Object Lesson - Candy Cane Christmas

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Object Lesson
- Candy Cane
Christmas
www.CreativeChristmasIdeas.com

Candy Canes are everywhere. They
are used as decorations on
Christmas trees and are one of the
most popular of all Christmas
treats. I have heard several stories
about the history and meaning of
the candy cane. I don’t know if
they are true, but I do think that
the candy cane can teach us a few
things about the true meaning of
Christmas. And while we are at it,
I’ve added a lot of Christmas Party
game ideas you can play with
Candy Canes as well

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Games using Candy Canes
Candy Cane Connection – You’ll
need miniature size candy canes
broken in half. Use this game to
break your group up into pairs as
a mixer. Mix up the halves of the
candy canes and hand them out
to participants. When everyone
has arrived, have participants try
to find the other half of their
candy canes!

Kissing Candy Canes – Divide
the participants into two teams.
Give each team five small candy
canes. On signal, the team
members pass their canes to the
end of the line (one at a time)
and back again using toothpicks
stuck in their mouths.

Candy Cane Scavenger Hunt –
Each youth is given a piece of
paper and a pencil and asked to
find X number of candy canes
around the room. You’ll need to
hide each candy cane around the
room – some should be easy to
find and some more difficult. The
person to be the first to find them
all and correctly list the locations
wins.

Candy Cane Conveyor – (adapted
from Minute-to Win_It) You will need
Christmas ribbon and Candy Canes.
Tie 30 feet of ribbon into a loop and
place each player inside of it at their
waist to form a conveyor belt. One
player must place one candy at a
time on the conveyor belt and they
must spin in unison to convey the
candy cane towards the other player
who then picks it up and places into
a basket or holding area. Once the
candy cane is removed by the second
player the first player starts the cycle
again. The first team to successfully
transfer 3 candy canes wins.

Candy Cane Face Off – Place a
small candy cane on the forehead
of each participant. Instruct the
participants to move the candy
cane down their face to their
mouth using only their facial
muscles and head movements.
The first person to eat the candy
cane wins.

Candy-Cane Fencing – Give each
youth a wrapped candy cane; the
thicker the candy cane, the better.
One person from each team battles
a dueling partner from the other
team, fencing with the candy canes.
The first person with a broken candy
cane loses the battle; the winner
goes on to another round. The
winner is the one who makes it
through the most rounds without
breaking his or her cane. Encourage
the youth to keep the blows limited
to the canes, rather than hitting one
another with the candy canes.

Candy Cane Handshake Relay – Line
up a group of players into two
straight lines. Give the first player
three canes (Normal size, not the
mini ones). Youth cannot hold the
Candy Canes in the palms of their
hands. They need to be stuck
between their fingers – one
between the index and middle
finger, one between the middle
finger and ring finger, and one
between ring finger and the pinkie!
The players must pass the candy
canes into the next player’s hand, in
the same position, without using
their thumbs or any other hand.
You’ll need some extra candy canes
as there will be some which are
dropped and broken.

Candy Cane Hockey – You’ll need
miniature size candy canes, candy
goal markers, and a candy hockey
puck. Make a goal at each end of
a table using markers attached to
the table. These markers can be a
piece of candy or even candy
canes stuck to the table with
some blue tack adhesive. Make
the goal posts about 4 inches
apart. Use a jelly bean for a
hockey puck.

(It moves but doesn’t roll off the
table to easily) Using the candy
canes as hockey sticks try to shoot
the jelly bean through the net of
the opponent. The opponent is
allowed to block the shots, but only
with the candy canes. If at any time
a body part touches the bean or
your opponent, it’s an instant
disqualification. The first to a set
number of points wins. You can also
determine the winner by who has
the most points after a
predetermined amount of time.

Candy Cane Horseshoes – Candy canes and
a stick. Be sure the candy canes are
wrapped in plastic as they are almost
guaranteed to break into a number of small
pieces during game play. For indoor games
you can either drive a nail into a flat piece
of wood or turn a table or stool over and
use one of the legs as the post. In the
manner of playing horseshoes, the
objective is to take turns to toss the candy
cane at an upright stick. Place a stick
vertically somewhere in the ground. Then
participants take turns throwing candy
canes (underhand) at it. A game is divided
into rounds and each round constitutes the
pitching of two candy canes by each
contestant. In each round, the one with the
highest score goes first. The objective of the
game is to get your candy cane closest.

A candy cane must be within six (6) inches
of the stake to score. A candy cane that
first strikes the ground outside the target
area or rebounds from behind the stake
cannot be scored, nor can any candy cane
thrown from an invalid position. A
“ringer” (3 points) is a candy cane that
encircles the stake so that a straight edge
could touch the two prongs without
touching the stake. The closest cane from
each pair scores 1 point. A leaning shoe
has no value over one touching the stake.
The points are scored according to the
position of the shoes at the round’s end,
that is, after the contestants have each
thrown two candy canes. This means it is
possible for the second player to knock
the opponents candy canes either away or
closer to the stake.

