December Making Learning Fun
Nature Memory Game
This is an easy game to play outdoors or inside. You need a variety of natural objects on a board or tray. Everyone has a look at the objects and then closes their eyes. Someone takes an object away. When everyone opens their eyes, they guess what is missing. The person who guesses right, gets to take the next object away. It’s harder than it looks!
Evergreen Spiral
This is a lovely activity to end a Christmas party or solstice celebration, to end the last session of a group meet, or to make one to enjoy with your family. It’s equally enjoyable to make one of these indoors.
We raked the area of leaves and created a spiral of evergreen. It’s good to avoid using yew if there is anyone small in the group as it is poisonous. If you don’t have access to any evergreen leaves you could ask for some Christmas tree off cuts from a garden centre. Alternatively, you could use autumn leaves and cones.
It’s best to put the tealight candles in jam jars to stop them blowing out.
The youngest starts by walking round the spiral to put their candle in the centre. The rest of the group sang some carols around the edge whilst each person took their turn.
It’s a very simple activity but can be really magical, especially if it’s starting to get dark.
Guess the Carol
This is a fun, Christmas version of charades. All you need to is some cut up strips of card, and think of some names of carols and Christmas songs. We used ones like…
Away in a Manger, We Three Kings, Silent Night, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Oh, Christmas Tree, Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day, Little Donkey, Calypso Carol, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Deck the Halls, Twelve Days of Christmas, In the Bleak Midwinter, O Holy Night, Joy to the World, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Gabriel’s Message, Jesus Christ and the Apple Tree, Carol of the Bells, The Holly and the Ivy, Good King Wenceslas, Jingle Bells, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Whilst Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, Here We Come a Wassailing, Carol of the Bells, Frosty the Snowman, Walking in the Air….
We used some food packets to cut up for the strips. We put the strips in a pile, one person picks one off the top and acts out what is on the card in the same way that you play charades. Whoever guesses right is up next!
Pack away the cards with the decorations so you can enjoy the fun again next year!
Christmas Memory Game
