5 Christmas Dance Games and Activities

Assembled here are some GREAT tried, tested and proven Christmas Dance Games and Activities. If there is one time of the year that calls for games and activities in dance class, it is Christmas!

1. Christmas Obstacle Course

This is a fun game for dancers and GREAT for Team work – it can be done at any time of the year but is especially fun at Christmas.  Have your dancers get into teams.  First grab some Christmas tinsel and  any other decorations you like, Christmas lights, boxes etc so that it is hard to get from one end of the studio to the other. The first group should stand in a line with hands on shoulders.  The person at the back is Santa and the rest of the line are the reindeers.  The Reindeers have to close their eyes and must be ‘lead’ by Santa through the maze to a specified spot on the opposite wall.  You may like to hang up a Christmas picture etc.  Teams take it in turns to navigate the maze and the team with the fastest time wins.  Variations on the game include changing the maze for each team or having all the dancers face away from the maze while it is being set.  Part of the time is then ‘Santa’ organising the reindeer into a line with their eyes closed and then navigating the maze.

2. Christmas Scenes

This one is a really fun Christmas dance game.  Before the game starts, go through each of the scenarios.  Eg., practice making the Santa photo scene etc so that everyone knows what to expect.  Then let loose with some Christmas Carols for some freestyle dancing.  Each time your stop the music call out one of the Christmas scenes.  Dancers have to form groups of the appropriate number and act out the scene.  Any teams not acting out the scene correctly or not finding the right number for their group, is ‘out’ and then help with the judging.

3. Christmas activity packs

This is one of my FAVORITE Christmas dance activities.  You can grab your Christmas activity pack here.  Print out as many booklets as you need and grab yourself a bunch of markers or pencils. Hand out your Christmas acidity packs and have your dancers share the markers in small groups and voila!  It is SO peaceful and your younger (and sometimes your older) dancers will LOVE it.

4. Christmas Pyjamas

This is a really fun Christmas dance game and also works really well as a team building exercise for dancers.  Grab some cheap Christmas pyjama pants and your dancers must put them on (over their dance clothes)  WITHOUT using their hands – it is hilarious!  To make it easier you can let them put their feet in or make them start from scratch.  To do the exercise in partners you can have two dancers work together to put the pants on one of the dancers BUT neither dancer may use their hands.

5. Christmas Goal Setting

For your older dancers, a really fun Christmas dance activity is to set a goal to achieve by Christmas.  You can download the ‘Give yourself a goal for Christmas’ pack here.  You can spend a lesson or two working through the pack and helping your dancers make a plan for how to achieve their dance goal for Christmas.  This is great as it not only focuses your dancers over the holiday period but also equips them with valuable lifelong skills.

You can learn more about Goal setting for dancers here and access the latest research into Growth Mindset and Dance here.