Christmas Word Scramble | Free Printable Christmas Activities

Figuring out how to keep the kids entertained while waiting for Santa to come can really be a difficult challenge. With all of the excitement of the holiday season, it can be pretty hard to get them to focus on anything other than writing their Christmas list!

That is why I have designed a bunch of fun free printable Christmas themed games and activities. Today, I’ll be sharing the Christmas word scramble game. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to check out some of the other matching free Christmas printables.

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Whenever we spend the holidays with my side of the family, my mom always makes sure to have some fun games on hand for us all to play.

Game time is usually the time in between dinner and dessert. I would be all for eating dessert while playing games but, I’ve always been outvoted on that one. I guess I’m the only one who’s stomach is never too full for some chocolate cake!

Anyway, one of the games we often play is word scramble. This year, I wanted to come up with a Christmas themed word scramble to play with everyone after dinner.

I think I’ll suggest the idea that whoever finishes the game first, gets to eat dessert first! I totally don’t have any unfair advantages here, not at all!

There are 12 Christmas themed words to unscramble. But don’t worry! Also included is a handy dandy answer key for you to reference in case you get stumped on a certain word.

How to make word scramble games a little more fun when playing in groups:

As much as I think printable games are a lot of fun to play on your own, you may want to play with a large group of people.. say all of your friends and family members on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Here are a few fun ways to add a little competition into the mix!

• Set a timer:
  One way to make word scrambles a little more challenging is to set a timer for 5 minutes. Have all of your guests begin working on the puzzle at the same time. Once the timer goes off, whichever person has the most correct answers, wins!
• Turn it into a raffle:
  Another cool idea would be to have everyone work on the word scramble puzzle. Once completed, have everyone write their names at the top of the page and place their finished game into a box.
  
  At some point throughout the part, the host will pick a random game out of the box. Whoever’s game is chosen will win a prize! Make sure to check their answers though, any wrong words and the prize will go to the second drawn winner.
• Prizes:
  As far as prizes go, you can either hand out small (or huge, depending on how competitive you want this whole thing to get!) prize.

Alternatively the winner could simply get bragging rights as the word scramble king or queen until the next Christmas party.

Or, (and this would most definitely be my ideal prize) the word scramble winner could be excused from helping clean up the dishes after dinner is over.

How to unscramble words:

If you get stuck on a certain word, don’t immediately take out the answer key. And definitely put that phone down! Here are a few strategies to help you solve word scramble puzzles.

Start by looking for common prefixes and suffixes.
A prefix is placed before the stem of a word. Some common prefix examples are:

• anti
• auto
• hyper
• micro
• pre
• pro
• un

A suffix is placed at the end of the word. Some common suffix examples are:

• able
• age
• ation
• ent
• ily
• ment
• ory

Once you find a possible prefix or suffix it will eliminate those letters and will make it easier to unscramble the rest of the word.

Look for all of the vowels.
Write down all of the vowels in the word and it will then be easier to see the remaining letters that you have to work with.

Christmas Word Scramble

Each pdf will print 2 games per 8.5×11 inch page. Simply print and cut down the middle to separate the games. (This is the paper cutter that I am currently using on all of my projects and I can definitely recommend it as it really get a ton of use!)

Feel free to download and print as many copies of the Christmas word scramble game as you would like. However, please do not edit or redistribute the files in any way. This game was created for personal use only.

Christmas will be here before you know it! Make sure you’re prepared with these free activities to keep the kids busy and having fun!

Favorite Printable Supplies:

These are a few of my favorite supplies that I use for printable games and activities:

• White Cardstock: For most projects, I recommend printing onto cardstock. It is much more durable than standard printer paper and often produces a higher quality print.
• Crayons: A staple in any crafting household. Crayola is always the top notch choice!
• Kid Friendly Safety Scissors: These are perfect for little kids learning how to use scissors. They cut paper but not fingers or hair!
• Glue Sticks: These disappearing purple glue sticks are by far my favorite! I love buying them in bulk since we use them so often!
• Lamination Machine: Laminating printables are a great way to make them last longer. If you are planning on laminating to make games reusable, be sure to get a bunch of dry erase markers as well.
• Dry Erase Pockets: Dry erase pockets are a great alternative to using a lamination machine when wanting to make printable games and activities reusable.
• Printer: A high quality printer is always recommended for the best results. If you are in need of a printer this Brother Wireless Printer is a great choice.

Be sure to check out the other free printable Christmas activities:

• Christmas I Spy: A fun activity to count how many of each Christmas themed item you can find in the picture above.
• Christmas Dinner Placemats: A free printable activity placemat that will keep the kids entertained, while keeping your dinner table clean!
• Christmas Word Search: A classic word search game with Christmas themed words.

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Answer Key:

1. Gingerbread Man
2. Ornaments
3. Presents
4. Reindeer
5. Sleigh
6. Elves
7. Merry Christmas
8. Snowman
9. Holiday
10. Santa