Christmas Classroom Games for a Class Party, With Rules and Minutes

29 party games for the last week before winter break, each with its rules, its minutes and what it needs.

Show all 29

Penguin Egg ShuffleTeams of 5 or 6, 10 minutes, a beanbag per team. Grades K to 5. A male emperor penguin holds one egg on top of his feet for more than two months of Antarctic winter, and an egg that touches the ice freezes within minutes. Each runner balances a beanbag egg across both feet and shuffles to a line 5 steps away and back. At the handover the next penguin takes the egg foot to foot if they can, and by hand if they cannot. A dropped egg means standing frozen for 5 seconds.

Next step Split the class into teams Pick who goes first

All 29 games

Relays and tossing games 11

Candy Cane Spoon Relay Teams of 5 or 6, 10 minutes, a spoon per team and candy canes twisted from red and white pipe cleaners. Grades K to 5. Twist a red and a white pipe cleaner together and bend the top over to make each cane. A cane is harder to carry than an egg, because the hook hangs over the side of the spoon and swings. Each runner walks the cane to a chair and back with the spoon held out in front, then tips it onto the next spoon without touching it. A dropped cane goes back on where it fell. Pupils take their canes home.
Cotton Ball Snowball Race Heats of 4 to 6, 5 to 10 minutes, a cotton ball and a paper straw for every pupil, and a long table. Grades K to 5. Each racer puts a cotton ball on a start line at one end of the table and blows it to the far end through a straw. No touching it with the straw or a hand. A ball that drops off the side starts again. Short, steady puffs aimed low steer better than one big breath. Everyone keeps their own straw, and the heat winners meet in a final.
Cup Tree Relay Teams of 5, 10 minutes, 15 paper or plastic cups per team. Grades 2 to 8. A tree is a flat pyramid of 15 cups: 5 on the bottom row, then 4, 3, 2 and 1. Leave the cups nested at a far desk. Runners go one at a time, place 3 cups each and tag the next runner. If the tree falls, the runner who knocked it rebuilds it before coming back. The first team with a standing tree and everyone seated wins. Gaps between the bottom cups make every row above them wobble.
Melting Snowmen Whole class, 5 minutes, music you can pause. Grades K to 3. Pupils dance like snowmen while the music plays. When it stops, the sun has come out, and everyone melts to the floor as slowly as they can while you count to 10 aloud. Anyone who is down before 10, or still up after it, judges the next song and then comes back in. It is a freeze game run in slow motion, so it settles a class after the relays instead of winding it up again.
Paper Snowball Fight Whole class, 10 minutes, half a sheet of scrap paper each. Grades 2 to 8. Every pupil writes one review question on a half sheet, with the answer small at the bottom, and crumples it into a snowball. Split the room into two sides. For 30 seconds everyone throws snowballs across the gap, below shoulder height. On the stop signal each pupil picks up the nearest one, opens it and answers it to a neighbor, who checks. Crumple it and go again. After 3 rounds every pupil has answered 3 questions that a classmate wrote.
Penguin Egg Shuffle Teams of 5 or 6, 10 minutes, a beanbag per team. Grades K to 5. A male emperor penguin holds one egg on top of his feet for more than two months of Antarctic winter, and an egg that touches the ice freezes within minutes. Each runner balances a beanbag egg across both feet and shuffles to a line 5 steps away and back. At the handover the next penguin takes the egg foot to foot if they can, and by hand if they cannot. A dropped egg means standing frozen for 5 seconds.
Present Stacking Relay Teams of 5 or 6, 10 minutes, 5 or 6 empty boxes per team. Grades 1 to 6. Pile each team's boxes at a far line. The first runner fetches one box. The second carries that box out, sets another on top and brings both back. Every runner goes out with the whole stack and comes home with one more, hands under the bottom box only and no chin on top. A stack that falls is rebuilt on the spot. The first team to carry all its boxes home wins. Cereal and tissue boxes are fine.
Reindeer Ring Toss Stations of 5 or 6, 10 minutes, an upturned chair and 5 paper plate rings per station. Grades K to 6. Turn a chair upside down on a desk so its 4 legs point up like antlers. Cut the middles out of paper plates to make rings. The two far legs score 2 points and the two near legs score 1. Each pupil throws 5 rings from a line 2 steps away while the next pupil in line keeps score. Move the line back a step for older classes. A flat throw with some spin beats a lob.
Snowball Toss Teams of 5 or 6, 10 minutes, paper or sock snowballs and 3 buckets. Grades K to 5. Set 3 buckets at 3, 5 and 7 steps from a tape line and label them 1, 2 and 3 points. Each pupil throws 3 snowballs underarm, and a teammate adds up the score before collecting them. A snowball that bounces out does not count. Rolled-up white socks fly straighter than crumpled paper. For kindergarten, move the buckets closer and count hits instead of points. The best team total after one lap wins.
Snowman Wrap Teams of 4, 10 minutes, 2 rolls of toilet paper per team and the volunteer's own hat and scarf. Grades 2 to 8. One volunteer per team stands still with arms a little way out. On the signal the other three wrap them from ankles to shoulders in toilet paper, never the face or the neck, then add the volunteer's own hat and scarf. Stop after 3 minutes. Pulling fast tears the paper, so the calm team usually finishes first. An adult from another room judges. The snowmen burst out together, and every team bags its own paper.
Trim the Tree Relay Teams of 5 or 6, 10 to 15 minutes, a paper tree per team, paper ornaments with a word or number on each, and tape. Grades 1 to 6. Draw a large triangle tree for each team and rule it into 3 bands labeled, for example, noun, verb and adjective, or under 50, 50 to 100 and over 100. Stack 15 ornaments face down at the team line. Each runner turns over the top one, runs to the tree and tapes it in the band where it belongs. Score 1 point for each ornament in the right band and 3 for finishing first, so care can beat speed.

