Winter, Holiday, & Christmas Music Games & Activities for Elementary

Here’s a big list of winter, December, and holiday Christmas music games and activities for the elementary music classroom!

The key to learning in December is to continue to offer active music making through games, movement, and instrument playing. Themes include weather and December holidays such as Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Eve.

🤷🏼‍♀️ With teacher overload from rehearsals, concerts, grading, back-to-back classes, and oh yeah, a personal life, downtime for lessons (movies) sounds nice but often doesn’t engage the way we think it will.

🔥 Keep them moving, singing, and playing!

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🔵 Winter, December, & Christmas Music GAMES

Meter Beat Tag (Winter Edition)

A tag game where you can only move on the downbeat! FUN!

Check out more on how to play and then add winter music for lots of fun! This playlist includes music in 3/4 and 4/4!

Snowball Fight

There are so many ways to play this game. It all starts with a sheet or half sheet of paper that has something written on it that is wadded up into a ball. Then when the music starts, kids throw them and have the snowball fight. When the music ends, they have an action.

Rules
When the music ends, throwing ends. (practice with a short clip of music) A student or two will probably need to sit out to prove you mean it. Only throw below the waist. (or no throwing at someone’s head/face)

Here are some game possibilities.

❄️ Find the Match with musical terms/symbols
Two versions. One matching term to symbol and the other just matching the term or pattern.

Term to Symbol:Paper has a musical term on one and the matching symbol on another. “Treble Clef” matches to its symbol. (notes, staff, dynamic & tempo markings, treble clef notes)

IDEA: In partners, let the students determine what term/symbol they want to contribute and create the two snowballs!

Matching: Students find their exact match so first graders might look for the match to quarter-quarter-two eighths-quarter written out in notation. Or grape-grape-apple-grape icon pattern.

Song & Snowball Game: A printable PDF rhythm snowball game comes with this “There Was a Snowman Dressed in Plaid” TPT resource!

Musical Chairs

The Dreidel Game

🔵 Winter Music ACTIVITIES

Listening Activity with The Nutcracker (Grades K-5)

This is such a flexible activity because you can easily change the music selection and use any time of the year. Using the idea in December is effective when you need focus, calm, and centeredness to all the end of year chaos.

Pick a piece. This example is Dance of the Reed Flutes from The Nutcracker.

1. Students lie down and listen. (turn lights off or down)
   • Listen again, and with white boards, markers, erasers (socks) draw what the music is saying to you. What does it remind you of? How does it make you feel? If it was an animal, emoji, or person, what would it look like?
   • Share with a partner
   • As a class, hold up your whiteboard toward the teacher and tell them what it is. (all at once)
   • Might be fun to let one row go at a time so kids could share with more than just the teacher or a partner.
2. While you have the whiteboards, draw some lines. Straight, wavy, curvy, pointy, swirly and after each type, sing what the line would sound like. (vocal exploration)
   • With partners, one person draws a line that the partner can’t see, then sings it, and the partner tries to guess what the line was.
   • Get in groups of 4, sit in a circle, and each draws a line or shape. Put the boards on the floor. Go around the circle and sing your shape. Rotate the boards to the right and sing the NEW board. Keep going until all have been sung.

Snowball Vocal Exploration (Grades PreK-3)

Use purchased snowballs or wadded pieces of paper. If wadded, this activity could come before or after one of the Snowball games above.

1. In a big circle, throw or roll the snowball to another person, making the sound of the path. A roll would be a sustained lower pitch. A high arcing throw would have a glissando up and down. A fast throw straight across would have a sustained but quick pitched note.
2. Students get in pairs and toss a snowball back and forth as they make the sound of the path. Try getting further apart to increase the length of the vocal sound. Switch partners several times.
3. Everyone gets a snowball and tosses into the air (up/down) or drops the snowball to the ground (down glissando) making the appropriate vocals. To end the activity, have each student, one at a time, throw their snowball to the teacher as they make the sound.

A Kwanzaa Song (Grades 2-5)

This song is by music educator and artist, Lovely Hoffman. The instrumental track is available on TPT.

Activity-Use the form to create movements or use the ones provided.

Introduction-Sway right and left

Winter Cheer Movement (Grades PreK-1)

The 12 Days of Christmas Music Parody (Grades 3-6)

Play or sing a bit of The 12 Days of Christmas that the class will turn into The 12 Days of Winter Break.

Divide the class into 12 groups. If the class is small, the teacher can take one of the days or willing students can take a day as a solo.

The Nutcracker (Classic Christmas Music Games & Activities)

Paper Plates

Dancing (Grades 2-4)

Give each student two paper plates and skate around the room to any song. Sleigh Ride would be fun as well as some waltzes (Nutcracker Waltz of the Flowers) to get that 1-2-3 Glide-pause, Glide-pause feel.

Snow & Cold Spotify Playlist

Trepak Movement (Grades K-5)

Nothing says Christmas music games like The Nutcracker! You can use paper plates or pieces of paper!

🔵 Winter-Themed Instrumental Resources

Adding instruments to your winter concert and classroom activities is engaging and musically meaningful.

The Mitten (Grades K-2) Barred Instruments

There Was a Snowman Dressed in Plaid (K-3)

Ukuleles (Grades 4-6)

Las Posadas & Mi Burrito Sabanero (Grades K-5) Hand Percussion

Sing along with the lyric version or watch the live performance video. Use the form to play percussion instruments. Here’s a translation and lots of great information.

Keep a steady beat when it’s your section. Fun instruments would be claves, sticks, drums, shakers, guiro, etc.

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Grinch Sound Effects (Grades K-6)

With Jimmy Fallon and Josh Harmon, a great example of music and sound to highlight a visual story. For fun and future reference if you do a Foley FX Sound Effects unit!

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Sleigh Ride HORSE: Who Played It Best? (Grades K-6)

Feliz Navidad (Grades 4-6) Barred Instruments & Drums

Jingle All the Way (Grades Prek-2) Jingle Bells/Shakers

🔵 Winter Play Along Videos