We are having a birthday party for my niece who is turning 2. I have it planned for outside, but am ready to move it indoors if it rains. The problem is there are 8 guests (plus all parents, basically a family and close friend event) They range from 7 to 2!! (3~7yo, a 6yo, 2~4yo, a 3 yo, and Annie 2) I can't think of any games to keep them all occupied! I have 1 from someone elses post where you divide them into groups and easch group sees how fast they can 1 m=one of there members a mummy out of TP paper, but that is it.
I do have a pull string pinata (you pull strings instead of beating on it, but wanted some other games. I figure group ones would be best because even if the younger ones didn't understand what was going on, they would feel like they were included.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
You could have them try to see who can keep their balloon in the air the longest. Kids love to play with balloons and all of them can participate.
What about the basics like hot potato and musical chairs? I find the old party games still hold up with kids! Have fun!
Musical chairs. All kids love that one. We played it when my daughter turned 7 and we play it at church with the little kids. Think back to the old simple games. Duck, Duck, Goose and stuff like that. A lot of the "older" kids with like playing them and the little ones are so cute to watch. Good luck and God bless!!
have them make their own party hats, out of newspaper that they can color on or add feathers, glitter,or other things from the craft store. just be sure the younger ones have help. also they can decorate their own cupcakes or put on their own toppings for ice cream. Enjoy.
a have children that are different ages and a relay race works great if you divide them evenly. They can race to put on dress up clothes, race to pop balloons, race on their hands & knees, race walking backwards...etc. I usually give everyone a cheap medal from the party store.
what about like an arts/crafts project instead? kills lots of time and they can take home their own little souvenirs! parents can help too - maybe they can paint a little ceramic or something. walmart has them super cheap. just a thought!
These are two games that I've seen work with little kids that big ones still enjoy. The first one is the Cotton ball game. Divide in to two teams. Have a grown up put a dap of vasaline on th bridge of the first kids nose and then put a cotton ball on it. Then that teammember goes down and back, walking and balancing the cotton ball. If it falls off they have to go back to the start. The adult can get the second kid ready while the first is walking. Try practing how much vasaline to use before that day. YOu want the cottonball to be stay, but kinda wabble.
The second game is Push with Your Nose. Its best played indoors. Again divide into two team and take turns pushing an object (ball, empty toliet paper roll, something theme related) with their nose. Its best to have part of the team take it down and the other part bring it back.
You don't really need that many games. Just let the kids play. MY DS will be 4 in November and this is the first year where we will have organized games.
I have the same problem at my church. I plan the Halloween party & the ages range from 2-12 years & there's never enough of each age group to separate them. We usually do a "pumpkin pond" - like a duck pond, using a small pool & water, a bean bag toss, how far they can throw, or find a bucket & see how many they can get in it making it closer for little ones, farther for the older ones, candy walk - like a cake walk , but you can use anything for the prizes (think book walk, trinkets like you find in the party section, anything), you can lay out a blanket with candy / trikets on it & give them a small embroidery hoop (or anything circle without a center) & they throw it & whatever is inside the circle they get to keep. You could make up a match / tic tac toe game. Make a table in word(or whatever, or you can draw it), it can be 3x3 or 4x4 & put a different picture / sticker in each square, then make cards to match each of those pictures, give the kids smarties or something to cover their square when you draw the picture & 3 in a row / 4 in a row wins, this could be played several times. You have several other great suggestions, but thought I would add a few. Have fun!! Happy Birthday to the little one!
Our friends' kids cover a wide variety of ages, and the biggest hit seems to be different types of crafts. Foam stickers on hats/crowns/door hangers, etc., paper bag puppets, you get the idea. There are lots of options that different ages can all enjoy. Michael's has a lot of cool ideas, and this way you don't have to try to get all the kids to do the same thing at once (two years old is pretty tough to contain!) We do that for our daughter's birthday parties, and it works out very nicely.
Good luck!
It sounds like you already have some great ideas here, but here are a few more.
Bubbles. No games, but the kids of all ages love them!
"Fishing" over a wall/sheet/blanket. The kids love to see what kind of prize they get.
