Top Christian Christmas Games for Kids
Let the kids of your ministry have a blast while celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ by including fun and games in your classes. Christmas games for children’s churches offer a unique opportunity for kids to let their hair down and have a laugh. Breaking up the lessons of big thinking will help the message of Christmas sink in.
If you are looking for ways to elevate your church lessons, Christian Christmas games are a great way to go. Put a spin on your favorite classroom classics, or try out some entirely new activities. Make sure your kids have a Christmastime filled with joy and excitement by carving out space for games, making your classes dynamic and fun.
Here are our top eight church Christmas party games to get you started.
1. Christmas Bingo
Take a fresh look at this classic game and transform it into a cheery Christmas version with a few little tweaks. Use iconic images, from a star and angel to a manger and stable, and get your littlest learners to mark their progress with candy. As this game is basic, it is ideal for preschoolers who are getting their heads around the Christmas vocabulary. Slightly older kids can play it with the written words, helping them with their reading progress.
2. Gingerbread Towers
You may have played spaghetti structures, but have you heard of gingerbread towers? Use graham crackers instead of gingerbread to save money (and make things a little easier), and get your kids to see who can build the tallest free-standing structure. Put them into small groups, arm them with graham crackers and icing, and let the fun commence! This game is perfect for mixed-age groups, as older kids can help the younger ones be more strategic with their construction.
3. Candy-Cane Crane
This high-energy game will have the whole class rolling around in laughter. Scatter candy canes across a large table and assign each team a tray to collect their winnings. Each player must hold a candy cane in their mouth with the hook end down while trying to collect as many of the other candy canes as possible. Count up the candy canes at the end to see who wins. When it comes to Christmas games for children’s church, it doesn’t get much better than this!
4. Wrapping Race
Give kids a taste of the hard work their parents (or Santa Claus and his elves!) are putting in by planning a gift-wrapping race. Ask each child to bring in an old box – or ask for donations from a local store – and see who can wrap it the fastest but also the neatest. Add an extra layer to this game by telling your students the gift inside is a gift for the world. By choosing whatever they most want to give humanity, writing it on a piece of paper, and placing it inside, they will remember the true meaning of Christmas.
5. Pass the Parcel
Wrapping gifts may teach your kids the importance of hard work, but unwrapping them is where the fun is. This British party game for kids involves wrapping a special prize in multiple layers of paper but hiding a small treat in each layer. The kids have to pass it around in a circle, and when the music stops, whoever is holding it must peel off one layer. You can select what to include in each layer, whether it’s small pieces of candy or thoughtful Christmas prayers.
6. Santa’s Coming!
This kids' Christmas game is a take on the classic “Captain’s Coming” (see the full rules here). Assign one child to be Santa, and the others are his elves. Santa has to yell “Santa’s coming!” to capture the attention of his busy workers and then shout out a command. Make this something Biblical like knocking at the inn, being an angel, or rocking the manger. But be sure to include things such as building a snowman and throwing snowballs for variety.
7. Christmas Trivia
Engage the older kids of your youth ministry with church Christmas games – trivia style – to test their Bible knowledge. You can design the trivia questions to match what you have been learning in Sunday school sessions or use this ultra-helpful template offered by Gathered Again. Bible games for children’s church test knowledge, teach new things and cement essential facts about Jesus’s birth in your students’ minds.
8. Candy Face
This game involves eating a square of chocolate…but with a twist. Divide your class into two teams and make them stand in a line. The first person in each line must answer a Bible trivia question (Christmas-related if possible) before placing the chocolate on their forehead and attempting to guide it into their mouth using only their facial muscles. Once finished, the next member of their team is up. Whichever team finishes first wins!
Conclusion
Reward your kids' ministry for all their hard work with religious Christmas games that educate and inspire. Christmas games for children’s churches don’t have to cost a dime and can be as adventurous or simplistic as you want. These are our favorite ideas for kids' Christmas games, but use your imagination and get creative with your activities. It all depends on the number of kids you have, how old they are, and how many volunteers are free to help.