• 37 games
  • Checked October 2026

PE Christmas Games

Sleigh relays, wrapped-present freeze tag and stocking targets for the gym, opening on grades 3 to 5.

PE Christmas Games

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  1. Down the Chimney: Toss Over the Mat, Guided by a Spotter1. A target game with a wall in the way. Stand a folded mat on its edge as the chimney, with a laundry basket hidden behind it.2. Throwers stand behind a line five steps back and lob beanbags underhand over the mat. They cannot see the basket.3. One teammate, the spotter, stands to the side where the basket shows and signals with arms only: shorter, longer, left, right.4. After ten throws, count the basket and change the spotter. Beanbags are fetched only on the whistle.Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 30. You need: a folding mat, a laundry basket and ten beanbags for each team.
  2. Ten-Spot Tree: Ornaments Up, Star Last1. A relay with a puzzle in it. Each team lays ten floor spots in a triangle at the far end, in rows of four, three, two and one: the tree.2. One runner at a time carries a beanbag from the team crate and sets it on an empty spot.3. No two beanbags of the same color may sit side by side in a row. A runner may move one ornament in place of bringing one.4. When all ten spots are right, the last runner holds the yellow ball above the top spot. The first star up wins.Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 30. You need: ten floor spots, a crate of beanbags in three colors and a yellow ball for each team.
  3. Through the Rolling Wreath, Pair by Pair1. A timing challenge for pairs. One partner rolls a hoop, the wreath, across the floor on its edge.2. The other partner jogs beside it and steps through the hoop while it rolls, without knocking it over.3. A clean pass scores one. Swap jobs after every roll.4. After three minutes, pairs call their scores. Then two pairs join up and try to send two players through one roll.Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 30. You need: a hoop for each pair.

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Elementary Christmas PE games 12

  • Catch the Sleigh Drivers 1. Tag turned around: the class chases three players. The three drivers jog with a bucket of beanbags each and try not to be caught. 2. Everyone else belongs to one of four teams, each with a hoop in a corner. 3. Touch a driver on the arm and the driver hands you one present. Carry it to your team hoop, then chase again. 4. No reaching into a bucket and no holding a driver. Change drivers when a bucket is empty, and count the hoops at the end. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: three buckets, thirty or more beanbags and four hoops.
  • Down the Chimney: Toss Over the Mat, Guided by a Spotter 1. A target game with a wall in the way. Stand a folded mat on its edge as the chimney, with a laundry basket hidden behind it. 2. Throwers stand behind a line five steps back and lob beanbags underhand over the mat. They cannot see the basket. 3. One teammate, the spotter, stands to the side where the basket shows and signals with arms only: shorter, longer, left, right. 4. After ten throws, count the basket and change the spotter. Beanbags are fetched only on the whistle. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 30. You need: a folding mat, a laundry basket and ten beanbags for each team.
  • Fill Your Corner Stocking: One Ball a Trip 1. A gather-and-shoot game for four teams. Each team owns a bin in one corner, its stocking, with a line marked three steps in front of it. 2. Scatter soft balls in the center circle. On the whistle, each player picks up one ball, runs back behind the team line and shoots underhand. 3. A miss stays where it lands, and any player may pick it up. 4. The round ends when the floor is clear. Count the bins, tip the balls back in the middle and move every line one step back. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: four bins, forty or more soft balls and tape for the lines.
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Elementary Christmas PE games, continued

