three card games for young children: Christmas

Sunday School or Bible Clubs > Games for Teaching Bible Lessons > Christmas Games > 3 Christmas Card Games for Young Players

Collect Christmas Score Cards

Young children tend to fidget if they have to sit still for very long. Help them pay attention by passing out cards that relate to the story--they will all want to get one. After the story has been told, ask questions, and pass out cards for each correctly answered question. If the children like competition, at the end of the game, you can count up the cards that the children on each team are holding to find out the winning team.

Matching Game

Young children love to find matches, so help them find cards that match each story. Cut each row as a set, then cut up a duplicate set as individual cards. For younger children, let them lay each card on top of the matching picture in the strip. For older children, or kids that know the Christmas story well, show them the strips with the 4 pictures, then hide it while they try to sort the pictures into sets. When they think they have it, pull out the “answer key” and let them check to see if they got it all right. (order does not matter for this activity.)

Concentration

Print 2 of each card, then spread them face down on a table or the floor. Children take turns turning 2 cards face up. If they match, they keep that pair, and try again for another pair. When the cards don’t match, the next child gets a turn. The child with the most matching pairs at the end of the game wins. This game is a good challenge for young minds, but if they have trouble finding matches, give them fewer pairs to match, or leave all the pictures face up.

How to make the cards:

1.Print out either the colored or black and white downloadable sheets. Color in the black and white sheets if you wish. To make the cards last longer, print them on card stock, or cover the backs with colored contact paper, or cover the front with clear contact paper.
2.Cut the cards on the lines. Trim any cards that are bigger than the others. (if you put the contact paper on before you cut them, you only have to cut the cards once!)
3.For the first game, make enough cards so that there is one or more per child (it doesn’t really matter if there are duplicates) from the 2 downloadable sheets.
4.For the second and third games (matching and concentration) make 2 copies of all the cards from the 2 downloadable sheets.