If there is one thing I love, it is simple, frugal, and fun activities to keep my kids busy. Especially during the holiday craziness when life seems even more hectic than normal. That’s why this Christmas Sorting Activity is perfect for easy learning activities at home or in the classroom.

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Simple Christmas Sorting Activity for Kids

While creating a fun Christmas Catch game for my tween’s classroom party, it’s fair to say that my home was a messy version of Santa’s workshop!

Bows were mixing with pom-poms, along with stickers, jingle bells, and brown pipe cleaners that never made it into antlers.

My boys were all home and helping me figure out the logistics for the game.

After several rounds of “Don’t dump that please!” & “Don’t mix those!” I gave in to the chaos and they went to town exploring the Christmas items.

That’s how the idea came to create this simple Christmas Sorting Activity was created. Keep reading for the easy steps to create your activity.

From Chaos to Learning by Sorting

When it was time to clean up the mess they had made my oldest said, “Let’s sort them.” Lightbulb moment! How easy this was going to be for them to not only clean up their mess but do a little learning too.

Supplies for Christmas Sorting Activity

To create your own Christmas Sorting Activity you will only need a few simple items.

First, you will need something to sort the items in, like this red divided platter from The Dollar Store. Or you could set out bowls, cups, paper plates, etc. Truly anything that the kids can keep the items separated in will work.

Next, are the small Christmas items such as tiny bows, pompoms, jingle bells, holiday erasers, or tiny packages.

That is it for supplies! You might even have some of the items you need already lying around the house. You can use anything small that has a Christmas theme, or is red or green!

Christmas Sort is Super Easy to Set-Up

Once you have all your items to sort you need to mix them all up. Use a gift bag or simply dump them next to the platter you are sorting into.

For younger children, it helps to start sorting with them so they have examples in the sections of what they are sorting. Also, keeping the number of sorting items small at first. This will help them master the concept without frustration.

You can then add more items to sort as the child gains confidence in the activity and their skills.

If you want to make a game to use over and over again, write with a Sharpie what goes in each section. Or you could even glue a picture onto the section.

So you have everything all set up and the kids are busy sorting their items. That’s it! An easy and simple Christmas sorting activity that your kiddos will enjoy doing.

A few more fun Christmas Ideas

30+ Ways to Save at Christmas: A list of easy ways to save money this Christmas!

Christmas Eve Traditions: Easy & memorable traditions for your family on the Night Before Christmas.

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If you are looking for a fun and quick Christmas classroom party game then this is it!

This Christmas Catch game is easy to make using supplies you can typically find at your local Dollar Tree. Or, you might even have some of the items already in your home.

You can play this game using only a divided platter, jingle bells, bows, and pom-poms. This is all you need to create & play Christmas Catch!

As a bonus, not only is this game perfect as a Christmas classroom party game, but it’s a fun classroom math game too.

Keep reading below to learn how to create and play the game.

This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on something and purchase it, at no extra cost to you, I will earn a commission. Read more about this in our Disclosure Policy.

Christmas Catch for the Win

With two boys in school, the classroom parties are a constant in our home. This game came about after forgetting to sign up for napkins or cookies, you know, the easy ones, and party games were the only item left to contribute.

Perhaps you are in the same boat and need a fun Christmas classroom party game. This game is adaptable for any age, but the best part is that older kids will have never seen it before.

It seems that as children get further along in school, they are pretty much BINGO’D out.

So the task is to find something new & unique; that is easy to create; easy on the budget; & easy on you and the teacher.

Trust me, a teacher doesn’t want to be vacuuming up the exploding glitter poppers you created. Especially when all of her fellow teachers are peeling out of the parking lot chanting “freedom”!

We have another fun STEM Activity that would be great to use at your Christmas Party too. Check out our Spice Drop STEM Activity and you’ll have two fun games to wow the classroom!

A frugal Christmas Classroom Party Game

In the dishes section at Dollar Tree, they have these red, divided platters. The platters made me think about doing some type of game where the kids could throw items and see if they could get them to stay.

I went to the Christmas section to pick up green and red pom-poms, small jingle bells, and bows as items for the kids to toss.

After some trial and error, it seemed that the items didn’t bounce around like envisioned. So the game was tweaked a bit and the idea to have addition and subtraction “sections” was added.

The goal of the game is to have the addition sections “catch” or keep the items. But the kids want to try and avoid the subtraction sections.

This way if all the items stayed in, there would still be some skill in trying to avoid the subtraction sections. That is the goal of Christmas Catch – to have the highest score when you run out of items to throw.

How to Play the Christmas Classroom Party Game

Separate the kids into teams with no more than 6 children per platter. You can use Christmas names to organize them such as Team Santa or Team Jingle Bells. If you have a larger class, you can use all the reindeer names.

Have the “toss” items (jingle bells, pom-poms, small bows & large bows) in individual ziplock bags in a container for each team.

Start with one item, let’s say jingle bells, and each child takes 3 out of the bag.

Make sure the children aren’t standing too close to the platter. About a wrapping paper tube length away works great.

At the same time, have all the teams toss their bells. Remind them the goal of “Christmas Catch” is for the bells to land in the addition spots, not in the subtraction spots.

Decide before you begin if you are going to let them re-throw items that fall out of the platter. To speed up the game, we played once you throw it, it’s done.

After they toss, the children will need to work together to figure out their score. The score can then go on a Tally Board.

Now, you will repeat the above steps throwing the other items. Finalize the score and see which team has won bragging rights!

Easy “Christmas Catch” Party Game Creation

The first step is deciding and writing the numbers on the platters. If younger children, like first or second graders, are playing you will want to use smaller numbers. Older children in upper elementary will be able to do the math with higher number variations.

Using a sharpie works best to write on the plastic and it only takes a few seconds. Stickers are options, but they are a nice Christmas touch.

Next, you will need to Sort the items into smaller bags for each team. You can put each toss item into a small ziplock and put all the bags into one container for each team. That way you can set the platters and the containers the kids will need together at the party.

This was a great time saver during the party!

Finally, you will need a large tally sheet. Foam board works well, but you could always use the chalkboard or just keep track on a piece of paper.

That’s it! You’ve just made the Christmas Catch game!

Supplies Needed for “Christmas Catch” Party Game

If you don’t have a Dollar Tree near you, most of the supplies can easily be found on Amazon. Here is a set of divided platters, not as frugal as the Dollar Tree, but they would work if you want to create the game.

Other items include:

Tiny Colorful Jingle Bells

Christmas Tinsel Pom Poms

One Inch Christmas Bows

Large Christmas Bows

You will also want to make sure you have a Sharpie to write on the platters, as well as foam board for the tally sheet.

You can use fun Christmas stickers to make the platters more festive if you’d like.

If you have an Elf on the Shelf, make sure you print out our free Elf Calendar to organize your ideas or make having an Elf Easier with our 4 Steps to Surviving the Elf on the Shelf!

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