What better way to welcome the winter holiday spirit than with a few creative crafts and heart warming group activities? Deck the halls with some handmade decor projects or invoke a spirit of friendly competition filled with games and activities to try with a group of kids this holiday season. Read on to find directions, example images, and more.
Simple Holiday Crafts for Kids
Snowman Bookmarks
Bookmarks do what their name implies, which is to hold your place in a book. Creating a fun and personalized bookmark might be the encouragement your kids need to do a little extra reading this winter. Beads, construction paper, yarn, and a little holiday spirit make these quick and easy bookmarks a fun and friendly addition to any winter reading experience.
Make Snowman Bookmarks
Winter Snow Globe
The changing weather as the snow falls and all the leaves disappear off the trees is the perfect way to introduce this seasonal craft. Using Model Magic, have students create miniature sculptures of a winter scene. Put all of it together, and they’ll have their own glitter snow globe to bring some winter cheer indoors for the holiday season.
Make Winter Snow Globes
Bright Holiday Ornaments
Recycling has never been so easy! Use old CDs to create personalized, colorful ornaments to decorate a tree or add some color to the winter season. Put together some festive creativity and use construction paper, glitter glue, markers, and more to create these bright and cheerful holiday ornaments.
Make Bright Holiday Ornaments
Chanukah Suncatcher
Use Chanukah, a celebration of light, as inspiration to create a special and colorful keepsake this holiday season. It requires some construction paper, colored pencils, ribbon or string, and tissue paper. Suncatchers are a great way to bring some holiday spirit to the winter sunshine.
Make Chanukah Suncatchers
Holiday Handprint Banner
Handprint projects are the perfect way to take a holiday-themed snapshot of a moment in time. Why not create a decorative piece of winter cheer with a little paint, construction paper, colored pencils, and ribbon? Send students home with a memory for their loved ones, and a cheerful decor item to hang at home.
Make Holiday Handprint Banners
Low-Preparation Holiday Group Activities
The Grinch
Students are elves with presents (an 8.5” ball), attempting to keep it away from the Grinch with their feet. The Grinch, one designated student, is attempting to steal a gift from an elf, and when successful becomes an elf. The student who lost the ball is the new Grinch. This game requires a ball for each student (except for the designated Grinch), four quadrants of a playing area made from cones.
Snowball Bowling
You’ll need a flat playing area, bowling pins, and foam balls. The bowling pins are scattered within in the playing field, and one student stands beside each one. The rest of the students grab a ball and stand along the sideline. At the signal, the snowball bowlers enter the playing field and begin to use their ball to attempt to knock over pins being protected.
Reindeer Games
This game of tag requires a competitive spirit, cones to mark a playing area, and some scarves or fluff balls to signal who is “it.” The elves with the flags are “it” and must try to tag and freeze the other students or “reindeer”. When a reindeer is frozen, they must stand with their legs apart and can only be unfrozen when another reindeer crawls between their legs.
Snowball Hoop Blaster
For this activity, students are partnered up and each pair gets 1 hoop and 4-6 yarn or foam balls. Students stand between 5 and 7 feet apart, or whatever is appropriate for their developmental level. One student holds the hoop and the other has the goal of tossing the “snowballs” through the hoop, earning a point for each successful toss.
Battle of the Poles Tag
Create four grids or use a basketball court and place tossables (fluff balls, beanbags, etc.) in the center which is called the “Workshop Area.” Students are divided evenly between the four areas and two students from each grid are “Protector Elves” that wear a pinnie. The Protector Elves are guarding the tossables in the middle by tagging anyone who tries to steal them. Any successfully stolen tossables are dropped off outside the playing area.
More Ideas for Kids Games and Activities
If you’re interested in more holiday fun, check out the other craft and activity ideas on the Schoolyard. Also be sure to stop by the School Specialty online store for convenient one-stop-shopping for arts & crafts and team building game tools.
