The holiday season is here! Families are gathering around the fireplace to escape the winter cold, presents are sitting neatly wrapped under the tree and the kiddos are waiting in anticipation for Christmas day.
That said, while it might be tempting for children to stay indoors all holiday season playing video games and watching cartoons, it’s also important for them to stay physically active. Luckily, below we’ve outlined some of our favorite holiday-themed activities to keep the family happy and healthy.
The first game on our list of family-fun activities is called Holiday Hoops. This game is a holiday-themed rendition of the game “Horse.” All you need to play is 2 or more players, a basketball and a basketball hoop. If you don’t have a hoop, however, don’t worry. Just use a trash can or a portable door hoop instead! Here’s how you play:
First, decide on the order of your players. Once you’ve determined who is going first, have that player shoot their shot. They can take their shot from as far or as close to the basket as they want. If they make their basket, it means that the next player has to copy their shot from the same position.
If a player is copying someone else’s shot and misses, it means that they fill in a letter in the word, “Holiday.” If they make the shot, however, then the next player must also copy the shot, until somebody misses.
Repeat the process of people shooting their shots and copying the shots of others. Once someone misses enough shots to spell the word “Holiday,” it means that they’ve lost. The last player standing wins.
The next game we have is called Santa Says, a rendition of the classic game “Simon Says.” To play this game you just need 3 or more players and you’re good to go. Here’s how you play:
Choose one of your players to be Santa and print out the sheet above. Santa will then ask the other players to carry out one of the actions provided. Players are only to perform the exercise if Santa says “Santa says” before they ask. If a player is caught performing an exercise when Santa didn’t say “Santa Says” first, that player is out.
From there, Santa will cycle through the activities until there is only one player left. Like with Holiday Hoops, the last player standing wins.
Our final activity is a Christmas-themed version of Charades. This rendition of the game is best played with 4-10 players. Here’s how it works:
Print out the printable above and cut out the red and green cards. Fold each card and put them into a bowl, mixing them up.
From there, divide your players into two teams. Choose one team to go first and then have each team alternate turns from there. The first team will have one member pull a card from the bowl. That player will then act out the card silently while their teammates try to guess what they’re acting out.
If the team guesses correctly, they keep the card as a point. If they can’t guess correctly after a minute, the card returns to the bowl. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
These games are a great way to keep your kiddos active and entertained during the Christmas season. You may even want to use the printables as stocking stuffers so that your family has something fun to do on Christmas day. Who knows? These activities might even become a new family tradition. Happy holidays!