Candy Cane Nut Stacker Suite –
You’ll need 7 larger sized nuts…as in
nuts and bolts (Check the size to
make sure a candy cane could fit
through the hole) Hold the candy
cane in one hand by the hook.
Using ONLY the straight end of the
candy cane, pick up the nuts and
place them one on top of another
as high as you can. The goal is to
reach 7 nuts high.

Candy Cane Pass – This Christmas
party game idea is played like the
traditional game known as “Hot
Potato”. A candy cane is passed from
person to person around the circle
while someone plays Christmas
music. The candy cane is passed to
the youth right next to you who then
passes the candy cane to the youth
next to him or her. You can choose to
play clockwise or counter clockwise.
When the Christmas music is paused,
the youth holding the candy cane is
eliminated from the game. Throwing
the candy cane after the music stops
does not count.

But as a parting gift, the youth gets to
keep the candy cane he or she was
holding so that everyone is a winner
in this Christmas game. The youth
must then sit out of the game until
everyone has a candy cane. Continue
starting and stopping the Christmas
music until all but two are “out.” Last
youth to NOT be holding the candy
cane when the music stops wins. You
might want to have an additional
Christmas prize for the last remaining
youth. If you want to add a little more
challenge to the game you can call
out the word “CHANGE” from time to
time and change the direction in
which the candy cane is passed.

Candy Cane Pick Up – Place a pile
of candy canes on a table and
provide a tray or basket for each
player. Give each player a candy
cane to put in his mouth with the
hook end down. The player must
use the candy cane hook to pick up
the other candy canes and move
them to the basket. The player
with the most candy canes in their
basket after one minute wins!

Candy Cane Pick-Up-Sticks –
You’ll need candy canes, wrapped
or unwrapped, stacked into a pile.
You can use some candy canes of
a different color and give them a
higher point value. Traditionally,
there are Blue Sticks – 50 Points,
Green Sticks – 40 Points, Red
Sticks – 25 Points, Yellow Sticks –
10 Points. Change this according
to the frequency of colors and
rarity for your candy canes.

Played like traditional pick-up-sticks,
the objective is to remove
one candy cane from the pile
without disturbing the remaining
candy canes. Use a small stick such
as a kebab skewer or chopstick as
a tool in picking up the candy
canes. The first player picks up
candy canes, one at a time, until
he causes any other candy cane to
move besides the one he is
attempting to pick up. The other
team then gets its chance to do
the same.

Candy Cane Relay – Divide the
youth into two teams and give
everyone a chopstick. (The
cheap, disposable wooden ones
work fine.) Each team forms a
line, and each player holds his or
her chopstick in front of him or
her. Place a candy cane on the
chopstick of the first youth. On
“go”, the youth must turn and
pass the chopstick on to the next
youth who in turn passes it on
down the line. Youth may only
touch the candy cane with their
chopstick.

If the candy cane falls to the
ground, and the youth cannot
retrieve it with their chopsticks,
the player who was passing it
may pick it up and put it back on
his or her chopstick, but a ten-second
penalty will be assessed.
When the candy cane reaches
the last player, the player must
run to the front of the line with
the candy cane on his or her
chopstick. The first team to get
the candy cane back to the front
of its line wins.

Candy Cane Tree Toss – Divide the
youth into several teams. Each
team must have its own artificial
Christmas tree and its own box of
candy canes. Each team stands
behind a line 8 to 10 feet away
from its own Christmas tree and
has a minute to toss candy canes
at the tree. At the end of the
minute, the team with the most
candy canes hanging on its tree
wins. If any team runs out of canes
before the minute is up, one team
member may retrieve canes from
the ground to toss them from the
starting line again.

Candy Cane Tug – Played in the
manner of breaking the wishbone
of a turkey, the objective is to
connect the two candy canes at
the curved end and pull. The first
candy cane to break is eliminated.
Continue challenges until only a
couple winners remain. You can
also do this with regular size
candy canes or even have them
place it in the mouth for the
challenge.

Candy Cane Wrap – You’ll need
the hooked type of candy canes,
wrapping paper, safety scissors
and tape. Give each youth a large
candy cane, a 1-foot section of
wrapping paper, tape and safety
scissors. If you have a large group
you can also choose a
representative from each team.
The first youth to wrap the candy
cane completely (no cane can
show) is the winner.

