Jolly Jingles & Giggles: 20+ Fun Christmas Games for Kids at School
Table of Contents
- Introduction to Festive Classroom Fun
- Active & Engaging Christmas Relay Races
- Quiet & Cooperative Christmas Games for the Classroom
- Creative & Crafty Christmas Activities
- Integrating Learning and Communication with Play
- Conclusion: A Season of Joyful Communication
- Frequently Asked Questions
The holidays bring a unique buzz to every classroom. As the scent of gingerbread fills the air and anticipation for winter break builds, children’s energy levels often soar, sometimes making it challenging to keep them engaged in traditional lessons. What if we told you that the secret to a joyful and productive pre-holiday classroom lies not in battling this excitement, but in embracing it with purposeful play?
At Speech Blubs, we believe deeply in the power of play as a fundamental tool for learning and development. Our mission is to empower children to “speak their minds and hearts,” a journey often best fostered through joyful, interactive experiences. This festive season, we’ve gathered a sleigh-full of fun Christmas games for kids at school, designed to transform that pre-holiday energy into positive, skill-building activities. These games aren’t just about fun; they’re thoughtfully chosen to encourage communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and fine motor skills, all while celebrating the spirit of the season. Get ready to sprinkle some magic into your classroom, foster connection, and create lasting memories that subtly reinforce crucial developmental milestones.
Introduction to Festive Classroom Fun
Imagine the sheer delight on children’s faces as they enter a classroom transformed into a winter wonderland, not just with decorations, but with stations buzzing with laughter and activity. This isn’t just a dream – it’s an achievable reality that can make the last days before Christmas break some of the most memorable of the school year. While some might view classroom games as merely a time-filler, we understand them as vital opportunities for holistic development. From strengthening expressive language to refining social cues, and from boosting confidence to fostering a sense of belonging, these festive activities offer far more than just momentary amusement.
This guide will provide you with a comprehensive collection of over 20 engaging Christmas games, perfect for children of all ages in a school setting. We’ll explore activities that get kids moving, games that challenge their minds, and creative projects that spark imagination. Each suggestion comes with practical tips to ensure smooth execution, minimal stress for teachers, and maximum fun for students. We’ll also highlight how these seemingly simple games can subtly support communication development, a core value at Speech Blubs. So, put on your festive thinking cap, because we’re about to dive into a world of holiday cheer where every game is a chance to learn, connect, and thrive.
Active & Engaging Christmas Relay Races
Relay races are fantastic for getting kids up and moving, building team spirit, and working on coordination and following multi-step directions. They’re also incredibly adaptable for various age groups and classroom sizes.
Snowball Relay
How to Play: Divide students into teams. Give the first player on each team a spoon and a “snowball” (a cotton ball or mini marshmallow). The object is to walk (or skip, or hop!) across the room, around a designated marker (like a decorated box or a small Christmas tree), and back to their team, passing the spoon and snowball to the next person. If the snowball drops, they simply pick it up and continue. No touching the snowball with hands! Developmental Benefits: Enhances gross motor skills, balance, hand-eye coordination, and patience. Encourages verbal encouragement among teammates. Classroom Connection: For children who might struggle with fine motor control, this is a fun, low-pressure way to practice. The shared laughter and encouragement from peers also build social confidence, helping every child feel part of the team.
Dress the Snowman Relay
How to Play: Each team designates one “snowman” player who stands at the other end of the room. The rest of the team are the “dressers.” You’ll need two sets of snowman attire: a hat, scarf, and mittens. One dresser from each team races down, puts one item on their snowman, races back, and tags the next dresser. The process continues until the snowman is fully dressed. To extend the game, they can then undress the snowman in the same relay fashion. Developmental Benefits: Promotes fine and gross motor skills, teamwork, sequencing (dressing in order), and quick thinking. It also offers opportunities for descriptive language, as children might exclaim, “Put on the hat!” or “Grab the scarf!”