  • Keep Your Ornament From the Cat 1. A dribbling game with the feet. Every player but three has a ball, the ornament, and dribbles it anywhere inside the court. 2. The three cats have no ball. A cat may tap an ornament away with a foot, never with hands and never by touching a player. 3. A player whose ball leaves the court fetches it, does five toe taps on top of it and dribbles back in. 4. Change the cats every two minutes. Each cat counts the ornaments it sent out. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 30. You need: a ball for each player and pinnies for the cats.
  • Lights Out, Lights On: Everybody Is It 1. Tag in which every player is a tagger. Everyone is a bulb on one string of lights, and anyone may tag anyone with a touch below the shoulder. 2. A tagged bulb goes out: squat down where you are and remember who tagged you. 3. When that player is tagged, you light up again and run. 4. Two players who tag each other at the same moment both squat, play rock paper scissors, and the winner stands. Play for three minutes. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: nothing.
  • Parachute Tree: Trade Places Under the Branches 1. A parachute game with a job for each color. The class holds the edge of the parachute, the tree, and each player is named for the panel color in their hands. 2. Lift the tree high on a count of three. The teacher calls a color. 3. Players holding that color let go, cross underneath and take an empty place on the far side before the branches come down. 4. Then add ornaments: three soft balls on top. Crossers have to be out before a ball rolls off, and the class counts clean crossings in a row. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: a play parachute and three soft balls.
  • Ribbon Lap Freeze Tag 1. Freeze tag, with a lap to set a player free. Three taggers carry a foam noodle each, a roll of wrapping paper. They touch below the shoulder and never swing. 2. A tagged player is a wrapped present: feet together, arms folded, standing still. 3. Any free player can untie a present by running one full circle around it. 4. Change the taggers every two minutes. A tagger scores the number of presents standing when the whistle goes. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: three foam noodles.
  • Sleigh Team Delivery Laps 1. A relay in harness. Teams of four step inside a long loop of rope and hold it at the waist: two reindeer in front, two behind. 2. Each team has a sack of beanbags in four colors. Four hoops around the gym are the houses, one for each color. 3. The team takes one beanbag, jogs to the hoop of that color, drops it in and jogs home for the next. The front pair moves to the back after every trip. 4. A team that lets go of the rope walks until the next house. Stop when one sack is empty and count the presents in the right houses. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 32. You need: a long rope loop and a sack of beanbags in four colors for each team, and four hoops.
  • Ten-Spot Tree: Ornaments Up, Star Last 1. A relay with a puzzle in it. Each team lays ten floor spots in a triangle at the far end, in rows of four, three, two and one: the tree. 2. One runner at a time carries a beanbag from the team crate and sets it on an empty spot. 3. No two beanbags of the same color may sit side by side in a row. A runner may move one ornament in place of bringing one. 4. When all ten spots are right, the last runner holds the yellow ball above the top spot. The first star up wins. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 30. You need: ten floor spots, a crate of beanbags in three colors and a yellow ball for each team.
  • Through the Rolling Wreath, Pair by Pair 1. A timing challenge for pairs. One partner rolls a hoop, the wreath, across the floor on its edge. 2. The other partner jogs beside it and steps through the hoop while it rolls, without knocking it over. 3. A clean pass scores one. Swap jobs after every roll. 4. After three minutes, pairs call their scores. Then two pairs join up and try to send two players through one roll. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 30. You need: a hoop for each pair.
  • Twelve Days Circuit, One More Station Each Round 1. A station circuit that grows the way the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas does: each round adds one station and repeats the earlier ones. Set six numbered stations around the gym. 2. The number is the count: one lap of the center circle, two wall touches, three hoop jumps, four beanbag catches, five jumps over a rope, six line hops. 3. Round one is station one. Round two is station two, then one. Round three is three, two, one, and so on. 4. Groups of four start a station apart. A group that finishes round six sits down at station one. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: hoops, beanbags, jump ropes and six numbered cones.
  • Wrap the Present, Unwrap the Present: The Human Spiral 1. A winding line, with nobody to catch. The class joins hands in one long line. The player at one end stands still: the middle of the present. 2. The leader at the other end walks the line around that player in a circle that tightens with every lap, until the whole class is wound into a spiral. 3. To unwrap, everyone turns around and the tail leads the line out the way it came, hands still joined. 4. Time the wrap and the unwrap. Then split into two lines and race, walking only. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: nothing.

