10 Easy and Fun Elementary CHRISTMAS PE Stations and Relay Games
Spread holiday cheer and keep kids moving with 10 Easy and Fun Elementary CHRISTMAS PE Stations and Relay Games!
10 Christmas PE Stations & Relays
This festive blog post is packed with creative PE activities, from jolly relay races to silly holiday stations, each designed for young learners and perfect for your December gym lessons.
Discover classroom-favorite Christmas PE Stations and games that boost teamwork, fitness, and smiles, while making your holiday physical education planning easy and memorable!
10 Christmas PE Stations & Relays
#1 Jingle Bell Bowling
SUPPLIES NEEDED: 10 Bowling Pins if you have them (10 One Liter Pop Bottles from the Dollar Store if you don’t have bowling pins), Fun Christmas Colored Curling Ribbon, Christmas Bells also from the Dollar Store, Playground or Gator Skin Ball, 10 Poly Spots (optional, but very helpful for formation), Kids Ready to Have a TOTAL BLAST!
PE STATION SET-UP: FIRST, drop a few jingle bells into the empty one liter pop bottles. THEN, string a few bells on the curling string and tie around the neck of the bottles (curl the ribbon for extra fun), NEXT, set up your 10 Poly Spots in a 4-3-2-1 pyramid/bowling formation and place in the area of the gym where you want your students to bowl. FINALLY, give them a playground ball or gator skin ball to knock down the pins with.
HOW TO PLAY: Kids love to bowl. Depending on the grade level you can have them play BOWLING BINGO or maybe a form of WACKY BOWLING. Just allow them to have tons of fun at this holiday station.
How To Do Jingle Bell Bowling
#2 Pin the Nose on Rudolph
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Large Cardboard or Paper Rudolph, Several Cut-out Red Paper Circles, Blindfold, Tape
PE STATION SET-UP: Hang Rudolph up on a gym wall with tape. Place a basket filled with the blindfold, paper red circles (noses), and some tape at the station.
HOW TO PLAY: Each students should put on the blindfold, have their classmates spin them around a few times, then walk forward and pin (or tape) a nose on Rudolph. The student who gets the closest to where Rudolph’s nose would actually be – WINS.
*It’s helpful to have the students write their names on the paper noses before taking their turn. I’ve also done “Pin the Star on the Christmas Tree” and “Pin the Smile on Grinch.” It’s a great way to bring back an old classic party game and put a fun holiday twist on it.
#3 Holiday Balloon Bop
SUPPLIES NEEDED: A Bunch of Red, Green, and White Balloons, Kids Ready to Have a TOTAL BLAST!
PE STATION SET-UP: Place a large garbage bag with the balloons inside in the area of the gym where you want to set up this station.
HOW TO PLAY: Kids love balloons so much. Tell them that the balloons are the colorful Christmas ornaments and their job is to have fun playing “Keepy Uppy” with the ornaments, preventing them from falling off of the Christmas tree and hitting the ground. They can use whatever body part necessary to keep the ornaments (balloons) from touching the ground.
Balloon Bop
#4 Holiday Cup Stacking
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Several Green and Red Solo Cups, Basket for the Cups
PE STATION SET-UP: Simply place a basket with all of your cups in it at the station.
HOW TO PLAY: Allow students to cup stack or work together to build a giant Christmas Tree or Gingerbread house with the cups.
*Cup stacking is a definite fan favorite Pe station. Check out 40 easy and super fun PE station ideas right here.
#5 Jingle Jam Dance Party
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Fun Holiday Christmas Dance Music, Device to play the music
PE STATION SET-UP: Place the Christmas Dance Music at the PE station.
HOW TO PLAY: Allow your students to play the holiday music, dance, and have an absolute blast. My students often like to play Ring-Around-the-Dancer at this station.
You can check out my complete 117 song “Clean” and “Upbeat” PE Music Playlist Right Here. It includes my favorite fun Christmas PE songs that can be played at this station.
