Holiday Games for Middle School Students
The Winter Days Before Christmas Break Offer Classes Moments to Bond
Nov 26, 2008
When snow starts falling outside a classroom window, even the most engaging lesson takes a backseat to the impending excitment of Christmas Break. Even though teachers and students still focus on learning on the days before leaving for the holiday vacation, there are times in class when teachers have extra time. Perhaps there is an assembly that changed the school schedule, perhaps there is time allotted for a holiday party, or perhaps the class finished final exams early.
Classroom Winter Party Games for Middle School Students
These games are perfect for those class periods when there are an extra 15 minutes, because they do not require much set up, and most teachers can easily have these materials on-hand with very little advanced planning.
Rudolph Race
Supplies Needed:
- Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline)
- Red Construction Paper (cut into circles)
How to Play:
- Move the desks so that there is space to play.
- Tell each student to apply some Vaseline to the tip of his or her nose. There needs to be about a nickle-sized amount, so that the red nose can stick.
- Line the students up into teams of about five-seven students each.
- Give the first person in each row a red circle. The students need to pass the red circle nose to nose (like Rudolph) down the line without dropping it.
- If the circle drops, the row must begin again with the first person.
- The first team to pass the circle nose-to-nose wins.
This game can also be played with an orange triangle (as a carrot nose) to be a Snowman Race. This is a classic game that many students will have played in elementary school. They may have suggestions to make the game trickier, such as setting time limits or distance limits.
If this game is useful and enjoyed by students, similar games can be found at Christmas Party Games by Sharon Mehl and Alecia Dixon
Jingle Dance Game
The easiest way to get short bursts of Christmas music is to go to Amazon.com and search for Christmas music. Jungle Bells by Brent Lewis is an excellent choice for this game. Unless the school funds Christmas CDs, it might be better to click on "Preview All". This gives about 30 seconds of music, which is as much as is needed for this game.
Supplies Needed:
- Computer with Speakers or CD of Christmas Music
- A Jingle Bell is Nice but not needed
How to Play:
- Move the desks so there is space to move.
- Put students in groups of three, in a triangle shape.
- Assign them roles based on the holiday (Rudolph, Santa, Frosty).
- Explain that When the teacher calls "Rudolph", everyone in the group follows "Rudolph" and dances in whatever style that person calls out (but they do not have to mimic the person's exact moves unless the class is particularly coordinated). If Rudolph says, "Disco!", everyone dances in disco style. Tell students in advance if they can't think of anything, they should just say "Free Style" and everyone can choose their style.
- Ring the bell and change the music every 30 seconds. After the music changes in about 30 seconds (if using a CD, pause the music or skip to the next track), jingle the bell (if one is available) and call out the next role. Then everyone follow's that person's dance or declared style.
Some students may not want to get up and dance; they will need space to sit and watch. If the class is very large, it may be necessary to break up the students into groups of those participating by dancing and those participating by being a good audience.
Winter Charades
If the school does not want to have anything themed to a specific holiday, Winter Charades are fun. Charades is a fun game that is adaptable to a variety of classroom activities.
Supplies Needed:
- Space on the board to keep score
- Move the desk so students have space.
- Divide the students into at least three groups.
- Have one person at a time come up from each group to silently act out a word or activity for the other groups to guess. Groups do not guess the charade of someone from their group.
- When the person comes up to act out the charade, assign them a winter category, such as "animals that like the cold", or "things people do in the snow", or "winter sports".
The group with the most correct guesses wins.
Taking fifteen minutes to have time for classroom enjoyment and celebration of the holidays is worth the investment, because the students will learn that a class that can play together can also work together.
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