Pre-K to grade 2 holiday games 8

  • Elf Hop Trail 1. A jumping trail. Lay floor spots in a winding line across the gym, some close together and some a long step apart: the path to the workshop door. 2. Children follow the trail one behind another: two feet on a single spot, one foot on each where two spots sit side by side. 3. At the door, a cone, tap the top and walk back along the wall. 4. Each time the whole class has been through, a helper moves two spots to change the trail. Ages: 4 to 8. Players: 4 to 30. You need: twenty or more floor spots and a cone.
  • Fast Bells, Slow Bells 1. A listening game on the move. The teacher shakes a string of bells, and the children travel around the gym only while the bells ring. 2. Fast ringing means quick small steps. Slow ringing means giant steps. One single shake means one jump. 3. When the bells stop, every foot stops, like a toy that has run down. 4. Hand the bells to a child for the last round. Ages: 4 to 8. Players: 4 to 30. You need: a string of bells.
  • Follow the Star 1. Follow the leader, in lines of five. The child at the front of each line holds a yellow ball overhead: the star. 2. The star chooses the path and the way of moving, and the line copies it: marching, sliding sideways, walking backward. 3. On the whistle the star stops and everyone freezes with arms and legs wide. The leader hands the ball back over their head and goes to the end of the line. 4. A line may not cut through another line. Play until every child has carried the star. Ages: 4 to 8. Players: 5 to 30. You need: a yellow ball for each line.
  • Presents to the Sleigh, a New Way Each Trip 1. A carrying game with no race in it. Tip beanbags all over one end of the gym: the presents. Put a big box at the other end: the sleigh. 2. Each child carries one present at a time to the sleigh, the way the teacher calls: on a flat hand, on a shoulder, on the head, between two elbows. 3. A dropped present is picked up and carried on from that spot. 4. When the floor is clear, the class tips the sleigh out and starts again with a new way of walking back. Ages: 4 to 8. Players: 6 to 30. You need: fifty or more beanbags and a big box.
  • Reindeer Stable: A New Way to Stand in Every Stall 1. A stop-and-find-a-home game. Scatter hoops on the floor, one for every two children: the stalls. 2. While the music plays, the reindeer gallop between the stalls without stepping in one. 3. When the music stops, everyone steps into any stall. Sharing is allowed, and no stall is ever taken away. 4. The teacher calls how to stand: on one hoof, antlers up, back to back, as low as you can. Hold it for a count of five, then gallop again. Ages: 4 to 8. Players: 8 to 30. You need: hoops and music.
  • Roll It Down the Chimney: Partner Gates 1. A rolling game for two. Partners face each other six steps apart with two cones between them, a step apart: the chimney. 2. Roll the ball along the floor through the cones to your partner, who traps it with two hands and rolls it back. 3. Count the rolls that go through without touching a cone. 4. At ten, move the cones closer together by one shoe length and start the count again. Ages: 4 to 8. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a ball and two cones for each pair.
  • Tree, Star, Present: Stop in a Shape 1. A stop-on-the-signal game with three shapes. Teach them first: a tree is tall with hands together overhead, a star is wide with arms and legs out, a present is a small ball on the floor. 2. The children skip around the gym. On one loud clap, the teacher calls a shape and everyone makes it on the spot. 3. Hold still for three counts, then travel a new way: tiptoe, gallop, giant steps. 4. Later, call two shapes in a row, then let a child be the caller. Ages: 4 to 8. Players: 4 to 30. You need: nothing.
  • Weave Through the Tree Lot 1. A dodging game with nobody to catch. Half the class are trees: each stands on a spot of their own with arms out and feet still. 2. The other half are shoppers. They jog through the lot, in and out of the trees, without brushing a branch. 3. On the whistle the trees sway: arms move slowly up and down while feet stay planted. The shoppers keep weaving. 4. After one minute, swap jobs. Then ask the trees to stand closer together. Ages: 4 to 8. Players: 8 to 30. You need: nothing.