Present Run
How to Play: Create “present shoes” by cutting foot-sized holes in the top of four wrapped shoeboxes (two for each team). Students step into these boxes and shuffle across the room like they’re skating on ice, around a marker, and back to tag the next teammate. Developmental Benefits: Great for balance, coordination, and following instructions. The novelty of the “shoes” often sparks imaginative play and communication about the activity.
Ornament on a Stirrer Stick Relay
How to Play: Give each student a coffee stirrer stick to hold between their teeth. The object is to pass a small, lightweight ornament (with a pipe cleaner loop on top for easier catching) from one person’s stick to the next, without using hands. Remind students to be careful of each other’s eyes and keep the ornament below nose level. Developmental Benefits: An excellent exercise for oral motor control, focus, and gentle cooperation. This activity requires precise movements and careful communication, promoting non-verbal cues and understanding.
Rudolph’s Sticker Nose Relay
How to Play: Place a large red circular sticker on the nose of the first child in each team line. They must carefully peel the sticker off their nose using only their fingers (no hands!) and stick it onto the nose of the person behind them. That person then repeats the action, passing the nose down the line. Developmental Benefits: Fantastic for fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and careful manipulation. It’s also a wonderfully silly game that encourages giggles and lighthearted interaction.
Fill the Stockings Relay
How to Play: Hang two stockings at the end of the room, one for each team. Give each child a small item like a block or unifix cube. The first child puts their item on a wooden spoon, races down to their team’s stocking, drops it in, and races back to pass the spoon to the next person. Developmental Benefits: Works on speed, agility, and concentration. The repetitive action with a clear goal can be very satisfying for children and reinforces the concept of “filling.”
Santa Limbo
How to Play: Use a string of Christmas lights or a decorated broomstick as the limbo bar. Play festive music. Have students “stuff” a small pillow under their shirts to mimic Santa’s jolly belly (optional, but adds to the fun!). Two adults or older students hold the “bar,” lowering it slightly with each round. Developmental Benefits: Promotes flexibility, balance, and gross motor skills. The music and visual cues encourage expressive movement and joy.
Frosty Freeze Dance
How to Play: Play upbeat Christmas music and have everyone dance freely. When the music stops, everyone must freeze in place. Anyone caught moving is out, until only one “Frosty” champion remains. Developmental Benefits: Encourages listening skills, self-regulation, body awareness, and creative movement. It’s a fantastic energy burner that also practices impulse control.
Elf, Elf, Santa
How to Play: A festive twist on “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Children sit in a circle while one child walks around tapping heads, saying “Elf, Elf…” until they choose someone to be “Santa!” That child then chases the “picker” around the circle to try and tag them before they sit in the empty spot. Developmental Benefits: Promotes gross motor skills (running, chasing), turn-taking, and social interaction. It’s a classic game that encourages enthusiastic vocalizations.
Reindeer Antler Ring Toss
How to Play: Use inflatable reindeer antlers worn by a volunteer or placed on a stand. Students take turns tossing small, lightweight rings (or even decorated pool noodles cut into circles) to hook onto the antlers. Developmental Benefits: Improves hand-eye coordination, depth perception, and throwing skills. It also involves counting and celebrating successes, fostering positive social reinforcement.
Snowman Slam Game
How to Play: Decorate empty plastic cups or soda bottles to look like snowmen. Stack them in a pyramid. Students take turns rolling or gently throwing a soft ball (or “snowball”) to knock down the snowman tower. Developmental Benefits: Develops aim, force control, and spatial awareness. It’s a satisfying game that can also be adapted for collaborative play to build the tower back up.
Quiet & Cooperative Christmas Games for the Classroom
Sometimes, a change of pace is needed. These games are perfect for encouraging focus, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving, without too much running around.
Christmas Bingo
How to Play: Provide students with pre-made Christmas-themed bingo cards and caller cards. Use festive markers like mini marshmallows or small candies. Play for a line or a full card. Developmental Benefits: Enhances listening skills, vocabulary recognition, and visual discrimination. It’s a low-pressure way to practice focus and concentration.
