When it comes to holiday classroom parties, do you prefer a free for all style of party or a calmer, more organized party? I am all about keeping classroom parties simple, making them easy to manage, and letting parents help as much as possible. One way to bring some (organized) fun in the classroom no matter what your style might be is through quick and easy games. To help make planning your holiday party a breeze, I put together 13 top Christmas Minute to Win It games for the classroom.
I would suggest that you first pick out your favorite Christmas Minute to Win It games for your party. Then, set each game up as a station for students to rotate through in small groups. This helps keep the students calmer and the games more organized.
To keep the students calmer and the games organized, have students rotate through the Christmas Minute to Win It games in small groups. You can ask parents to help lead each station and reset it as needed. To make it even easier for you, I put all of the games into one free printable for you to have handy! Now let’s dive into my favorite games for classroom holiday parties!
Materials: a bowl of holiday candy like Hershey’s kisses, 2 chopsticks per participant, one empty bowl per participant
How to Play: Using chopsticks, students will race to see how many Hershey’s kisses they can transfer to their empty bowl in one minute. Whoever has the most candy in their bowl wins.
Materials: Narrow box, or paper box lid, Twigs from your yard, brown construction paper, eyes and nose printable, 6 pipe cleaners per team, glue stick, scissors
How to Play: Create a reindeer out of the box and twigs (detailed how-to HERE). Students will race to build 3 rings per team with pipe cleaners (2 pipe cleaners for each ring). Then, students will race to see who can get all of their rings tossed onto the reindeer in one minute. The first team to get their rings on the reindeer wins.
Materials: one gingerbread cookie per student
How to Play: Each student gets one gingerbread cookie. Starting with the cookie on their foreheads, students will race to wiggle the cookie into their mouths only using their faces. Whoever gets the cookie into their mouth wins.
Materials: tweezers, pom poms, jars
How to Play: Give each student playing tweezers, pom poms, and a jar. Have students use tweezers to place white pom poms of various sizes into a jar. The student with the most pom poms in a jar after one minute wins!
Materials: wrapped boxes/gifts (these could also be class gifts if you do those!), oven mitts
How to Play: Wearing oven mitts, students will race to see who can open their present the fastest.
Materials: toilet paper, a hat, and a scarf
How to Play: Put students in teams of two to three. One person will be the snowman, and the other teammates will race to wrap the “snowman” in toilet paper and add accessories. Whichever team that has the most complete snowman after one minute wins.
Materials: one large jingle bell per participant, one spoon per student
How to Play: Line a few students up with a jingle bell on a spoon in their mouth. Students will race to the finish line without dropping the jingle bell. If it falls, they must collect their bell and go back to the starting line and try again. The first student to cross the finish line wins.
Materials: a blindfold for each team, a box, premeasured gift wrap, tape OR a box, gift bag, tissue paper
How to Play: Give each student/team the materials above. Blindfold each student who is competing. Students will race to wrap the box in one minute. Whoever has the best wrapped gift wins.
Materials: garland or ribbon, candy canes
How to Play: Hang garland or ribbon between two chairs facing back to back. Then, students will stand on (or next to) the chairs and try to drop candy canes onto the garland or ribbon. Whoever has the most candy canes hanging on the ribbon or garland after one minute wins.
Materials: tissue box, jingle bells, something to tie the tissue box around the waist
How to Play: Place three jingle bells into the tissue box and tie it around each participant’s waist. Then, players will have to use their hips to shake out all of the jingle bells. The first player to empty the box wins.
Supplies: 2 rolls of white crepe paper per player
How to Play: (Just like “Paper Dragon”) Each player holds the beginning of the crepe paper in each hand. The first to unroll both onto their hands/arms wins. Hint- Because this game requires so many rolls of crepe paper, you might make this a two-player only game by randomly drawing two students’ names to play. Or you could have two adults pair off to play and have the students cheer them on (teacher vs principal, room mom, or aide).
Materials: 10 Christmas cards per team
How to Play: Each set of partners gets 10 Christmas cards. Teams will race to see who can build the tallest house out of the Christmas cards in one minute. Whichever team has the tallest house wins.
Materials: 1 straw per student, small white pom poms
How to Play: Put students in pairs. Each pair of students should sit across the desk from each other. Give each set of students 5 white pom poms. Students will use the straw to try to blow the pom poms off their opponent’s side of the desk. Each pom pom blown off the other side is a point. Whoever has the most points (or scores all 5 points) in one minute wins.
These Christmas Minute to Win It games for kids in the classroom are sure to be a hit! Students always love a fun and themed game for holiday parties. Pick out your favorites and get to party planning! You can get a free printable with all of these great games in one place so you’ll have it handy for party day. Grab it below!
If you’re looking for more classroom games, you can find The Top 11 Minute to Win it Games for Classrooms with a FREE printable on my blog!
Want to use the latest research to boost your readers during small groups? This FREE guide is packed with engaging ideas to help them grow!
I’m a K-1 teacher who is passionate about making lessons your students love and that are easy to implement for teachers. Helping teachers like you navigate their way through their literacy block brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner who loves staying on top of current literacy learning and practices. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to move your K-2 students forward!