Circle and passing games 5

Left and Right Gift Pass Whole class in a circle, 5 to 10 minutes, a small wrapped item for every pupil, such as a pencil or an eraser, and a story you write. Grades 1 to 6. Write a half-page story that uses the words left and right at least 20 times, such as "Mr. Wright left the house right after the snow stopped". Everyone holds one item. Read the story aloud at a steady pace. On left, every item moves one place to the left, and on right it moves back. Words that only sound the same count too, hence the name Wright. At the end, pupils keep the item they hold.
Mitten Unwrap Circles of 6 to 8, 10 to 15 minutes, for each circle a box wrapped in several layers, a die and a pair of thick mittens. Grades 1 to 6. Put the box and the mittens in the middle of each circle. Nothing goes on anyone's head or neck: shared hats and scarves can pass on head lice. Pupils take turns to roll the die. Whoever rolls a 6 goes in, pulls on the mittens and starts unwrapping. They keep going until someone else rolls a 6 and takes over the mittens. Whoever removes the last layer opens the box for the circle to share: stickers or pencils, one each. Tape every layer well.
Pass the Parcel Whole class in a circle, or two circles, 10 to 15 minutes, a prize wrapped in 10 or more layers and music you can pause. Grades K to 5. Wrap a prize the whole class can share, such as a new read-aloud book, in one layer for every 2 or 3 pupils. Tuck a slip between the layers: a riddle, a tune to hum, a stretch for everyone to copy. The parcel goes around while the music plays. When it stops, the holder takes off one layer and does what the slip says. Turn your back before you stop the music, so the stops are not aimed at anyone.
Silent Sleigh Bells Whole class in a seated circle, 5 to 10 minutes, a string of jingle bells. Grades K to 4. One pupil sits in the middle with eyes shut. The circle passes a string of jingle bells from hand to hand, as quietly as it can. After a slow count of 10, say "stop". Whoever has the bells hides them in their lap, and everyone else puts their hands in their laps too. The listener looks up and gets 2 guesses at who holds them. The holder is the next listener. Classes soon learn to cup the bells in both hands, which muffles them.
Twelve Days Memory Chain Circles of 12, 10 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 2 to 6. The Twelve Days of Christmas probably began as a memory game in which a player who slipped paid a forfeit. This version keeps the memory and drops the forfeit. The first pupil says "On the first day of winter break I packed 1 sled". The second repeats that and adds 2 of something, and so on up to 12. A pupil who forgets gets one hint. If that is not enough, the whole circle says the list together and the game carries on. With 24 pupils, run 2 circles.

