Best Christmas Party Games for Kids

Best Christmas party games for kids? How about getting some green and red towels, and having them do the dishes? Or for each 15 minutes they spend cleaning their rooms, they get a gold star on their Christmas stockings?

Awww, readers, does my brashness have you feeling sorry for the little ones? Don't despair, we're going to plan some fun Christmas party games for kids.

Santa Says

Few children play "Simon Says" nowadays. One reason may be, who in the heck is Simon? No, we're not talking about that jerk on American Idol. At any rate, "Santa Says" is a Christmas party game for kids that might work a whole lot better than "Simon Says," because if kids are familiar with any celebrity in this world, it's Santa Claus.

In the typical Simon Says, now Santa Says, one child tells another to do stuff, such as, "Santa says hop on one foot." And then, "Santa says stop." Or, simply "Stop" without saying "Santa" first, which is the whole point of the game. That's great, because kids are especially in need of physical fitness these days.

But we can go a little deeper with our new Christmas party game for kids, and turn Santa Says into a talk-talk game. One kid might direct another, for example, "Santa says to explain why Santa should bring you gifts on Christmas morning." Etc.

Or, Santa Says can delve into educational subjects, with the youngsters asking one another questions such as, "Santa says, explain why pi is an irrational number whose value cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction m/n, where m and n are integers." ..... Okay, so we want our questions to be a little more simple than that, but you get the point.

Christmas Party Memory Game

We've purchased a nice supply of Christmas stocking stuffers for all the kids. Fantastic. But instead of just stuffing them into the stockings, why not use them for a Christmas party game for kids? Specifically, the Christmas Memory Game.

These can simply be 10-cent or dollar items: Small crayon boxes, mini coloring books, fun-sized candy bars, fast-food gift certificates, little toy cars, and so forth.

We can use any quantity we desire, but a recommended number is somewhere from 12 to 20, the higher quantity for higher ages (or for smarter kids, lol). Place the items on a big tray or a cookie sheet. Give the kids a good look-see for maybe 30 seconds, or a full minute. Have them close their eyes, no cheating, as you remove a pair of items. Ask if they can identify the items that now are missing, taking turns so that certain children don't dominate.

We can award the various goodies as prizes. Of course, then we'll have to go buy more stocking stuffers, but what the heck, this is a Christmas party game, and Christmas is for kids.

Read-Aloud Christmas Book Game

For this Christmas party game for kids, we purchase some children's books, two of each title. The kids gather in a circle and as we begin to read aloud to them, we give the other copy of the book to one of the children. Each time we get to a chosen word, for example maybe "dog," the child holding the book passes it to the child on the right. There should be plenty of times to pass the book, because in the best books for small children, specific words are repeated in order to reinforce learning.

At the end of the story, the child holding the book gets to keep it, and we can award the book we are holding to another one of the children. This will help to ensure that each youngster receives a book.

Of course, these stories need to be short, or else we'll be reading for a real long time. So, don't pick anything by Tolstoy.

The children will love these Christmas party games for kids, and at the same time, they'll be learning at the same time.

SOURCES

Author's ideas

http://holidays.kaboose.com/xmas-party.html

http://www.essortment.com/all/christmasparty_rfnr.htm

http://www.christmastimeclipart.com/guide/Party-Ideas/Childrens-Party.html