I second the cupcake decorating. I had three tubes of colored frosting at my one-year-old's birthday party. He didn't decorate, but his two-year-old brother did! And their friends, up to age ten, loved it as well.
Waterless swimming pool: fill a kiddie pool with lightly crumpled tissue paper and/or ladies scarves (not winter scarves). Put a bunch of small toys in the pool, and let the kids find the toys. Many of the kids will just want to play with the tissue paper or play dress-up with the scarves. Great way for parents to talk with each other and the kids to have a great time!
I have observed that even with 4 or 5 year olds it was sometimes like herding cats to get them to do party games.
What about crafts? This seemed to keep the occupied for a short while at least. We have picked up the cheap wooden cars or other things at craft shops and have them paint them. You can have a couple of crafts set up ahead of time, you can guide them but there isn't the stress of having to get everyone to do something at the same time. Can you get access to a parachute? There are a lot of ideas on parachute games on the internet. This would be most ideal outdoors or in a basement. Could they decorate their own cupcakes or cookies? You could make "baggy" ice cream. This is ice cream in two zip lock bags that kids shake up themselves. Some of these things kids could do as they want. I think it is good to keep kids occupied but without added stress to the adults.
The challenge you have is a wide variety of ages. Is your intent to keep the kids occupied the whole time? If so, I would suggest either limiting the time, or rethinking your expectations. If you are wanting to do a long family/friend event where everyone hangs out you don't need to try to keep them occupied the whole time. If you could get the families to bring some age appropriate toys it would make your life easier. Kids are pretty imaginative. Otherwise, if you want to make sure everything is organized - limit the time to no more than 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
Good luck
pin the tail on the donkey especially for the older ones, there is a target game that you throw velcro balls at that is fun for all ages, have a candy hide and seek game. hide candy and they have to go find it either in the yard or around the house. Outside games like the ring toss, mini golf (can get a plastic set pretty cheap), wiffle ball, etc. Limit your party to about 2 hours and you will be surprised at how fast it will go. Play games first for about 45 minutes, have cake and ice cream, always open presents last about 20 minutes before your party ends. I have learned to do presents last because the kids will all want to play with the new gifts and won't participate in anything else. It also keeps toys from getting broken or pieces getting lost before your child gets a chance to enjoy them. As for the pinata I always start with the birthday kid, then youngest to oldest. The pull string usually gets done with a few kids because someone will pull the right one so we still beat them up with a plastic bat so they last longer and every kid can enjoy it. I never blindfold for pinatas either. It keeps the danger down when they can see where they are swinging the bat but we do have it on a rope and someone on the end pulling the pinata higher or lower and makes it more challenging. Those plastic bats are strong enough to break through even the hard rock pinatas I have made with papermache.
If you don't mind the kids making food, I've done three activities with great success. Adults get into it as well.
1. Coffee can ice cream. You seal ice cream ingredients in one can which you put into a larger can packed with salt and ice. The kids roll it back and forth for 15 minutes and they've made their own ice cream. Here's a website ... http://www.makeicecream.com/makicecreami1.html.
2. Soft pretzels. Pre-make the dough, then have the kids play with it and shape it anyway they like. Just put the words ... soft pretzel recipe ... into a search engine and you'll find lots of recipes.
3. Cake decorating. Make cupcakes or bake tiny cakes in individual flan dishes, then buy different colored icings and sprinkles and let the kids (and adults) decorate their own cakes.
Good luck and have fun!
treasure hunt using pictures instead of words.
cotton ball races, not with vaseline on the nose, but with lining the kids up along the coffee table or kitchen table & they have to BLOW them across the table (or flick them)! It's a riot & I use this game with my daycare. (For Halloween, we call this game "Scare the Ghost Away".)
Line up a variety of cans, buckets, etc. Have the kids toss large-size marshmallows into the buckets. (you can also use bean bags, soft balls....whatever's handy.) (For Halloween, we call this game "Toss the Ghost".)
& any of the classics: Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Musical Chairs, Etc.
Balloons are good for all if you know the 2 year old won't bite them.
Tie a balloon to each kids ankle and they try to pop each other's ballons. The last kid with a balloon wins.