Guessing and acting games 7

Carol Humming Quiz Teams of 4 or 5, 10 minutes, a list of 10 carols and an answer sheet per team. Grades 2 to 8. Teams number a sheet 1 to 10. A volunteer reads carol number 1 from your list and hums its first two lines with no words. Every team whispers and writes an answer, so all the teams play every round. A new volunteer hums number 2. Swap sheets to mark them. Ten to choose from: Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, Up on the Housetop, O Christmas Tree, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Silent Night, Joy to the World and The First Noel. Swap out any the class has not sung in music lessons. Jingle Bells is an easy start: the tune is simple, and the words never mention Christmas.
Christmas Charades Two teams, 15 minutes, slips in a stocking or a cup. Grades 1 to 8. Write actions, not things, because actions are easier to mime. Ten to start: hanging a star on top of the tree, untangling the lights, wrapping a gift with too little paper, shaking a present to guess what is inside, rolling a snowman's head, pulling a sled uphill, sipping cocoa that is too hot, writing a very long wish list, hanging up a stocking and carrying a tree through a doorway. An actor pulls a slip and mimes it in silence for their own team, who get 45 seconds. A right guess scores 1. If time runs out, the other team has one guess to steal the point. With 1st grade, let two pupils act together.
Jingle Shaker Match Whole class, 10 minutes, a sealed paper cup shaker for every pupil, filled in matching pairs. Grades K to 3. Tape pairs of paper cups together rim to rim with something inside: 1 jingle bell, 3 jingle bells, beads, paper clips, a coin, buttons, sand, pebbles. Make two of each, one shaker per pupil. Pupils walk around shaking and listening, with no talking, until they find the classmate whose shaker sounds the same, then sit down together. Open the cups at the end to check. The matched pairs become partners for the next game.
Pin the Nose on the Snowman Three lines at three posters, 10 to 15 minutes, 3 snowman posters and orange sticky notes. Grades K to 3. Draw a large snowman with no nose on each of 3 sheets of chart paper, so 3 pupils play at once and a class of 25 is done in 10 minutes. Each pupil initials an orange sticky note. In turn, a pupil stands 5 steps back, shuts their eyes and covers them with one hand, turns around once and walks forward to stick the carrot where the nose belongs. The closest carrot on each poster wins. One slow turn is enough, because dizzy pupils fall.
Stocking Feel Whole class, moving between stations, 10 to 15 minutes, 10 numbered socks with an object knotted inside each, and an answer sheet. Grades K to 5. Knot one object inside each long sock: a pine cone, a jingle bell, a ribbon bow, a cookie cutter, a mitten, a bottle cap, a crayon, a key, a spool of thread, a toy car. Lay the socks around the room. Pupils feel each one from the outside only, write a guess beside its number and move on when you ring a bell. Empty the socks one at a time at the end. Kindergarten pupils can draw their guesses.
What's in the Box? Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, a wrapped box with one everyday object inside. Grades K to 5. Put something from the room in a box and wrap it: a stapler, a glue stick, a roll of tape. The class asks questions you can answer only yes or no, up to 15 in all. At any point a pupil may spend 2 of those questions to shake the box once for everyone to hear. Whoever names the object unwraps it and chooses what goes in next. Teach strong openers: is it bigger than my hand?
Winter True or False Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 2 to 8. Read a statement. Pupils stand if they think it is true and stay seated if not, then you give the answer. Nobody is out, and pupils keep score on their fingers. Ten checked statements to read. True: male and female reindeer can both grow antlers, which no other deer do. False: penguins live at the North Pole. No wild penguin lives in the Arctic. True: snow is clear ice that looks white because its many small crystals scatter the light. False: the shortest day in the north is December 25. It is December 21 or 22. True: a snow crystal grows 6 arms, because ice forms in hexagons. False: polar bears live in Antarctica. They live in the Arctic. True: a polar bear has black skin under fur that only looks white. True: the snowshoe hare is brown in summer and white in winter. False: December is winter all over the world. In the Southern Hemisphere it is summer. True: a male emperor penguin keeps the egg on his feet for more than 2 months.

