A Christmas party provides a nice background for kids to socialize with one another. However, every seasoned ministry leader knows expecting kids to entertain themselves is a recipe for disaster. This is especially true if sugar is involved! Keep your children’s church Christmas party on the “straight and narrow” by breaking up social time with fun party games. Enjoy these holiday games at your party or during a special Christmas class or Jesus Birthday Party.
Christmas Gift Relay
Ask children’s church volunteers to help you prepare this game. You will need two sets of wrapped empty gift boxes. If possible, pick boxes in a comparable size. Leave off the bows and ribbons. Mark two lines on the floor with duct tape, one for the start and one for the finish. If you can’t mark the floor then just explain to children where the lines are.
Stack up the boxes at the finish line. Divide your children into two groups and line them behind the start line. Start the music or blow a whistle to signal when to start. At your signal the first child takes a gift box and runs to the finish line. He runs back and tags the next child. This continues until all the boxes are stacked up at the opposite end. If the boxes fall over, they have to start over at the start line. The first group to stack the gift boxes across the finish line wins. If this seems too easy for your group, add a second leg to the race. Ask the kids to bring the boxes back to the start line after they have all been stacked at the finish.
Shepherd and Sheep
This game is kind of like Blind Man’s Bluff. Pick one child to be the shepherd and the rest of the class will be sheep. If you have a large group pick four or five children to play at a time. Blindfold one child. He will be the shepherd. Spread the other children around the room. Once the game starts, have the children “baa” like sheep. The sheep cannot move from their spot but they can duck and bend at the waist.
Once the shepherd locates a sheep, he reaches out to touch them. If he touches a sheep, the sheep becomes the shepherd.
Christmas Word Scramble
Print two copies of the word, “Merry Christmas” letter by letter. Pick two volunteers for this game. Have a grown up stand with each group holding a notebook. Give each set of children one to two minutes to write make as many words as they can with their phrase. When the time is up, declare a winner.
