Give each team 4 candy canes (and be sure to have a few more in
case some break) and have the child who's running hold the candy canes between their fingers, with the crooked part of the
cane hanging over their fingers. But tell them not to use their thumbs. The canes should be just carefully perched between
their fingers.
The children run to their teammate, exchange the candy canes (again,
only using fingers), and that teammate runs to the other end and does the same.
The game is over when only one team still has candy canes that
haven't dropped on
the floor.
2.) Another
fun Christmas game relay race that kids love is pass the ornament.
In this game, each team gets one ornament (a lightweight, basic
thin glass one is fine) and a straw. They must blow through the straw to get the ornament down the line, then the next child
blows on their straw to get the ornament back down the line.
Make sure each child has a fresh straw, as you don't want everyone
to get sick.
3.) This next
simple relay game can be played with just about anything that signifies Christmas. You could have the children pass a Santa
hat (perhaps requiring them to wear the hat as they run down the line) or have them wear Christmas socks that they then have
to take off and get to the next child during the relay.
4.) "Santa
Says" is a fun Christmas game that all children will know how to play because it's just like "Simon Says".
Before playing it, confirm that each child is familiar with "Simon
Says" and then create a series of orders from "Santa", such as "Santa says, touch your toes", "Santa says bend your
knees" and so on.
Remember to sometimes leave the "Santa says" part off and trick
the children. This is always a popular game!
5.) Young children
love the "freeze dance" which is often played in preschool and kindergarten. Only in this game, you create a Christmas freeze
dance.
Here you play some Christmas music, let the children do a little
dance, then when you turn the music off the children must "freeze."
If there will be several sit-down games played at the party, the
"freeze dance" is a great way to let the children use up some energy before they have to sit down and focus on the other
games.
6.) Young children
can play the "clue" Christmas game as long as the questions are kept to their knowledge of various things surrounding the
holiday.
The game is played by giving a series of clues about something
Christmas related. Keeps giving clues until someone shouts out the answer.
It might go something like this:
Answer: Santa's sleigh
Clue: I'm thinking of something big
Clue:
It helps Santa on Christmas Eve
Clue: It holds a lot of presents
Clue: It's very fast
You keep giving clues until the children figure out the answer.
Since these are young children, don't give clues that are too difficult or beyond their knowledge.
7.) Kids love
toss games, so why not create a snowball toss Christmas game with Frosty's belly?
Get or make a large cardboard cutout of Frosty the Snowman and
cut a hole in his stomach. You can create snowballs out of several things.
For example, take plastic bags and put mini marshmallows inside,
or use Styrofoam balls. If you use the latter, don't make the children throw the "snowballs" very far since the Styrofoam
won't go that far.
Have the children stand a distance back from Frosty (you can determine
this depending on the age of the children and space you have available) and have them toss the snowballs into Frosty's tummy.
The first one to get all 3 snowballs in the tummy wins a prize....