Table, drawing and word games 6

Dreidel Groups of 4 or 5, 10 to 15 minutes, a dreidel per group and 10 counters per player. Grades 1 to 8. Dreidel is a traditional Hanukkah game played with a four-sided top. Everyone puts 1 counter in the pot, then players take turns to spin. The Hebrew letter that lands face up says what to do. Nun: nothing. Gimel: take the whole pot. Hei: take half, rounding up. Shin: put 1 in. When the pot is empty or down to 1, everyone adds a counter. Use buttons or cubes, not chocolate coins, because of allergies. Stop after 10 minutes and count.
Paper Plate Snowman Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, a paper plate and a marker each. Grades K to 8. Everyone holds a paper plate flat on their head and draws on it without looking, one instruction at a time: 3 snowballs stacked up, a hat, 2 eyes and a carrot nose, 2 stick arms, 3 buttons. Then pupils look and score themselves: 2 points if the snowballs touch, 2 if the hat touches the head, 1 if the nose is on the face, 1 for each arm that joins the body, 1 if every button is inside the middle ball. The top score is 8.
Twelve Days Gift Count Pairs or teams of 3, 10 to 15 minutes, paper and a pencil. Grades 4 to 8. In The Twelve Days of Christmas the singer is sent every earlier gift again each day: 1 gift on day 1, then 2 plus 1 on day 2, and so on. How many gifts arrive in all? Teams race to an answer they can explain. The day totals run 1, 3, 6, 10 and on up to 78, and together they make 364. For fast teams: which gift arrives in the greatest number? It is a tie at 42 between the geese and the swans.
Two-Person Gift Wrap Pairs, 10 minutes, for each pair an empty box, wrapping paper or newspaper, tape and a ribbon. Grades 3 to 8. Partners stand side by side with their inside arms linked, so the pair has one left hand and one right hand between them. Together they wrap the box, tape it and tie a ribbon around it, talking as much as they like. Give 5 minutes. Judge on neatness, not speed: folded corners, no box showing, a bow that holds. Cutting is the hard part, so cut the paper to size in advance for 3rd grade.
Winter Word Bingo Whole class, 15 minutes, a blank 5 by 5 grid each and 30 winter words on the board. Grades 1 to 6. Write these 30 words on the board: mitten, icicle, sled, blizzard, igloo, cocoa, scarf, snowflake, frost, penguin, skates, snowman, boots, shovel, fireplace, hibernate, evergreen, flurry, glacier, parka, earmuffs, snowplow, snowball, thermometer, polar bear, blanket, avalanche, toboggan, slush and January. Each pupil copies any 24 into a blank grid, one per square, around a free square in the middle. Because everyone chooses their own words and places, no two cards match. Call the words in a random order, or give older classes a clue, such as "frozen water hanging from a roof". Five in a row wins, and the winner reads the line back.
Winter Word Scramble Race Teams of 3 or 4, 10 minutes, a sheet of 10 scrambled winter words per team. Grades 2 to 6. Give every team the same 10 scrambled words face down. Ten that work: TIMNET (mitten), LOVSHE (shovel), CICEIL (icicle), FRACS (scarf), TORFS (frost), OGOIL (igloo), DRIZZLAB (blizzard), PUNGINE (penguin), NOWMANS (snowman) and SUFFMEAR (earmuffs). On the signal teams turn the sheet over. The first team to bring you 10 correct spellings wins, but a sheet with a mistake goes back without a word about which line is wrong. The pencil changes hands after every word. Longer words are not always harder, because a double letter, as in mitten, gives the word away.

