Interactive Holiday Games for Children

Valentine's Heart Game

• Cut out several hearts using a variety of colors of construction paper. Take scissors and create a unique pattern to cut each heart in half. Mix all the hearts up and scatter them all over the room. When you say, "Go," the children must find a heart and find the person holding the other half of their heart. The first two people to find a matching heart wins a small Valentine's prize, such as candy or a colorful pencil.

Easter Egg Toss

• Create an Easter egg toss game using hard-boiled decorated Easter eggs. Have each child select a partner and give each team an egg. Get each team to stand about 3 feet from one another, facing each other. When you say, "Go," the teammate with the egg will toss it to his partner. If his partner drops the egg, the team is out of the game. Every team that catches the egg must take a giant step backwards and toss again. The team that can toss the egg the furthest distance without dropping it wins the game.

Halloween Word Game

• Divide the children into groups of four or five and give each group a blank piece of paper. Tell the groups they have 15 minutes to make the most words using only letters from the phrase "Trick or Treat." The teams can use words, such as tear, kite, tea or tire. The team who comes up with the most words in 15 minutes wins the game. You can play the game using the word "Halloween" as well.

Christmas Musical Chairs

• You will need some chairs, the book "The Night Before Christmas" and name tags. Give each player a name tag and write something from the book, such as reindeer, sleigh and house (except Santa Claus). Put the chairs in a circle and put out one less chair than you have players. The extra player is the host and she will stand in the middle to read the book. While reading the book anytime she says a word that is on a player's name tag that player must find another chair with another player who must switch. When the host says, "Santa Claus," all players must find a new chair along with the host who will try to find a chair. If the host finds a chair, the player left standing will be the new host and has to give her the name tag he has. If you want to award prizes, award small prizes to all the players who did not become the host.