We had an awesome homeschool Christmas party for our co-op this past year! Here are some of the fun ideas and games that our group did together that the kids loved. These are very simple and inexpensive Christmas games to put together, and they get the kids moving! And most of these are probably new Christmas games you haven’t heard of before!
Giving Back
If we are indoors, it’s nice to have a craft for the kids to start on and then they’ll have something to do while we wait for all the kiddos to arrive. I feel it’s important to have the kids involved in something to give back to the community or help others somehow, so we decided we’d make handmade Christmas cards and deliver them to a local nursing home. All the cards they made were beautiful, and the nursing home residents appreciated the gesture. These are the blank cards I like to use because they are thick, good quality, come in blank packs, and are easy to paint or craft on.
Icebreaker
For an icebreaker, we sat in a circle and I asked the kids, “What is your favorite Christmas tradition?” (Other than opening presents.) It’s nice to hear what different traditions families have and how we all celebrate a bit differently.
Santa’s Beard Game!
Now for the fun stuff! This game is awesome, messy, and great for all ages! All you need is shaving cream, plastic cups, plastic spoons, and possibly a blindfold. I put shower curtains on the floor to catch any mess, but surprisingly our kiddos managed to keep the floor pretty clean. Or you can do this outside if it’s not freezing.
- Put the kids in groups of 2-3.
- Then put the shaving cream and plastic spoon in a cup for each group. Ask the kids who is ok with getting messy, and they will be the ones who the beard goes on.
- Next, another kiddo puts a “shaving cream beard” on with the back of the spoon. Next, another kiddo (or the same one) can “shave” Santa’s beard off with the inside of the plastic spoon, moving the spoon downward, and putting the shaving cream back in the cup. If you want to make this extra fun (and messy!) or have older kids, blindfold the kiddo who is “shaving” off the beard.
- Lastly, the messy kiddos can rinse off in the sink.
The kids LOVED this game! Half of them wanted to do it again! This is a perfect Christmas party activity for all the kids! The kids who want to get messy can get messy and the kids who want to stay clean can stay clean and still participate.
Read a Heart-Warming Christmas Story
We sometimes read a story while the kids have their snacks. And of course, a Christmas story is fitting for a homeschool Christmas party. We read A Whisper in the Snow. A Whisper in the Snow is a heart-warming story about forest animals who find a lost stuffed bear in the woods and then find a way to return it to the child who was missing it, just in time for Christmas. My son liked this book so much that I had to add it to our home library.
Candy Cane Relay Race!
All you need for this game is 2 candy canes and 4 little orange cones (I got the little cones at the Dollar Store, you can use these for all types of games).
- We had the kids line up in 2 lines, each with the same amount of kids.
- Set one cone in front of each line and then another cone across whatever distance they can run around and back.
- The runner holds the candy cane, runs to and around the cone and back, and then passes the candy cane to the next runner in line. And so on until all the kiddos get a chance to run.
- The team that finishes first wins!
- At the end of the game, each kiddo gets a candy cane! The candy cane was the kids’ sweet treat for the day.
Snowball Toss! (or “Snow” Cotton ball toss)
This game is super easy, and if you have snow you literally need no materials for this one.
- Have the kids pair up in twos and stand across from each other, just two feet apart.
- If you live in a place with snow, have each pair of kids make one medium snowball.
- If you live in a place like Florida, without snow, give one “snowball” (i.e. cotton ball) to each pair. When we played this game there wasn’t any snow on the ground, so we used cotton balls and pretended they were snowballs. Of course, using real snowballs would be best.
- The kids stand across from each other a short distance, and have them gently toss the snowball to each other. Each time they toss it, one person takes a step back, so they have to toss it a bit farther each time.
- The goal is not to drop and break the snowball! Again, we used cotton balls and were pretending. The kiddos went back and forth and still had loads of fun! If you can play with real snow, the pair that is the farthest with an intact snowball wins the game!
Christmas Balloon Uppies!
Last but not least, the Christmas Balloon Uppies game was a hit! Balloons are the best for all kinds of games. I took some Christmas-colored balloons and drew Christmas decorations on them with a Sharpie; Christmas trees, snowflakes, gingerbread men, etc. Then the kids had to all work together to keep the balloons off of the ground! I think we had 3 or 4 balloons for a group of 14. So easy, and the kids were all bonkers for this game. This is also a great game to burn some energy.
List of Supplies for Homeschool Christmas Party:
- Blank Cards
- Markers/ stickers (for kids to make cards)
- Christmas Story (A Whisper in the Snow)
- Shaving Cream
- Plastic cups
- Plastic Spoons
- Blindfolds (optional)
- Old Shower Curtains or trash bags (for possible floor mess)
- Candy Canes– enough for all the kids in the group
- 4 orange cones
- Cotton Balls (if real snow isn’t available)
- Red & Green Balloons 4 (plus extra in case any pop)
I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas! And I hope these games inject some Christmas fun and play into your next homeschool Christmas party! If you enjoyed these fun homeschool Christmas party ideas for your co-op check out Awesome Educational Gift Ideas, for ages 5-8!
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