Christmas Charades or Headbands
How to Play: Prepare cards with holiday-themed words or phrases (e.g., “decorate a tree,” “sing carols,” “Santa Claus,” “reindeer”). Students take turns acting out the word silently while their classmates guess. For Headbands, one student holds a card to their forehead (without looking) and asks yes/no questions to guess what they are. Developmental Benefits: Boosts non-verbal communication, expressive movement, vocabulary, and deductive reasoning. For children who are developing their verbal skills, charades offers a powerful avenue for expression. It provides a unique opportunity to use body language to convey meaning, building confidence even before words fully emerge. For example, a child working on expressive language can use the “act it out” format to communicate complex ideas, building confidence and reducing frustration often associated with limited vocabulary. When they see their peers understand their actions, it reinforces the power of communication, a core part of our mission at Speech Blubs.
Christmas Scavenger Hunt
How to Play: Hide holiday-themed picture cards or riddles around the classroom. Students work individually or in pairs to find the items and mark them off their list. You can make it simpler by just matching pictures or more challenging with riddles. Developmental Benefits: Encourages problem-solving, observational skills, reading comprehension (if using riddles), and teamwork. It’s a fantastic way to engage curious minds. For students learning new vocabulary, identifying specific items provides practical context.
Christmas Word Search, Crosswords, & Scramble
How to Play: Provide holiday-themed word search puzzles, crosswords, or word scrambles. These can be done individually or in small groups. Developmental Benefits: Reinforces spelling, vocabulary, pattern recognition, and critical thinking. They are excellent for quiet, focused work that still feels festive and fun. For a child expanding their vocabulary, these word games reinforce recognition and spelling of holiday terms. This foundational skill supports stronger language development.
Holiday Memory Game
How to Play: Create matching pairs of Christmas-themed pictures on cards. Shuffle and lay them face down. Students take turns flipping two cards to find a match. Developmental Benefits: Sharpens memory skills, concentration, and visual recognition. It’s a calm yet engaging game perfect for small groups.
Christmas Movie Bingo / Trivia
How to Play: For Bingo, create cards with common movie tropes (e.g., “someone sings a carol,” “Santa appears,” “a snowy scene,” “a gift is unwrapped”). As you watch a short, family-friendly Christmas movie clip, students mark off squares. For Trivia, prepare questions about popular Christmas movies. Developmental Benefits: Enhances listening comprehension, attention to detail, and general knowledge. It’s a great way to combine screen time with active engagement, which is something we champion at Speech Blubs through our “smart screen time” approach.
Guess the Number of Candies
How to Play: Fill a clear jar with festive candies (peppermints, M&Ms). Students write down their guess for how many candies are inside. The closest guess wins a small prize or a handful of candies. Developmental Benefits: Develops estimation skills, number sense, and patience. It’s a simple icebreaker that engages everyone.
Holiday Tic-Tac-Toe
How to Play: Draw tic-tac-toe grids on small whiteboards or paper. Use festive markers like mini candy canes and small red/green buttons. Developmental Benefits: Introduces strategic thinking, pattern recognition, and logical reasoning in a simple, accessible format.
Santa Says (Christmas Simon Says)
How to Play: The teacher (or a student playing “Santa”) gives commands, but students only follow if the command begins with “Santa Says…” For example, “Santa Says touch your nose,” or “Wiggle your fingers” (which they shouldn’t do). Developmental Benefits: Reinforces listening skills, impulse control, and understanding of instructions. The novelty of “Santa Says” adds a fun, festive twist.
Twenty Questions – Holiday Edition
How to Play: Secretly choose a holiday-themed person, place, or thing. Students ask up to twenty “yes” or “no” questions to figure out the answer. Developmental Benefits: Encourages critical thinking, deductive reasoning, and question formation. It’s excellent for practicing descriptive language and narrowing down possibilities.
Finish The Lyric / Name That Christmas Song
How to Play: Play short snippets of popular Christmas songs and pause. Students race to either finish the lyric or correctly name the song. Developmental Benefits: Boosts auditory memory, recognition of patterns in language, and expands vocabulary related to music. It’s a joyful way to engage with language and culture.
