Free deaf-friendly Christmas games and activities

We have lots of free deaf-friendly family games and downloadable activities to keep your child entertained over the Christmas period.

Games are a great way to include deaf children at Christmas. Here are our top tips for making games deaf-friendly.

Turn any music down or off before the game begins.
Make sure games don’t rely too heavily on sound or listening.
If you’re playing a guessing game, take turns taking a guess. Make sure deaf players are aware of any guesses that are made.

We have some ideas for deaf-friendly family games below.

Deaf-friendly charades

Suitable for children of reading age and above

Write popular phrases or film, TV or book titles on slips of paper. Fold up the slips and put them in a bowl.
Each player takes turns to choose a slip from the bowl and act out the phrase without using any spoken words.
Players then take turns to raise their hands or write, fingerspell or sign their guesses.

Suitable for children of all ages.

Ask children to hunt for festive items, including Christmas stockings, decorations, mince pies, advent calendars and snow globes.
To make this suitable for younger children, you could provide a visual list. There are lots available online or you can make your own.

Suitable for children of reading age and above.

Write words and phrases on slips of paper. Fold up the slips and put them in a bowl.
Split the group into teams and choose a games master to give out the words and take score.
A player from each team goes up to the games master and is given a word.
When the games master says go, a player from each team will fingerspell the word on their piece of paper. Watch our fingerspelling videos or download our fingerspelling postcards if you need a reminder of the fingerspelling alphabet.
The team that guesses fastest gets a point.
Continue the game with players taking turns to fingerspell different words.

Suitable for younger children.

This game is a great way to develop working memory, which some deaf children may need more support with.

Place some Christmassy objects on a tray, such as a tree decoration, a bell, a Christmas toy, a gold chocolate coin, or a gift tag.
Show the tray to your child and let them look at the objects. Then cover the tray over and ask them to name the objects.
To add interest, you can take an item away each time and ask them what’s missing.

Suitable for children of all ages.

Take turns to mould an item out of playdough such as an animal or a household object.
Ask the other players to guess what it is.

Suitable for children of reading age and above.

Give each player a sticky note and ask them to secretly write the name of a famous person or a character on it.
Each player places their sticky note on another person’s forehead, making sure the person doesn’t see what’s written on it.
Take turns to ask a yes or no question to try to guess the name on the sticky note. For example, “Am I a character in a book?” Or “Am I a singer?”
If the answer is yes, the player gets to ask another question.
If the answer is no, the next player has a turn.