7 fun games the kids can play over the Christmas break

The Christmas break, while wonderful, can feel very long when you have kids at home who need entertaining.

And while they'll no doubt get plenty of new toys off Santa and family, we guarantee you'll hear cries of boredom before the two weeks are up!

To make sure that doesn't happen in your house, take note of the below games that the kids can play whether you are at home or visiting family. 

1. Hide and seek

To play:

• The person who is on needs to close their eyes and count to 20 while everyone else hides.
• They then have to try to find them before time is up (make sure you factor in the number of players/ places to hide before setting a time limit).
• The object of the game is to try to find everyone before time run outs!

2. Marbles

To play: 

• Draw a circle on the ground using chalk.
• Place a number of marbles in the circle in the shape of an X.
• Have each player sit a good distance away from the circle with their shooter marble.
• Each player then takes a turn to flick their shooter at the marbles in the circle. If they manage to flick one out of the circle they can keep it and take another go. If they miss it’s the next players go.

4. Simon Says

To play:

• One person is on and pays the role of Simon. The rest of the players have to stand in front of them.
• The person who is on says “Simon says [insert action]…. “ and the rest of the players have to do the action.
• But if Simon says to do an action without adding in “Simon Says…” and a person does the action then they are out.

5. Silly Billy

To play: 

• Pick one person to be it and then cover their eyes.
• Secretly choose someone to say the words ‘Silly Billy,’ in a way that disguises their voice.
• If the person who is it correctly guesses who said ‘Silly Billy,’ they give up their place. If not, someone else gets a go.

6. Name the song

To play:

• One person thinks of a song.
• They hum the tune until someone guesses what song they are singing.
• The person who  guesses correctly chooses a song to hum. 

7. Red light, green light

To play:

• Line everyone up in a straight line apart from the person who is on – this person needs to stand about 3m away from everyone with their back turned.
• When they call out ‘green light’ the other players need to walk towards the person who is on.
• When the person who is on shouts ‘red light’ they need to turn around.
• If they catch anyone moving then that person must go back to the start line. The object of the game is to get to the top without being caught.