Middle school Christmas games 7

  • Carry the Loaded Sleigh: Every Hand on the Mat 1. A team carry around a course. Six players lift a folding mat, the sleigh, with both hands each, and the teacher loads it with five soft balls. 2. The team walks the course: around two cones, through a gap between two benches, under a rope held at head height. 3. If a ball rolls off, the sleigh goes down flat, one player reloads it, and all six lift together on a count. 4. Time each team. On the second run every team tries to beat its own time with one more ball on board. Ages: 11 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. You need: a folding mat and six soft balls for each team, cones, two benches and a rope.
  • Compass Sleigh Route: Six Cones Spell the Word 1. A running puzzle. Stand eight cones in a wide ring and name them by compass points, with north at one end of the gym. Under each cone is a letter card. 2. Each team gets a route card of six points, such as N, SE, W, NE, S, E. 3. One runner at a time runs from the center to the next point on the route, reads the letter, leaves the card there and runs back to tell the team. 4. The six letters in route order spell a word. The first team to say it wins the round, and teams trade route cards. Ages: 11 to 14. Players: 12 to 32. You need: eight cones, eight letter cards and a route card for each team.
  • Five Gold Rings: A Chain of Five Through the Cones 1. A relay run as a chain. Five players stand in a line joined by four hoops, each hoop held by the two players beside it. The leader carries a fifth hoop overhead. 2. The chain runs a slalom of six cones and back without anyone letting go. 3. If the chain breaks or a cone goes over, stop, join up and count to three before moving. 4. At home the leader passes the fifth hoop back and joins the tail. Run five laps so that everyone leads once. Ages: 11 to 14. Players: 10 to 30. You need: five hoops and six cones for each team.
  • Gingerbread Pursuit: Four Corners, Four Teams 1. A pursuit relay with no finish line. Mark a rectangle with four cones and put one team at each corner. 2. On the whistle, the first runner of every team runs a full lap around all four cones and tags the next runner in. 3. A team scores when its runner catches up and taps the runner ahead on the back. The whistle stops the race, and every team restarts from its corner. 4. Run for four minutes. Runners overtake on the outside, and waiting players stand inside the rectangle. Ages: 11 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. You need: four cones.
  • Give It Away: The Regifting Raid 1. A gathering game that turns inside out. Four teams each have a hoop in a corner, and forty beanbags lie in the center circle. 2. One runner from each team at a time fetches one beanbag for the team hoop. When the center is empty, runners take from other hoops. Nobody may guard. 3. On two whistle blasts the aim flips: every runner now carries one present from the home hoop to another team hoop. 4. The teacher flips it back and forth. At the long whistle, the count that fits the aim of that moment wins: most while gathering, fewest while giving. Ages: 11 to 14. Players: 12 to 36. You need: four hoops and forty beanbags.
  • Knock the Ornaments Off the Other Tree, Rolling Only 1. A rolling target game across a center line. Each half stands six cones along its back line with a tennis ball on top of each: the ornaments. 2. Players stay in their own half and roll foam balls along the floor at the other side's cones. A thrown or bouncing ball does not count. 3. Guards may block rolled balls with their feet, but nobody stands closer than two steps to a cone. 4. To put a fallen ornament back, a player first runs to touch a side wall. The half with more ornaments up after five minutes wins. Ages: 11 to 14. Players: 12 to 32. You need: twelve cones, twelve tennis balls and twelve foam balls.
  • Ten Passes, Then Ring the Bell 1. Keep-away with a target at the end of it. Two teams share half a court with a soft ball. No running with the ball and no contact. 2. A team counts its passes aloud. A dropped ball or an interception gives the ball to the other team, which starts its own count at one. 3. At ten passes, the player with the ball may shoot at the bell: a tambourine stood on a cone inside a hoop nobody may enter. 4. A hit scores one, and the other team starts the next count. Ages: 11 to 14. Players: 8 to 24. You need: a soft ball, a tambourine, a cone, a hoop and pinnies for each game.

Indoors with no room to run 6

  • Catch Your Neighbor's Star: The Scarf Swap Circle 1. A toss-and-move game in circles of six to eight. Each player holds a juggling scarf, the star, bunched in one hand. 2. On the count, everyone throws their scarf straight up, steps one place to the right and catches the scarf falling there. 3. Count the rounds in which no star touches the floor. 4. At five, stand one step wider apart. At ten, move two places. Ages: 7 to 14. Players: 6 to 32. You need: a juggling scarf for each player.
  • Countdown Partner Pass: Back to Back 1. A passing game for pairs standing still. Partners stand back to back with one ball between them. 2. Pass it overhead to your partner, take it back between the knees, and count one. 3. After five, switch to side passes: twist to hand the ball over on the left and take it back on the right. 4. The pair counts down from twelve passes to none, then sits. Play again with a bigger or a smaller ball. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a ball for each pair.
  • Don't Drop the Ornament: Seated Countdown Keep-Up 1. Keep-up, sitting down. Groups of six sit in a circle on the floor with a beach ball: the ornament. 2. Tap the ball up with open hands and count down aloud from twenty-four, one number a tap. 3. Nobody taps twice in a row, and seats stay on the floor. If the ball lands, start again from twenty-four. 4. A group that reaches one starts again using one hand each. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a beach ball for each group.
  • Jump the Jingle Rhythm in Your Own Hoop 1. A copy-the-rhythm game for the feet. Every player stands in a hoop, facing the leader. 2. The leader claps a short pattern of quick and slow beats, such as quick, quick, slow. 3. Everyone jumps it back: a quick beat is a small jump on the spot, a slow beat is a jump out of the hoop and in again. 4. A player who jumps a pattern cleanly three times in a row comes to the front to clap the next one. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 4 to 30. You need: a hoop for each player.
  • Light Every Window on the Street 1. A target game against a wall. Tape eight paper squares on a wall at different heights: the windows of a street. Mark a throwing line four steps back. 2. Teams of four take turns to call a window and toss a beanbag underhand at it. 3. A hit on the called window lights it, and the team crosses it off its list. 4. Light all eight in any order. Then start again from one step farther back. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 4 to 28. You need: eight paper squares, tape, a list, a pencil and three beanbags for each team.
  • Stack One More Present Each Crossing 1. A balancing game played at your own pace. Mark two lines six steps apart, with a crate of beanbags behind one of them. 2. Carry one beanbag across on a flat palm and walk back. Next time carry a stack of two, then three. 3. If the stack falls, pick it up and start again at one. 4. After four minutes, each player says the tallest stack they carried all the way. Then try the other hand. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 2 to 24. You need: about six beanbags for each player.