#6 Human Christmas Tree Relay
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Christmas Tree Decorating Supplies from the Dollar Store (Garland, Lights, Ornaments), Buckets for holding Christmas Tree Decorating Supplies
PE RELAY SET-UP: Divide your class into relay teams and have them line up with their teams at one end of the gym. Have them choose one person from their team to be the “Human Christmas Tree” and send them to the opposite end of the gym. Place the basket with tree decorating supplies next to the student who will be decorated.
HOW TO PLAY: When the relay begins, students take turns racing to the opposite end of the gym, choosing one decoration from their bucket and adding it to the “Human Christmas Tree.” The team that finishes decorating their “tree” first – WINS the relay.
*This is such a fun relay game. Be sure to take pictures of your students dressed up as “Christmas Trees” and display them in your gym or on your Christmas Holiday PE Bulletin Board.
#7 Christmas Dinner Dash Relay
SUPPLIES NEEDED: A Few Scooters, A Few Shopping Baskets, Play Food Items or Food Squishies (or Bean Bags if You Don’t Have Play Food), Pool Noodles
PE RELAY SET-UP: Divide your class into relay teams. Then, give each team a shopping basket, scooter and two pool noodles. Next, have each team set up their grocery shopping cart with the basket on top of the scooter and the pool noodles through the scooter holes.
Finally, spread the food items out along the gym floor on the opposite end of the gym.
HOW TO PLAY: Explain to the students that it is Christmas Eve and they’ll be hosting Christmas dinner for 100 people but they have no food in the house to feed them.
They must work with their team members to dash to the grocery store to gather as much food for dinner as quickly as they can.
When the relay begins, students take turns pushing their grocery basket to the grocery store on the opposite side of the gym and choosing one food item to add to their basket. The game continues until all of the food items have been picked up. The team that collects the most food for their Christmas dinner – WINS!
BONUS TIPS for this Relay
- I usually pick 3-4 mystery food items before the relay. When the kids are counting up how many food items they got at the end of the relay, I reveal the mystery items and make the mystery items worth 5 bonus points.
- Instead of using the scooters/shopping carts, I’ve had kids mat surf down to get the food, pretending the mats were cars – they love this!
#8 Christmas Tree Stacking Relay
SUPPLIES NEEDED: A Few Small Baskets, Green Solo Cups, or actual stacking cups if you have them, separated into groups of 10, 15, or 21 (Depending on how high you want your students to build their trees), one Christmas bow for each relay team.
PE RELAY SET-UP: Divide your class into relay teams, give them each a basket filled with a stack of green cups and one Christmas bow. Then, have them line up with their teams at one end of the gym.
HOW TO PLAY: When the relay begins, students take turns grabbing a green cup from their team’s basket, running to the opposite end of the gym to build their Christmas Tree (pyramid).
The game continues until all of the cups have been stacked into a Christmas tree formation with the final runner placing the Christmas bow on top of the formation. If the tree topples at any time during the relay, all cups must be brought back to the start line to begin again.
The team that builds their Christmas Tree tower the fastest – WINS!
#9 Christmas Puzzle Relay
SUPPLIES NEEDED: A Few Inexpensive Christmas Puzzles (I usually get mine from the Dollar Store, Oriental Trading or Amazing), Small Buckets to Hold Puzzle Pieces
PE RELAY SET-UP: Divide your class into relay teams and have them line up with their teams at one end of the gym. Place a bucket with all of the puzzle pieces in it at the opposite end of the gym.
HOW TO PLAY: When the relay begins, students take turns racing to the opposite end of the gym, choosing one puzzle piece from the bucket and bringing it back to their team. The relay continues until all of the puzzle pieces have been collected to from each team’s bucket. Then the team works together to put the holiday puzzle together. The first team to complete their puzzle – WINS the relay.
Here are a few BONUS TIPS that will help you for this relay:
- Depending on how many relay teams you have, I’ve had multiple puzzles that were the exact same. I have also done it where I’ve each team puts together a different holiday puzzle. As long as the number of pieces in each puzzle is the same – both ways work.
- You can decide the puzzle piece number based on the age/grade of your students. I have found that 24 piece puzzles work great for most K-5 elementary classes.
- If you don’t have puzzles – no worries at all. Simply, print out holiday pictures and cut them up into pieces.