How Many Words Relay (Merry Christmas Scramble)
How to Play: Divide students into teams. Give each team a whiteboard or large paper and pens. Challenge them to write down as many words as they can make using only the letters from “Merry Christmas” within a set time limit (e.g., 3-5 minutes). Developmental Benefits: Enhances vocabulary, spelling, and collaborative problem-solving. It’s a quiet, engaging activity that works well in groups.
Creative & Crafty Christmas Activities
These activities allow for artistic expression while still fostering important developmental skills. They’re perfect for individual work or collaborative projects.
Pin the Nose on Rudolph / Pin the Star on the Tree
How to Play: A classic party game with a holiday twist! Print a large picture of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (or a Christmas tree) and separate red noses (or yellow stars). Blindfold students, spin them gently, and have them try to pin the nose on Rudolph (or the star on the tree) as close to the target as possible. Developmental Benefits: Improves spatial awareness, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. It’s also a fantastic way to encourage laughter and playful competition.
Christmas Coloring + Activity Packs
How to Play: Provide students with holiday-themed coloring pages, word searches, I-spy activities, or mazes. These can be used as quiet activities, early finisher tasks, or as part of a rotation of festive stations. Developmental Benefits: Enhances fine motor skills, creativity, focus, and visual discrimination. It’s a calming activity that can help regulate energy levels.
Christmas Cards
How to Play: Provide various art supplies (construction paper, glitter, stickers, markers) and encourage students to create custom holiday cards for friends, family, or even staff members. Developmental Benefits: Fosters creativity, fine motor skills, and written expression. It’s a meaningful activity that promotes kindness and personal connection. This is also a perfect opportunity for children to practice articulating their thoughts and feelings through written messages, which directly supports our mission to help children express themselves authentically.
Oh, Christmas Tree (Collaborative Decoration)
How to Play: Tape a large paper Christmas tree outline to a wall or board. Provide students with construction paper, scissors, glue, and other craft supplies. Challenge them to create their own “ornaments” to add to the collaborative tree throughout the day or week. Developmental Benefits: Encourages teamwork, creativity, fine motor skills, and a sense of shared accomplishment. It transforms the classroom into a collective art project.
Integrating Learning and Communication with Play
As you implement these joyful games, remember that every interaction is a chance for a child to grow, especially in their communication skills. At Speech Blubs, we understand that language development is a holistic journey, woven into the fabric of everyday experiences. These games offer organic moments for children to:
- Practice Expressive Language: Describing actions in charades, explaining rules in relay races, or guessing answers in trivia.
- Enhance Receptive Language: Following multi-step directions, listening to clues in a scavenger hunt, or understanding questions in “Santa Says.”
- Develop Social Communication: Taking turns, negotiating, offering encouragement, and responding to peers during cooperative games.
- Build Confidence: Succeeding in a task, receiving positive feedback, and contributing to a team’s success. For a child who might be a “late talker,” the joy and success in these games can be incredibly motivating. This positive reinforcement, in a fun and supportive environment, is precisely what helps build foundational communication skills and confidence. This is very much aligned with the Speech Blubs approach, which provides an immediate, effective, and joyful solution for the 1 in 4 children who need speech support.
- Reduce Frustration: Engaging in low-pressure, enjoyable activities where the focus is on participation and fun, rather than perfect performance.
Our company was born from the personal experiences of our founders, who all grew up with speech problems and created the tool they wished they had. We know firsthand the challenges children and families face. That’s why we’ve developed tools like our quick 3-minute preliminary screener – a simple assessment that helps parents understand their child’s communication development and offers a next-steps plan. It’s a perfect bridge from the fun of the classroom to targeted support at home.
When the school day ends, the learning doesn’t have to. You can encourage families to continue building these skills with “smart screen time” at home. Our app uses a unique “video modeling” methodology, where children learn by watching and imitating their peers. This approach is backed by extensive research and has earned us a top-tier MARS scale rating, proving that engaging play and scientific principles can go hand-in-hand. This is a powerful supplement to a child’s overall development plan and can be a wonderful way to reinforce skills practiced during classroom games.
