It’s nearly Christmas! Hooray! You’ve been asked to organise a Christmas party for the children in your class. Aaaah! Panic! What are you going to do? What activities and games can you do that won’t just be sugar fuelled chaos? And what do you need to teach your kids about Christmas in these activities? No need to panic, here is your handy guide to everything involved in organising an EFL ESL Kids Christmas Party. Find ideas for games, decorations, food and much more. So put on your Christmas jumper and get ready, it’s the EFL ESL Kids Christmas Party!
Warm up with a Crazy Santa song
It’s always fun to learn a couple of songs to sing and dance together at a party. You can find my favorite songs for Christmas lessons in this post. For a party though, you want something to get everyone dancing and in the party mood. So I would suggest:
- Crazy Santa Dance by 3DRT
- Christmas Freeze Dance by The Kiboomers
- Santa Shark by Super Simple Songs
Two or three songs will be plenty for a party of about an hour. Sing one song at the beginning of the party when everyone arrives. Get them warmed up and ready to party! Then play a game or two.
Christmas games for kids
Bingo is a really fun game for all ages and a fantastic game to play at a party. I’ve found these really nice Christmas Bingo cards which you can print out for your class and use when you want to have play a game and calm everyone down a bit. It’s also a great way to practice that Christmas vocabulary you’ve been learning in class.
You could also play Christmas Charades if you want to get the kids moving around a bit more. Put them in teams and see who can act out the actions the best. I’ve found this printable for Christmas Charades with lots of different actions.
Otherwise if you want something more simple, have a game of Santa Says and let the kids take turns to be Santa and give instructions to the others.
Christmas food
It’s not a EFL ESL Kids Christmas party without something Christmassy to eat and drink. You don’t need to do anything complicated but don’t forget to check for allergies with parents. If you want, you could prepare something together as an activity. Easy ideas for food to make in class could be:
- Strawberry Banana Santa Hats – fun to make and healthy too!
- Cheese and Vegetable Christmas Tree Tray – You could use any combination of cheese or different vegetables chopped into small pieces and laid out in the shape of a tree
- Reindeer Food – Make this with any combination of cereal, nuts, crisps, sweets and candy and chocolate. This would also be nice to put into small bags for the kids to take home.
Making Christmas Decorations
It would be a really sweet idea to make a Christmas decoration for the kids to take home after the party. Again, it doesn’t need to be anything too complicated. Something that will remind the kids of what they’ve been learning and to show their families.
- Paper Plate Christmas Trees – You’ll just need paper plates, coloring markers or paint, glue and something to decorate the trees.
- Paper Roll Snowmen – cardboard roll craft is always one of my favorites and these are so easy for little kids to make
- Lolly Stick Decorations – These are so easy to make but look lovely on the tree. Just save all your lolly or popsicle sticks in the summer or buy a pack at the craft store.
Finish with another song
Send the kids home singing with another Christmas song and dance. If you can invite their parents in to sing with you, this is a brilliant way to show them what you’ve been learning and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. If not don’t worry! Get everyone dancing, give out any gifts or decorations and then send them all home. And relax!
Well, it’s been a really fun EFL ESL Kids Christmas party. Hopefully the kids are happy and so are the parents. Now it’s time for you to relax and enjoy the Christmas holidays if you have them. If you’ve got any other ideas for Christmas Parties, please share them in the comments. You can find other ideas for lessons and activities in the Teaching Ideas section of GoogooEnglish. To stay up to date with new teaching ideas, you can follow the GoogooEnglish Facebook page. Alternatively, sign up for email updates by filling in the form below. And have a very Happy Christmas!