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10 Great Holiday Games For Children!
Here are some fun activities for the Holiday Season!
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Make a large drawing of a Christmas Tree (if you have a real tree, that's even better!) and decorate it with ornaments, pictures, and small toys that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Then you can have an I-Spy game and say, "I see something that begins with the letter P. What is it?" The children take turns making a guess until someone says, "Popcorn!" If you'd like, do only a half-dozen letters at a time. Then you can surprise them with this throughout the day. Whenever you want to pull their attention back to you as a group, just suddenly call out, "I see something that starts with the letter B!" and they'll run right back to the tree! Wrap a box in Holiday gift paper and put a dozen (or more) small items in it. These can be little toys, plastic farm animals, a block, a ball, etc. Then the teacher can say the verse below and give clues to the item she's holding in the box. The children can take turns guessing at what it is. In this box are lots of them. Listen to the clues to what's inside, Then you guess what the box does hide. Hang a large Christmas wreath in a doorway or from the ceiling, about a few feet off the floor. Ahead of time, make three (or more for spares) "snowballs," made of cotton or pillow stuffing (from a craft store) covered with white tissue paper. I'm sure you know what's coming now. The children stand a short distance from the wreath and take turns throwing their three "snowballs" through the center hole. Younger ones can stand closer and you can decide if you want to hand out a small prize for those that get all three balls through the wreath. While we're talking about home-made "snowballs," here's an idea for the very end of your holiday party. Make enough snowballs for each child (maybe a few spares just in case?) with a small toy inside suitable for either a boy or girl. A bag of farm animals, dinosaurs, or something similar from a dollar store should yield enough pieces for a class. Colorful rubber balls? Little spinning tops? What else can you think of? Pile all these snowballs under the tree, and when the time comes, the teacher tosses them gently, one at a time, to the children who are standing in a line. As the children catch them they can get their coats, pack up all their stuff, and open their snowballs in the car on the way home. Surprise! Play this just like "Simon Says" but replace the phrase "Simon Says" with "Santa Says." For instance, a teacher can be the Leader Elf who says: 'Santa says, "Put your hands on your head."' All players should put their hands on their head. When the leader Elf gives an instruction without saying "Santa Says" and the followers do the action anyway, the leader Elf says "HO! HO! HO!" and the player must sit down. Now, when the Leader Elf tricks the players, she can put her hand to her mouth and have the sitting ones help her say, "HO! HO! HO!" This keeps them involved and focused. The last player left standing gets to do the Santa Dance (whatever that may be!) while everyone sings Jingle Bells. Have the children to sit in a circle and get a piece of thin clothesline rope (or string) which is just long enough so that it can go around the circle and be held by everyone. Each person holds the rope with two hands. Slip a large finger ring onto the rope and tape the ends of the rope together smoothly to make a loop (use tape instead of a knot to make sure the ring can slip past freely). One child, Eagle-Eye Elf, sits in the middle of the circle and counts to five with his or her eyes closed as the children slide the ring along the string. Now, eyes open as the children sing Jingle Bells and slide the ring along the rope, from person to person, around the ring without Eagle-Eye Elf seeing it. As soon as the ring is seen, the person caught becomes Eagle-Eye Elf and sits in the middle. Bring in a pillowcase or two (or more!) and bring in a collection of everyday items that even our younger friends will know. The idea is to hide an object in the bag and let them feel it from the outside and guess what it is. As for what to put in the bag, use your imagination! What might a three-year-old know by touch? A toothbrush? An apple or a bananna? How about a crayon or pencil? A slinky spring or maybe even a rubber ducky! This simple game is similar to musical chairs - except you need no chairs! Kids always enjoy it. Everyone dances around to your music until you stop the song. Then they must freeze completely - in whatever dancing position they were in. Anybody caught moving runs over to you and helps look for any moving statues next time. Start the music again fairly quickly and keep repeating until you have one dancer left. Now, start and stop the music after just a few notes a couple of times to have the child move and freeze in short jerky movements until everyone is laughing at his or her antics, then yell, "Everybody dance!" and do it all over again. The teacher thinks of a Christmas person, place, or thing and gives a clue. Start at one end of the group and work your way around giving each child a chance guessing until someone solves the case. Then, think something different and start from the other end of the group. Make your clues just right for the age group. For example, think of a candy cane. Clue one might be, "It's sweet to eat." Clue two might be, "It's red and white." Clue three, "It has a hook to hang on a tree!" Keep it fun, keep it fast, and then everyone claps for the one who guesses it! This is the game I like best. Designate one chair to be The Christmas Chair (if you have a fancy wooden chair, or one you can decorate, so much the better.) Each child takes a turn sitting in The Christmas Chair while the others say three nice things about that child. You pick from those raising their hands to make sure everyone has a chance to say something nice about someone and you make sure everyone has a chance in the chair. This should generate some good feelings all around! I hope you found some fun things to do with these ideas. I'd love to hear if you have any favorites. One last suggestion I'd like to offer is to invite me to your Holiday Party. My 45 minute comedy show is something both your children and teachers will enjoy. Interactive and just right for the age group, it's a program they'll laugh about into the New Year. Oh, and everyone gets a free magic trick giveaway! Please let me know if you'd like a few names of other schools and centers that have had me in the past so you can call them for a first-hand account of the fun. Once you've seen me in action, I'm confident I can add you to that list, too! One last thing. I understand how different schools celebrate the holidays in different ways and, with years of experience and lots of tricks to choose from, I can custom-make a show that's just right for you. With just so many weekdays in December, my availability is limited. About half the open dates are filled already (it's November 1st right now) so please call me to discuss open dates and times by phone. Leave me a message at 860-868-2542 and let me know the best time to reach you. I'll get back to you ASAP! Wishing you all the best this Holiday Season, I look forward to the smiles and laughter of your children! 
To read more about my daycare and preschool programs, go to my Show Page! If you'd like to share these ideas with other schools in an e-mail, please copy and paste them the link to this secret page... http://www.JerrysMagic.com/holidays.html | Back Up to Menu |
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