Polar Express Activity and
Games Page

~ Polar Express Activity and Games Page ~

Polar Bowling - Prepare bowling pins by spray painting 10 two liter soda bottles white. With black paint or indelible black marker, draw on eyes, mouth, and 3 buttons down the front. Add a carrot nose in orange marker. These are your snowmen. For the fuzzy snowball, paint a coconut white. Kids take turns throwing the "snowball" to knock down the regiment of snowmen.
Note: Coconuts are very hard; put a backstop behind the pins and use caution for this Polar Express activity.

Pack Santa's Pack - Use two Santa's packs (found in department stores at Christmas time), or pillowcases will do too. Wrap a pile of empty boxes like Christmas presents, enough to fill each pack to the top. Divide players into two teams and position them each about 10 feet away from a pile of "presents". Each team has one of the Santa packs.

At the starting signal, the first player on each team runs to the pile of presents, and stuffs them into Santa's pack as quickly as possible. They then hoist the pack on their back and run back to their teammates. The next player in line takes the pack and runs back to the present-packing area, empties the pack, and starts refilling it again. The relay continues until all players have packed Santa's pack. The first team to complete the relay with the final player having packed Santa's pack, is the winner.

Snow Blowers - Another favorite Polar Express activity is called "snow blowers". Paint and decorate a cardboard paper towel tube for each party guest. Divide guests into two teams and mark a starting line on the floor with masking tape. Tape a paper cup to the floor about 10 feet away, open end facing each team. The object of the game is to blow a cotton ball across the floor and into the paper cup. The first team to have every member complete the task is the winner.

Invite Santa and Read the Polar Express Book! - Finish your party on a high note with our most popular Polar Express activity. Have an adult dress as Santa and show up toward the party's end to give each child their own "First Gift of Christmas" sleigh bell. Have Santa read the Polar Express Book as an ideal winding down activity. Then, take each child's picture with Santa and send them home as party favors or with thank-you notes.

~ Polar Express Activity and Games Page ~

Find the First Gift of Christmas - This is a great way to give each child their sleigh bell party favor. Attach long pieces of yarn or ribbon to each bell and wind them over and under furniture, in and out of rooms. Guests must unwind their ribbon to find their "First Gift of Christmas" bell at the end.

Crossing the Polar Ice Cap - Have a cassette player handy to play the sound track from the Polar Express. Tape a length of white wrapping paper or plastic tablecloth folded in half on the floor. This is the "polar ice cap". Guests are told they are the polar express train that must cross the polar ice cap. They line up on one side of the ice cap and as the music is played they walk back and forth from one side to the other. When the music stops, any "trains" caught on the ice cap are eliminated. The last train to cross the ice cap is the winner.

Building the Train - Purchase an inexpensive train (engine and a few boxcars will do) for each party guest. You could also use children's blocks to represent the train pieces. Hide these all over the party area. Next, make a series of train tracks side by side on the floor using electrical tape, one track for each guest. Have a sample of what the finished train looks like, near the starting area. For example, if using blocks, make the train from one each red, blue, green and yellow block.

Instruct guests that they must find their engine and boxcars and construct their train on the tracks as quickly as possible. The first guest to find all the train pieces and construct their train on the tracks is the winner.

Polar Express Pick-up - Divide guests into two teams for this fun Polar Express activity. At the starting signal, the first player on each team will push a box up to a pile of "cargo items." Once there, they will place one item in the box and push it back to their team. The next child will repeat. First team to complete the relay wins.

~ Polar Express Activity and Games Page ~

Polar Pass Along - Played like "Hot Potato" with a large sleigh bell. In the center of the circle is a Santa bag or pillowcase filled with slips of paper on which are written the characters from the Polar Express movie. For example, Conductor, Boy Who Believes, Know-it-all Boy, Lonely Boy, Santa Claus, Elf, Hobo, etc.