gets to open. If you notice toward the end of the song that kids end up with their own gift, this presents an opportunity to tell them to pass quicker or slower. You can also play a version of this game by reading a story. Every time the kids hear you say "right" or "left," they need to pass the gift that way.

Christmas Twist-Up

• Get some large butcher paper or newsprint that you can lay out on the floor, and divide into five rows of four to give you 20 squares. In one row, paint, draw with a marker or print pictures from your computer four snowflakes. In the next row, make four Christmas trees. For row three, make four snowmen. Make four presents in row five. Make a smaller copy of the picture for you to draw from one bowl. In another bowl, write out one card for each--right foot, left foot, right hand and left hand. To play the game, pick one card from each bowl and tell the kids to what to do. For example, tell them to put their right foot on the snowflake. When a child falls, he is out of the game. The last child standing wins.

Dressing Santa

• Gather some oversized clothes for the kids to dress Santa. Use clothes that would most closely resemble a Santa outfit, such as a red coat and pants, Santa hat, beard and black boots. Divide the kids into two teams. They must choose one of the kids in their group to be Santa. The rest of the kids have to dress Santa without any help from him. The first team to get its Santa dressed wins.