Pass the present
- Split the class into 2 groups, sitting at opposite ends of the hall. Each group should sit in a circle with a large soft ball (the Christmas present).
- At each end of the hall, place 5 beanbags/balls (snowballs) for each group. The objective of the game is for a team to collect their 5 snowballs and bring them back to the centre of their circle first.
- To do this, each group must pass their present using their feet (challenge), elbows (easier) or hands (easiest) all the way around the group without dropping it.
- When the present returns to the first player, that player must jump up and run to the opposite end of the hall to collect one snowball, place it in the middle, and then restart passing the present with the next player. They then are next to get a snowball when the present gets back to them.
- Only one snowball can be collected at a time; the team with all 5 snowballs in the middle first are the winners.
Snowman Melt
- Pick one or two children to be snowmen. The other children should move around the playing area, avoiding the snowmen who are trying to tag them.
- Once tagged, children should freeze on the spot (or they could go to the side and make pretend snow angels on the floor).
- They can only be freed by the sun (another child), tagging them to melt them so they can continue moving around the area.
Kings and Emperors
- Split the class into two teams. King Penguins and Emperor Penguins • Give each pupil a soft ball which they should hold between their knees, this is their egg, and they must protect it.
- Set up two nests for each of the penguin teams, for example, benches/coned area
- Spread the class across the width of the hall • On the teacher's command, they must jump, holding the ball between their knees and make it to the other side
- If they drop the ball en route, they must bring their ball and wait in their team’s nest
- Start with four goes from side to side
- The winning team are those with the least penguins in their nest after 4 crossings
- Extension: Change the type of ball they hold depending on ability. If they are getting good, try and get them out by rolling a soft ball along the ground to hit players’ feet.

Try this Christmas Elf balance with a friend!
Christmas Jingle
- Select some fun, uplifting Christmas music.
- Choose a dance leader; this may be the teacher to start with until pupils are confident to take the lead.
- Because it is winter and there is a big chill blowing in, sometimes the dance leaders become frozen and stop dancing.... when the leader freezes, everyone must stop dancing and freeze too!
- If a player is caught dancing when they should be frozen, they must perform a forfeit such as 5 lunges, star jumps etc.
- Change the dance leader regularly! The lead dancer can restart whenever they like.
Christmas Sixpence
- Place cones down as many as available in a space.
- While children turn their backs, place a small item (something not easily seen) under one of the cones.
- Create teams of 4/5. On the command ‘Go’, one team member at a time runs and chooses one cone to look under. If there is nothing there, they run back and high-five a teammate to go and look.
- The team who finds the ‘Sixpence’ is the winner
Reindeer Rides
- Watch the video using the QR code on slide 2 of Father Christmas’ sleigh ride.
- Sitting on the floor in a straight position, mirror the movements of Father Christmas’ sleigh by moving your body to match those of the sleigh. So, if the sleigh moves left, you lean to the left; if the sleigh is going up, lean back.
- This is to work the core muscles, so reinforce the need for straight backs, straight legs, and the need to control the body at all times (no falling over!)
- Easier: Sit in a tuck position Harder: Perform the challenge in a V-Sit position, with legs off the ground at all times
Santa Versus The Grinch
- All pupils play the role of Santa, moving around the playing area trying to deliver their gifts (pupils can pretend to carry a sack placing gifts down or throwing down a chimney. Add in any actions you like). However, the Grinch is trying to stop them from spreading the Christmas cheer!
- The Grinch can tag Santa which stops Santa in his tracks. Good news though! Two Santa's' can join hands around the tagged player and sing 'Rudolph the red nose reindeer had a very shiny nose!' and this will release the player.
- Choose as many Grinches as suits your group size; 1 -3 usually works.
Protect Your Snowball
- Set up 3 playing areas of approx. 15 x 15m grids.
- Two teams of approx. 6 children will play in each grid. One team in the grid is attacking and one defending.
- All attackers start with a snowball (ball of any type) and run around, ensuring they do not get tagged.
- All the defenders are trying to tag the attackers; if an attacker is tagged, they must take the ball off the pitch and leave it there, but they are allowed to re-join the game and provide support to their team by being able to receive passes, this continues until the last attacker has been tagged, taking the final snowball out of play.
- Defenders are only able to tag an attacker if they have the ball.
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
- Have the children sit in a circle on the floor with space on either side. The class should sing the popular Christmas song Rudolph the red nose reindeer.
- Every time the word 'reindeer' is said, the children should stand up and complete a pencil jump, then sit back down. Play again, changing the action.
- Extension: When the word 'Christmas' is used, children should swap places with another child.
Elf Express
- Divide the class into six elf groups: Perky, Pudding, Bubbles, Buddy, Tinsel and Snowflake.
- Each Elf group should form a line
- Choose two simple travelling movements that combine to create a travel sequence – for example, jump x 3, and skip x 3 repeated 5 times.
- Send Perky’s off to follow the sequence. At set intervals (e.g., when Perkys have completed the first set of skips), send each successive group off, following the same sequence, until all students have completed.
- Count to help children keep track of when they should begin. • Repeat using different travel actions; to extend pupils could pretend to be wrapping or packing the presents whilst in travelling sequence.

Rocking around the Christmas tree
- Some preparation before the activity is needed. Prewrite out on some paper the spellings that you have been working on. There needs to be at least one piece of paper with a spelling per child.
- Place the paper face down around the ‘Christmas Tree’. Turn on some Christmas music and rock around the ‘Christmas Tree’.
- When the music stops, children should find and stand on a piece of paper. Either all children can turn over their piece of paper to see the word and then practise that spelling, or you can select children. Place the paper back down and the music back on.
- Alternatives: You could have maths sums instead of spellings or words to practice reading.