For a parent whose 3-year-old “late talker” loves animals, the “Animal Kingdom” section within Speech Blubs offers a fun, motivating way to practice “moo” and “baa” sounds by watching and imitating children their own age. This kind of targeted, engaging practice at home can significantly boost the foundational skills that classroom games help introduce. It’s also a fantastic way to create joyful family learning moments, turning passive screen time into interactive, developmental play.
Many parents have shared their success stories with us, highlighting how our app has helped their children find their voices. While we don’t guarantee immediate public speaking prowess, we promise a process that fosters a love for communication, builds confidence, reduces frustration, and develops key foundational skills.
Conclusion: A Season of Joyful Communication
The holiday season offers a unique opportunity to infuse your classroom with joy, laughter, and purposeful play. These fun Christmas games for kids at school are more than just entertainment; they are vehicles for learning, connection, and the subtle development of crucial communication and social-emotional skills. By embracing the festive spirit through engaging activities, you create a vibrant learning environment where every child feels empowered to participate and shine.
As children grow and explore the world around them, having the tools to express themselves is invaluable. We at Speech Blubs are dedicated to supporting this journey, both through resources like this blog and our innovative app. We believe every child deserves the chance to “speak their minds and hearts,” and often, that journey begins with a joyful game or an encouraging interaction.
Ready to bring more purposeful play and communication support into your child’s life? We invite you to experience the Speech Blubs difference. Get started today and embark on a journey of playful learning and confident communication. You can download Speech Blubs on the App Store or Google Play Store to begin your 7-day free trial.
For the best value and access to all our incredible features, choose our Yearly plan. At just $59.99 per year (breaking down to $4.99/month), you save 66% compared to the Monthly plan, which is $14.99 per month. The Yearly plan isn’t just cheaper; it includes a 7-day free trial, the extra Reading Blubs app, early access to new updates, and 24-hour support response time. The Monthly plan does not offer these enhanced benefits. Don’t miss out on the full suite of tools designed to empower your child’s speech journey. Create your account and begin your 7-day free trial today by selecting the Yearly plan!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: How can Christmas games support speech development in the classroom?
A1: Christmas games naturally create opportunities for children to practice various aspects of speech and language. For instance, games like “Santa Says” or “Finish the Lyric” enhance listening skills and auditory memory. Charades encourage non-verbal communication and expressive language, while team games promote social interaction, turn-taking, and verbal encouragement. Many games also build vocabulary related to the holiday season. The playful, low-pressure environment helps children feel more comfortable experimenting with new words and communication styles.
Q2: Are these games suitable for all ages and abilities in a classroom setting?
A2: Yes, many of these games are highly adaptable. For younger children, you can simplify rules, use more visual cues, and focus on basic concepts. For older children, you can add complexities like riddles in scavenger hunts, more challenging vocabulary in word games, or multi-step instructions in relays. The key is to modify the games to meet the developmental stage and learning needs of your specific students. Collaborative activities are especially beneficial as they allow children of different abilities to contribute in their own ways.
Q3: What if I have limited time to prepare these games?
A3: Many of the suggested games require minimal preparation. Activities like “Santa Says,” “Frosty Freeze Dance,” “Elf, Elf, Santa,” or “Finish the Lyric” need virtually no materials. For others, simple printables (bingo, word searches) or readily available classroom items (spoons, cotton balls, paper) are sufficient. Focus on a few key games that resonate with your class and can be set up quickly. The goal is engagement and fun, not elaborate setups.
Q4: How can Speech Blubs complement these classroom activities?
A4: Speech Blubs serves as an excellent complementary tool to reinforce the communication skills practiced during classroom games. While games foster in-person interaction, Speech Blubs offers engaging, “smart screen time” at home that uses video modeling to help children imitate peers, practice sounds, and expand vocabulary. For example, a child who enjoyed acting out “animals” in charades might love practicing animal sounds and names in the Speech Blubs app. It provides a structured, joyful, and scientifically-backed way to continue speech development in a fun, interactive environment, turning passive viewing into active learning and strengthening family connection.