Bring on the Holiday Cheer: Christmas Charades for Kids!

Add a dash of festive fun to your holiday season with some Christmas Charades for Kids! Whether you’re a teacher looking for a Christmas classroom activity, youth group leader planning a holiday party, or a parent wanting to keep the children busy during the Christmas break, these Christmas charades are perfect for getting everyone in the festive spirit.

From acting out a reindeer to miming decorating the tree, we’ve got 83 Christmas charade ideas that are easy enough for the kids to get involved but challenging enough to keep them thinking too.

We’ve split the list into two categories: Christmas activities and Christmas words.  Choose the list that’ll work best for your group or take your favourites from each.

To make it even easier and quicker to get a game of charades up and running, simply download the free printable game cards we’ve prepared for you!

Christmas Word List for Kids

Here’s 53 Christmas items, perfect for kids to act out in a family-friendly game of festive charades. Pick and choose your favourites or add them all into the hat!

1. Advent Calendar
2. Angel
3. Bell
4. Candle
5. Candy Cane
6. Chestnut
7. Chimney
8. Christmas Card
9. Christmas Cookie
10. Christmas Cracker
11. Christmas Jumper
12. Christmas Lights
13. Christmas Pudding
14. Christmas Tree
15. Coal
16. Elf
17. Fireplace
18. Garland
19. Gift Tag
20. Gingerbread House
21. Gingerbread Man
22. Gloves
23. Holly
24. Hot Chocolate
25. Ice Skates
26. Mince Pie
27. Mistletoe
28. North Pole
29. Nutcracker
30. Ornaments
31. Pinecone
32. Poinsettia
33. Present
34. Reindeer
35. Ribbon
36. Robin
37. Santa Claus
38. Santa’s List
39. Santa’s Sack
40. Scarf
41. Sleigh
42. Snow Globe
43. Snowball
44. Snowflake
45. Snowman
46. Star
47. Stocking
48. Sugar Plum
49. Tinsel
50. Turkey
51. Woolly Hat
52. Wrapping Paper
53. Wreath

Christmas Activities Ideas for Kids’ Charades

30 fun festive activities to use for a game of Christmas charades for kids.  The actions are slightly easier to act out than some words, or book/movie titles might be.  And it’s a great way to get younger children excited about the upcoming events of the holiday season. 

1. Decorating the Christmas tree
2. Building a snowman
3. Opening presents
4. Baking cookies
5. Hanging up the stockings
6. Wrapping a gift
7. Riding in Santa’s sleigh
8. Wearing a Santa hat
9. Drinking hot chocolate
10. Singing a Christmas carol
11. Lighting a candle
12. Putting on gloves
13. Making snow angels
14. Reading a Christmas story
15. Making a gingerbread house
16. Feeding the reindeer
17. Putting up Christmas lights
18. Going ice skating
19. Visiting Santa
20. Hanging a Christmas wreath
21. Watching a Christmas movie
22. Checking Santa’s list
23. Putting out Santa’s treat
24. Posting a Christmas card
25. Opening an advent calendar
26. Waking on Christmas morning
27. Pulling a Christmas cracker
28. Having a snowball fight
29. Writing a letter to Santa
30. Laying the Christmas dinner table

Christmas Charades Game Setup

Prepare the Charade Cards:  Write out a selection of the above words / activities, each on a separate piece of paper.  Alternatively download, print, and cut out our free set of Christmas Charade cards below.  Fold each in half and pop them all into a festive hat or holiday-themed container.

Divide into Teams:  Split the kids into two teams. Explain the rules and make sure everyone understands how to play charades.

Set the Timer:  Use a timer or a holiday-themed hourglass to keep track of time. The first player in Team A takes a card and attempts to act out the word or phrase without speaking within a set time (45-90 seconds works well, depending on the group).

Guess and Score: If the remainder of their team correctly guess the word, they get a point.  Play switches to the first player in Team B with a new card and reset timer.  Then it’s the turn of the second player in Team A, and so on and so forth. 

Choosing the Winner: Keep track of the scores and when all cards have been attempted, the team with the most points is the winner.

Download Your Free Printable Charades Cards

To make your Christmas charades game even easier, we’ve created a set of free printable cards ready for you to use! With cute illustrations to help aid reading, we hope you’ll be able to make good use of them. 

Print on white cardstock for better durability.  And if you want to reuse them over and again, consider laminating as well.  We’ve included a blank template page as well if you’d like to add a few more of your own.

Is Christmas Charades a staple with the kids in your family, classroom, or youth group?  What other Christmas games do you enjoy playing?  Let us know in the comments below – we’re always on the look out for a fun new festive activity!