Sinterklaas games for children: Piet gym, Piet diploma and more

In the weeks before pakjesavond (Sinterklaas gift night), children are almost impossible to keep still. Games help: they give the excitement somewhere to go and make the waiting shorter. Below you’ll read how to build a Piet gym at home, at school or at the club, how to make a Piet diploma and which Sinterklaas games work well indoors.

Piet gym: an obstacle course through the room

In Piet gym, children practise everything a Piet has to be able to do. You build the course with things from around the house or the gym hall. Five stations are enough. Let the children run the course a few times; the second time is already faster.

1. Over the roof. A bench or a plank across two chairs. The children walk across without falling, with their arms out wide.
2. Down the chimney. A tunnel of chairs with a blanket over it, or a big box with no bottom. Crawl until you’re out the other side.
3. Throwing presents. A box with a hole in the lid is the chimney. Throw three wrapped blocks or soft balls into it from behind a line.
4. On the horse. A hobby horse or a broom. Gallop one lap around the chairs and back.
5. Collecting pepernoten. Scatter a handful of pepernoten (small spiced biscuits) on a blanket. Pick up five and take them to the Piet’s sack.

The Piet diploma

Anyone who finishes the course has passed and gets a diploma. Make it on A4, with the child’s name and a few items to tick off. A signature from the Head Piet and a stamp make it real.

Games for indoors

Finding pepernoten

Hide pepernoten around the room, in places children can reach. Give each child a bag and let them search. With a big group, give each team its own colour: hide pepernoten in coloured paper, and each team only looks for its own colour.

Sint says

A Sinterklaas version of Simon says. Someone is the Saint and gives instructions: ‘Sint says: jump like a horse.’ You only do it if the instruction begins with ‘Sint says’. Anyone who moves when the instruction doesn’t begin with ‘Sint says’ is out.

The shoe relay

Two teams, each on one side of the room. In the middle there’s a shoe for each team. Taking turns, a child runs to the shoe with a carrot or a drawing, puts it in and runs back. Which team is first to get everything in the shoe?

Passing the present to music

Wrap a present in lots of layers of paper. Put on Sinterklaas songs and pass the present round the circle. When the music stops, the child holding the present takes off one layer. You can put small challenges between the layers, such as ‘sing a Sinterklaas song’.

Where is the Great Book?

A short scavenger hunt for older children. Hide a big book somewhere in the house or building and leave notes with clues. Each note points to the next place, with a rhyme or a riddle. The last note says where the book is.

For the club, school or company

With a big group of children there’s more work: setting up, supervising and making sure everyone gets a turn. We provide the Sinterklaas party with Piet gym, a pepernoten hunt and a Piet diploma for every child, or a scavenger hunt for the Great Book at your own venue.

Are the children in bed and the adults still up? Then in the Sinterklaas games for adults you’ll find the dice game and a story for the present-passing game.