Students stand. Each student decides which of Santa’s reindeer he or she will be (you may want to write the eight names on the board). Students then mill around the room quietly saying their reindeer names. When a student meets another student with the same name, they link arms and continue to search for more reindeer with the same name (now saying their reindeer name in unison). Continue until all reindeer are grouped. End the game by calling the reindeer names in order and having the students in each group sit down as you do.
Tip: Don’t use Rudolph – too many of the kids will choose him. Also, students should not be talking except to say their reindeer names.
Sing “Jingle Bells” and have students jump every time the sing the word, “jingle.” Tire them out by having them jog in place during the verses.
Each student gets a piece of paper from the recycle bin and balls it into a “snowball.” Allow students to have a snowball fight for about 20 seconds. Students each must return one snowball to the recycle bin before sitting down.
Variation: Have students write one thing they love about the holidays on their papers before balling them up. After the snowball fight, each student must pick up a snowball, unball it, and find the person to whom it originally belonged.
Students mill around the classroom until the teacher calls out, “Three presents under the tree!” Student must then quickly get into groups of four with one student standing straight up with hands together over his head (like a tree) and the other three students crouching around him like presents. Play several rounds and change the number of presents for each round. You may also want to make a rule that you cannot be the tree twice in a row. For the last round, it is fun to have all of your students be presents (and interesting to see which student gets to be the tree).
Students stand. Teacher asks a Christmas Would You Rather Question (you can find 20 free ones here). Students indicate their choice by moving to one end of the room or the other.
Same game, different name!
Have students pantomime wrapping a present. Then, have each student trade his or her “present” with a partner. Partners then pantomime opening the gifts and responding as if it was exactly what they wanted: the best present ever!
Variation: Before wrapping the gift, have each student think of what the gift actually is. Students should really think about what their partners would want. When opening the present, students should also have something in mind. At the end partners can share what they gave and what they pretended to get.
Students pretend to be each of these things for about 10 seconds each:
You can get 60 more Brain Breaks to use all year long or make this beautiful 3-D Star ornament.
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