Games to Play Through the Holidays

Are you excited about the holidays? It’s definitely my favorite time of year. We take a more relaxed approach to homeschool through the season and incorporate lots of gameschool techniques along the way.

Want to learn more about how we homeschool through the holidays and discover some of my favorite games to play during Christmas? In this article, I’ll share family favorites. Plus, get holiday-themed game ideas your family will love.

I know you’re going to love all these fun holiday game ideas! They’re perfect for family game night, Christmas homeschool lessons, and holiday visits with extended family too. Keep reading to get the scoop on how we homeschool through the holidays and have fun too.

Homeschooling Through The Holidays

The holiday season can be more stressful than the rest of the year, especially for homeschoolers. Even with holiday stress, it’s also a time for relaxing together, making a deeper connection, and establishing family traditions.

During the holidays, wearing the mom hat and the homeschool teacher hat at the same time can become a challenge, especially if you’re also playing hostess to out-of-town guests or hosting a holiday party. Christmas is the perfect time to take a relaxed approach to homeschooling your kids. Reading books, holiday field trips, and lots of Christmas projects are all excellent ways to approach homeschooling during the holiday season.

Taking a relaxed approach doesn’t mean you need to take a break from learning. In fact, it’s my favorite way to homeschool through the holiday season. We like to adopt a slower pace, really focus on our family traditions, and play lots of games.

Games To Play Through The Holidays

Family game nights are the perfect way to build some fun holiday memories and forge a stronger connection with your kids. Holiday “minute to win it” style games are an easy way to focus on learning STEM skills with your kids while having lots of holiday fun together as a family. Plus, they’re great for dinners and parties with extended family and friends too.

Playing games and gameschooling is one of my favorite ways to introduce new concepts and help our homeschooler master skills she’s been learning with real-world practice and lots of fun!

Fun Family Games For All Year Long

We have lots of family favorites at the Waldock Way! Check out some of our favorite fun family games to play below.

Qwirkle is one of our top family games because it’s fun for everyone, kids and adults can really get into this engaging board game. Plus, your kids don’t need to be able to read to play Qwirkle.

Need a game on the go? The card game Phase 10 is easy to fit in your purse and fun for everyone. It’s great for a rainy day when you’re stuck indoors too. Phase 10 is a lot like Rummy, but the “wild” and “skip” cards add excitement and keep everyone on their toes as they work to create all 10 phases before their opponents.

Scrabble is a classic game that’s good for young and old. This game will help your homeschoolers build vocabulary and spelling skills while practicing addition and multiplication. Plus, there are a lot of strategies involved that make Scrabble tons of fun for your whole family.

If you play Blokus, you’ll fall in love. It’s easy enough for everyone to play with enough skill involved to make it fun for adults and older kids too. Blokus is great for those times when you need a quick game that everyone can play. It’s enough like Tetris to make parents feel nostalgic and the bright colors and shapes keep it fun for the kids too.

If you haven’t played Clue with your kids yet, you’re missing out! The game has just enough back story to make it really engaging for everyone and you’ll love hearing your kids make outlandish guesses as they work to discover the secrets hidden at the center of the board. Plus, there are lots of variations on this classic to make it new and fun for everyone.

Dragonwood is a new discovery for us that has quickly become a favorite in the Waldock house. It’s a dice game, but it’s filled with strategy and fun characters like “the giggling goblin,” the orange dragon, and the blue dragon.

Yahtzee is an old favorite in our family. In fact, it’s how we first discovered the power of gameschooling. There’s much to learn about addition, multiplication, and probability in this classic game. Plus, it’s a ton of fun for everyone to play together!

Holiday Themed Games

Looking for games to play with your family this holiday season to add a little Christmas spirit? You’re in luck! Here are some of our Christmas favorites for your family game nights this December.

Holiday Fluxx is a fun game that’s filled with surprises. It’s a little easier than the regular game of Fluxx, so your whole family can have a lot of fun with this creeper-free holiday themed version of the popular Fluxx game. Holiday Fluxx is also a great way to explore how different cultures celebrate holidays.

Why not try The Santa Claus Game? This cute game from Zobmodo is perfect for young homeschoolers since kids ages 3 and up can play. It’s a great way to focus on the reason for the season and the spirit of giving with your homeschoolers this Christmas.

Llama Drama Card Game is another card game you can stuff in your purse and take to a family dinner or holiday party this December. An exciting, family friendly, llama-loaded card game incorporating luck and strategy that you’ll want to play again and again! It’s great for large groups too because

One of our favorite holiday games is Grinch Grow Your Heart Card Game. In this game, your homeschoolers will help the Grinch grow his heart bigger and bigger as they add tokens. It’s a quick game to play when you need 30 minutes of learning fun with flexible rules you can adapt for your family. Plus, the score card offers some great sneaky ways to practice math skills too.

Do you love the movie Elf? Then you’ll love Elf – Journey from The North Pole Game from Funko. Homeschoolers can help Buddy the Elf visit locations all over New York as he travels to the Empire State Building. Along the way, they’ll collect points. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about the history and geography of New York City with your homeschoolers this December too.

Santa’s Sleigh Ride is another educational holiday board game your family might enjoy this year. As you go on a sleigh ride with Santa you’ll be learning some world geography with your kids this Christmas.

Additional Ideas For Holiday Fun

Looking for even more holiday fun for your homeschool family this year? Check out my other holiday posts filled with gift ideas, themed lessons, unit studies, and more for making holiday memories with your homeschoolers this year.

Here at the Waldock Way, interest-led unit studies are one of our favorite ways to keep learning and have lots of fun through the holiday season. Check out some of our favorite new holiday unit studies this December below.

Free Reindeer Unit Study

Learn more about Rudolph and all his companions in this exciting unit study about real reindeer with your homeschoolers this holiday season. This Free Reindeer Unit Study is filled with fun facts, learning activities, and custom coloring pages too.

Santa’s Tasty Trip

I love this new unit study! It’s an exciting multisensory learning adventure where your homeschoolers get to travel the globe with Santa. They’ll learn all about how Christmas is celebrated in different places around the world and get to create and taste some Christmas cookies from countries like Russia, Egypt, and Australia. Plus, you’ll get a fun passport activity to track your adventures on Santa’s Tasty Trip.

I know you’re excited about homeschooling through the holidays with all these fun games to play and new unit studies to explore. Share your family’s favorite game with me in the comment section. I’d love to check it out with my own family on our next game night.