Yard games for Christmas 4

  • Bell Tag: Whoever Jingles Is It 1. Tag in which everyone can hear the tagger coming. The tagger wears a bracelet of bells or carries a string of them. 2. The tagger chases the others inside the marked edges of the yard. A touch on the arm or the back is a tag. 3. The tagged player takes the bells, shakes them overhead three times and then chases. 4. A player who runs outside the edges takes the bells too. Ages: 5 to 12. Players: 3 to 15. You need: a bracelet or a string of bells.
  • Change Chimneys: One Player With No Home 1. A base-swapping game. Mark one base fewer than there are players, with doormats, hoops or chalk squares: the chimneys. One player stands in the middle. 2. Players on chimneys swap places whenever they like, by catching each other's eye. A new swap has to start before the middle player counts to ten. 3. The middle player tries to step onto a chimney while it is empty. 4. Whoever is left with no chimney goes to the middle. Nobody may go back to the base they just left. Ages: 6 to 12. Players: 5 to 13. You need: a doormat, a hoop or a chalk square for all but one player.
  • Evergreen Is Base: Count to Five and Go 1. Tag with trees for bases. Choose the bases before you start: three or four evergreens, fence posts or anything green. 2. A runner touching a base is safe, but only for a slow count of five, and only one runner may use a base at a time. 3. A tagged runner becomes the new tagger and counts to three aloud before chasing. 4. Nobody may tag back the player who just tagged them until someone else has been caught. Ages: 6 to 12. Players: 4 to 16. You need: nothing.
  • Garland Pairs Tag: Two Runners on One Scarf 1. Tag played in pairs. Every pair holds the two ends of one scarf, the garland, and may not let go. 2. One pair is it and chases the others inside the edges of the yard. A touch from either partner is a tag. 3. A tagged pair is the new chasing pair and counts to three aloud before setting off. 4. A pair that drops its garland or runs outside the edges chases next. Mix the pairs after each round, the oldest with the youngest. Ages: 6 to 14. Players: 6 to 20. You need: a scarf for each pair.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for a gym class in December, and for a hall, a classroom or a yard. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. Tags are a touch below the shoulder, no ball is thrown at a player, nobody is put out of a game for good, and no game uses food, a blindfold or a balloon; those are our own rules for play. Checked on 12 October 2026 at Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by the name): Educational stage, for the ages of each United States grade; The Twelve Days of Christmas (song), for its build-up verse by verse and its five gold rings; Tag (game), for freeze tag. Licence: own work

How it works

These Christmas PE games keep a whole class moving in December. Each turns gym equipment into a sleigh, a stocking or a tree, a tagged player always has a way back in, and nothing is eaten.

Read the full guide

A set for each grade band

The page opens on the Christmas PE games for elementary students in grades 3 to 5. The menu under the button changes the set: Pre-K to grade 2 holiday games, Middle school Christmas games, Indoors with no room to run for a classroom or a stage, and Yard games for Christmas, four active Christmas games to play outside.

What to pull from the equipment room

Beanbags, hoops, cones, soft balls and foam noodles cover most of the list. Five games need nothing at all, and No equipment, under More filters, shows the ones in the set you have open.

  • Start with Catch the Sleigh Drivers: one sentence explains it, and the whole class is chasing at once.

Questions and answers

What are fun PE Christmas games for a whole class?

Catch the Sleigh Drivers, Ribbon Lap Freeze Tag and Fill Your Corner Stocking keep thirty children busy at once, and none of the three puts anyone out.

What are good Christmas PE games for middle school?

Seven are written for ages 11 to 14. Gingerbread Pursuit is a relay with no finish line, and in Give It Away the aim flips from gathering presents to giving them away.

What Christmas games can pre-K or 2nd grade play in the gym?

The set for pre-K to grade 2 has eight games with no losers. Fast Bells, Slow Bells is the quickest to teach, then Follow the Star and Reindeer Stable.

What are indoor PE Christmas games for a small space?

Six need no room to run, such as Light Every Window on the Street, a beanbag toss at paper windows, and Jump the Jingle Rhythm in Your Own Hoop. They fit a classroom, a stage or a third of the gym.

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