#10 Santa’s Sleigh Relay
I’ve saved the very best Christmas PE game for last – Santa’s Sleigh Relay. Seriously, all of my PE classes LOVE this game so much and beg to play it over and over again during the holiday season.
SUPPLIES NEEDED: Scooters, Cheap Box Presents from the Dollar Store, Hula Hoops, Play Money (Monopoly money works great)
PE RELAY SET-UP: Before you play this with your students you should stuff Monopoly money (all different denominations) in each of the gift boxes. Then divide your class into relay teams and have them line up with their teams, a scooter, and a hula hoop, at one end of the gym. Finally, scatter all of the gift boxes with fake money in them on the floor on the opposite end of the gym.
HOW TO PLAY: When the relay begins, students take turns pulling team members on the sleigh (scooter) down the gym floor where the presents are. They choose one gift per trip and bring it back, placing it in their team’s hula hoop. The game continues until all of the gifts have been picked up.
Finally, have the students work together as a team to count up the total money in each of the gift boxes. The team with the highest dollar amount – WINS the relay.
Here are a few bonus tips for this relay:
- If you have scooters that connect together, it’s super fun to connect 3-4 of them together, making the sleigh extra long. Then have the whole relay team travel together on the sleigh to grab the presents.
- Instead of throwing out old or bent hula hoops, I save them for relays like this one. Old hula hoops work great for pulling kids on scooters. If you don’t have old hula hoops you can use jump ropes to pull – just don’t use the beaded jump ropes because those will definitely break – LOL.
Get even more details about the Santa’s Sleigh Ride Relay RIGHT HERE!
Why use Stations in PE Class?
Using small group stations in elementary PE classes helps create a dynamic, inclusive, and effective learning environment that benefits students physically, socially, and emotionally.
If you want 40 more Awesome PE Station Ideas – I got you! You can check them out RIGHT HERE!
I’ve been running Pe Stations with my students for many years now and feel like I have a pretty good system set up that helps my stations run pretty darn smoothly.
Here are a few PE Station Set-Up Tips for you that have worked really well for me over the years.
PE Station Tips for You
- GROUP SIZE: Try to keep your station groups between 3-5 students. Anything more or less than that can make things a bit challenging.
- CONE MARKERS: I like to use bright colored, medium-sized cones to mark my different stations. I also number each station by simply writing or taping numbers on a piece of paper and taping it to the cones.
- EQUIPMENT: I like to put a basket with all equipment needed for that station next to each numbered cone.
- STATION ROTATION: I have found that having my students rotate from numbered cone to numbered cone in a counter-clockwise direction works really well. So, when it’s time to rotate, the kids at Station #1 will go to #2, #2 goes to #3, and those at #4 will rotate to Station #1.
- USE MUSIC: I love using music in the gym – not only is it fun for the kids and I to listen to but it seriously works as the absolute best classroom management too. My rule is: MUSIC ON-Your Turn, MUSIC OFF – My Turn! When I stop the music, my students know that it is time to rotate WITH THEIR STATION GROUP MEMBERS to their next station. Once everyone is at their next station – start the music back up again.
Merry Christmas
So, what do you say? Why not blast some “clean” and upbeat PE music , maybe tell a few funny Christmas Jokes and bring the excitement of these 10 Christmas PE Stations and Relay Games to your gymnasium today!
So, whether you decide to play these incredible Christmas PE Stations and Relays with your kindergarten students, first grade cuties or all the way up to fifth grade, Just have tons of holiday FUN!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my 10 easy and super fun Christmas PE Stations and Relays.
If you’re looking for more easy, fun, and super unique (not boring) Low or No-Prep physical education games, I’ve got a bunch more for you.
As a matter of fact, I have a GIANT BUNDLE of Elementary Physical Education Games.
You can grab your Physical Education HUGE GROWING BUNDLE Right Here!
Be sure to check out my other unique and fun Teacher Resources (Instant Bulletin Boards, Fun Classroom Decor, Learning and PE Games) in my Love 2 Teach and Learn TPT store RIGHT HERE!
I really appreciate it and I hope that you have a TRULY BLESSED And BEAUTIFUL Day spent laughing until your cheeks hurt!
