Ice breaking party games are a brilliant way for a group of people to get to know each other, get over shyness, and generally ?break the ice? and therefore make way for festive fun. Icebreaker games are designed so that there are no winners or losers. The main aim of the game is to have fun as a group, so that there are no isolate persons. It also encourages the group to communicate and overcome shyness.
Here are three ice breaker games you could try at your children's Christmas party...
Christmas Tree The group sits in a ring with the host or play leader in the centre.
The host labels the children with one of the following (making sure there is a minimum of 2 of each) Star, Bauble, Tinsel, Angel, Snowflake
The host now calls out one object. For example - Snowflake. All the snowflakes must now jump up and exchange positions with other snowflakes, the game continues in this way with the host calling out different objects and the children exchanging places with objects of the same kind.
If ?Christmas Tree? is called out, all of the children must jump up and exchange places with other objects.
This game is fast and furious and energetic and usually very well received by older and younger children alike. It breaks the ice by mixing the children up and sitting them next to new people.
Christmas Theme Chinese Whispers An old game that can be given a Christmas twist, simply divide the children into two teams and arrange them to sit in two lines.
Have ready some (previously made) cards with festive sentences written on them, but make sure that the sentences are out of the ordinary.
For Example - Rudolf likes Christmas pudding on Mondays, but Prancer likes plum pudding on Mondays and Christmas pudding on Wednesdays.
To begin the game, give the two children at the front of the lines the festive sentence to read.
The children then have to whisper the sentence to one another until it has passed up the line. Remember: Each child my only whisper the sentence once, they may not repeat it.
Finally, when the message gets to the last child in the line, this child has to say the message out aloud for everyone to hear.
There aren't any winners or losers, its just lots of fun listening to garbled messages. If you have only a few children don't divide them into teams.
Christmas Pictionary Preparing the game - Have 20 cards with a Christmas item written on each. For example: Christmas Fairy, Roast Turkey, Holly and Ivy, Santa's Sleigh, Christmas Trimmings, Christmas present label...
How to play Divide the children in to two teams. Each team takes it in turns to play rounds. To play a round, one child in the team must be chosen to be the drawer for that round (The drawer changes for each round played) The drawer takes a card from the top of the pile and reads it without speaking.
The drawer then has tree minutes to draw what was written on the card. However, the drawer must write letters or words and they must not speak.
The rest of the drawer's team must try to guess what was written on the card from the drawings, all within the tree minutes. A point is awarded each time a team guesses correctly (word for word) what was written on the card.
The first team to collect 4 points is the winning team.
This game can be difficult for younger children.
Ice breaker games help to introduce the children at the party to one another. Once everyone has had a chance to speak to a few new people, it paves the way for more party fun and everyone will have a great time.
As early as the 16th century it was customary to play games at Christmas. Late medieval English law allowed servants and commoners to play games at Christmas that were forbidden the rest of the year. These games included tennis, dice, cards, billiard and others.
Christmas games enjoyed in the modern period were blindman's bluff, feed the dove and hot cockles. In Hot Cockles each player in turn is blindfolded. The blindfolded player puts his hands behind his back, palms up. One of the other players hits the hands of the blindfolded player. The blindfolded player must guess which of the other players has hit him. If he does so correctly, he may penalize the player whom he "caught." Those who preferred a greater mental test might retire to a game of chess, while the physically agile might challenge each other to tennis or skittles.
The English also enjoyed playing cards and gambling at Christmas time, especially with dice. During the reign of the Tudor kings, working people may have found greater pleasure in these games than the well-to-do, since they were prohibited by law from playing games except at Christmas time. In the sixteenth and 17th centuries the Puritans condemned those who celebrated Christmas by playing games and gambling.
In Victorian England parlor games remained popular Christmas entertainments throughout the 19th century. Victorians favored such games as Snapdragon, Forfeits, Hoop and Hide (Hide and Seek), charades, Blind Man's Bluff, Queen of Sheba (a variation on Blind Man's Bluff), and Hunt the Slipper. In Snapdragon players gathered around a bowl of currants covered with spirits. A lighted match was dropped into the bowl, setting fire to the alcohol. Players challenged one another to grab a flaming currant out of the bowl and pop it into their mouths, thus extinguishing the flames. A bit of light verse describes the fearful delights of this game: Here he comes with flaming bowl, Don't he mean to take his toll, Snip! Snap! Dragon! Take care you don't take too much, Be not greedy in your clutch, Snip! Snap! Dragon! With his blue and lapping tongue Many of you will be stung, Snip! Snap! Dragon! For he snaps at all that comes Snatching at his feast of plums, Snip! Snap! Dragon! But Old Christmas makes him come, Though he looks so fee! fa! fum! Snip! Snap! Dragon! Don't 'ee fear him, be but bold- Out he goes, his flames are cold, Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Players heightened the effect of the glowing, blue flames by extinguishing all other lights in the room except that cast by the burning bowl.
In Hunt the Slipper players formed a circle around one person. They held their hands behind their backs and passed a slipper around the outside of the circle. The person in the center of the circle had to guess who was in possession of the slipper at any given moment.
A number of other English Christmas games have now disappeared so completely that only their picturesque names remain behind. Folklorists cannot now say how they were played. These forgotten games include Shoeing the Wild Mare, Steal the White Loaf, Post and Pair, Feed the Dove, Puss-in-the-Corner, and The Parson Has Lost His Cloak. Before a Christmas party broke up for the evening, the sleepy guests might play one last, quaintly named game called Yawning for a Cheshire Cheese. The players sat in a circle and yawned at one another. Whoever produced the longest, most open-mouthed, and loudest yawn won a Cheshire cheese.
Christmas Games are also played in other Countries. Some traditional Christmas games are for children. In many nations Advent calendars amuse children with a kind of counting game in the weeks before Christmas. Children in Mexico often play games with pinitas at holiday season parties. In Iran youngsters play egg-tapping games at Christmas time. Most Christmas games, however, involve adults and younger people. In a number of different countries sporting matches, games of chance, or fortune-telling games are associated with one or more days of the Christmas season.
In past times Swedes used to play games with Christmas gifts, which they call Julklapp, on December 24. On St. Stephen's Day both Swedes and Norwegians used to race horses (see Norway, Christmas in). Ethiopians celebrate Christmas Day by playing ganna, a sport that resembles hockey (see Ethiopia, Christmas in). In the United States, many people enjoy watching football bowl games on New Year's Day. In Lithuania people entertain themselves on Christmas Eve with fortune-telling games.
Some popular Christmas games we enjoy today are Yankee Swap, Elephant Gift Exchange, cookie exchanges, caroling and others. There's no doubt that Christmas party games still play a big part in making the season special and memorable.
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