How this list was compiled

Rules written for this site in our own words. Checked on 2026-09-18 with WebFetch against English Wikipedia: how the traditional games are played and that no company owns them (Pass the parcel, Pin the tail on the donkey, Charades, Dreidel), that The Twelve Days of Christmas is cumulative, a song of 364 gifts that probably began as a memory and forfeits game, that the words of Jingle Bells have no mention of Christmas, that the male emperor penguin incubates one egg on his feet for 65 to 75 days, that male and female reindeer may both grow antlers, why snow looks white, and the dates of the winter solstice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_the_parcel, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin_the_tail_on_the_donkey, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charades, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreidel, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bells, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_penguin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reindeer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice. Checked on 2026-09-20 with WebFetch for the ten Winter True or False statements and the head lice note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin (no penguins live in the Arctic), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear (native to the Arctic, black skin, fur with no pigment), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake (six arms from a hexagonal ice crystal, clear ice that looks white), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowshoe_hare (brown in summer, white in winter), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter (winter in the north is summer in the Southern Hemisphere), https://www.cdc.gov/lice/about/head-lice.html (hats and scarves are both on the CDC list of shared clothing that may spread head lice, which is why Mitten Unwrap uses mittens only). The word lists printed in the rules (30 bingo words, 10 scrambles, 10 carol titles, 10 charades actions) are our own, and each scramble was checked to use exactly the letters of its word. The gift arithmetic (364 in all, 42 geese and 42 swans) was worked twice. Games with no article of their own (Snowball Toss, Candy Cane Spoon Relay, Snowman Wrap, Reindeer Ring Toss, Present Stacking Relay, Cotton Ball Snowball Race, Paper Snowball Fight, Melting Snowmen, Penguin Egg Shuffle, Cup Tree Relay, Trim the Tree Relay, Mitten Unwrap, Left and Right Gift Pass, Silent Sleigh Bells, Carol Humming Quiz, What's in the Box?, Stocking Feel, Winter True or False, Jingle Shaker Match, Paper Plate Snowman, Winter Word Bingo, Winter Word Scramble Race, Two-Person Gift Wrap) are described from common classroom and party practice. No game uses food or candy: the candy canes are pipe cleaners and Dreidel is played with buttons. Minutes, group sizes and grade ranges are our advice, not measurements. Licence: own work

How it works

These Christmas classroom games are planned for a class party of about 25 pupils in one room. All 29 are printed below. No game uses food, and 15 never mention a holiday.

Read the full guide

Winter games for a room where not everyone keeps Christmas

Choose Winter games, no holiday in the All games menu for 15 games about snow, mittens and penguins, with no tree and no Santa. Those are the winter classroom games to use when families in your room keep different holidays, or none. For holiday classroom games from more than one tradition, Dreidel is on the list too: a Hanukkah game, played here with buttons.

Planning 45 minutes of party games

For winter party classroom games, plan 3 or 4 and order them from loud to quiet. Open with Cup Tree Relay while energy is high, move to a circle for Pass the Parcel, and close at desks with Winter Word Bingo. That plan needs cups, a wrapped parcel, music, blank bingo grids and pencils.

Fun Christmas classroom games keep everyone playing: in Melting Snowmen, a pupil who is caught judges one song and then plays again.
Run relays in teams of 5 or 6. The random group generator makes the teams in one press.
Give each parent helper one station. Reindeer Ring Toss and Snowball Toss both work as stations that small groups visit in turn.

Questions and answers

Which Christmas games work for kindergarten and 1st grade?

Choose Kindergarten and 1st grade in the All games menu, which keeps 20 of the 29. The best have a single rule: Melting Snowmen, Penguin Egg Shuffle and Stocking Feel, where pupils draw their guesses. For Snowball Toss, move the buckets closer.

Are there Christmas party games for middle school?

Yes, 18 of the 29. Older pupils want a contest or a puzzle. Twelve Days Gift Count asks teams how many gifts the song delivers, and the answer is 364. Two-Person Gift Wrap gives each pair one left hand and one right hand.

What can I play with no supplies at all?

Two games need nothing. In Winter True or False you read 10 checked statements from this page, and pupils stand if they think one is true. Twelve Days Memory Chain goes around a circle, each pupil repeating the list and adding to it.