Sniffing for Candy Canes – Santa
lost his candy canes in the snow
and has asked his reindeer to sniff
them out. Each team chooses a
reindeer as a representative. Each
reindeer is given a pie-tin or tray of
whipped cream. In each, lie two
hidden pieces of candy canes. The
aim is to sniff for the candy canes
without the use of hands. If you
use a tray, two teams can compete
on the same tray. First group to
sniff out the candy canes and
come up with it in their teeth is a
winner.

Hung With Care – (from Minute-to_
Win_It) Two strings are hung
horizontally, using whatever
distance between them that you
want. Players must then hang
three candy canes on the string by
their tips – not on the actual
hook, but the small area at the
very end of the hook. All three
candy canes must remain
hanging, concurrently, for three
seconds in order to win the game.

Merry Fishmas – (from Minute-to_
Win_It) To play Merry Fishmas,
first set up a “fishing rod” by using
string to tie a candy cane as the
hook onto a chopstick. Tie one end
of a short length of string to the
straight end of the candy cane and
tie the other end of the string to
the end of the chopstick. Then,
place four small candy canes on a
table with the rounded ends
hanging off the edge, facing down.
When the timer starts, the player
puts the chopstick in his mouth
and attempts to snag all four of
the small candy canes, one at a
time, on the end of the large candy
cane.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
MAKE IT SPIRITUAL
To many people, the candy cane is a
meaningless decoration seen at
Christmas time or just a piece of candy
to be eaten and enjoyed. I hope that
this year, every time you see a candy
cane, you will be reminded of the true
meaning of Christmas.
J – If you look at the candy cane it
looks like the letter J. Jesus starts with
the letter J, so that should remind us
of Jesus and help us to remember that
Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. (Luke
2:11, Isaiah 9:11)

Shepherd’s Crook – If you look at
the candy cane like this it looks like
a shepherd’s crook. The shepherd
used his crook to keep the sheep
from wandering away from the
flock and getting lost or eaten by a
wild animal. The Bible says, “The
Lord is my shepherd.” (Psalm 23:1)
The candy cane should remind us
that Jesus is our shepherd and he
will keep us from wandering away
and getting lost or hurt. (John
10:11, Luke 2:8-10)

Red Stripes – As you know, the candy
cane has three red stripes. The Bible
tells us that before he was crucified,
Jesus was beaten with a whip which
made blood-red stripes across his
back. The Bible says that we are
healed by those stripes. The stripes
on the candy cane should remind us
that Jesus suffered and died, so that
we can have everlasting life. (Mt
26:28) He himself bore our sins in his
body on the tree, so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness;
by his stripes you have been healed.
(1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5)

White – The candy cane is mostly
white. White is a symbol of purity.
That should remind us that Jesus
was the spotless Lamb of God and
that because he came to be the
sacrifice for our sin, we can become
as white as snow. (I John 1:7; Isaiah
1:18)
Sweet – The sweetness of the candy
cane reminds us that God Loves us
and wants us to enjoy the many
gifts He has given us – especially the
gift of His Son, who came into the
world on the first Christmas to save
us. (John 3:16)

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL
• What is the Significant of Jesus
coming as a child?
• What is the Significance of God as
a Shepherd in the Bible? Why do
you think the angel appeared to
the Shepherds?
• What is the relationship between
Christ and purity?
• Why was Christ sent? Why did he
have to suffer? How do the lashes
or Stripes Christ received relate to
our forgiveness and healing as
Christians?
• How does John 3:16 relate to
Christmas?

MAKE IT PERSONAL
• What is the meaning of Christmas
for you?
• How can you use a Candy Cane to
tell the story of Christmas to
others?
• It is said that Christmas isn’t really
Christmas till it happens in your
heart. Christ cam to save the world,
but is he Savior for you? Have you
accepted his gift of forgiveness?
• Jesus was born as a Savior to all
people, what responsibility have
you committed to so that all people
might have an opportunity to
Choose Christ as Savior?
• How does Christ’s birth and his
sacrifice affect how you live your
day to day life?

SCRIPTURES
Luke 2:11 – “For there is born to
you this day in the city of David a
Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Isaiah 9:6 – “For unto us a Child is
born, Unto us a Son is given; And
the government will be upon His
shoulder. And His name will be
called Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.”
Psalm 23:1 – “The Lord is my
Shepherd”

John 10:11 – “I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd lays
down his life for the sheep.”
I John 1:7 – “But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and
the blood of Jesus, his Son,
purifies us from all sin.”
Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now, let us
settle the matter,” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.”

Mt 26:28 – “This is my blood of
the covenant, which is poured
out for many for the
forgiveness of sins.
1 Peter 2:24 – “who Himself
bore our sins in His own body
on the tree, that we, having
died to sins, might live for
righteousness – by whose
stripes you were healed.”

Isaiah 53:5 – “He was bruised for
our iniquities; The chastisement
for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are
healed.”
John 3:16 – “For God so loved
the world that he gave his one
and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish
but have eternal life.”

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