Pass the Parcel
You will need:
A gift wrapped in
several layers of paper (the parcel)
Sweet
to put in-between each layer (optional)
A music CD
A CD player.
Playing
the Game:
Sit the children in a circle on the floor facing the centre. Start the music, and hand the parcel to someone in the
circle (usually the birthday boy/girl). As the music plays, the children must
pass the parcel to the person sat next to them so the parcel goes round the
circle. When the music stops whoever has the parcel removes the first layer of
wrapping.
Repeat until all the layers have been removed. The person who removes the final layer is the
winner and gets to keep the gift.
Extra
Idea:
It's
best to have two people to supervise the game - one with the children passing
the parcel and one controlling the music player. The person controlling the music should try
to make sure they stop it so that a different child gets a chance to open the
next layer, this avoids children being disappointed.
You may find that the children enjoy playing this game so much that they want
to play again, so it’s worth having a couple of wrapped presents just in case.
Egyptian Mummy Wrap
Divide
the children into pairs, one will be the Mummy and the other the Mummy Wrapper.
Give each wrapper a roll of toilet paper or crepe paper streamer. On the word
"Go!" the wrappers race to see who can wrap up their mummy within 2
minutes (you can change the length of time depending on the age group). The winning team is the one with the best wrapped
mummy.
The game is tricky because the faster they try to wrap, the more the tissue
will tear, causing them to keep restarting!
Musical Chairs
You will need:
Chairs (one less than
the number of children)
A
music CD
A CD player
Playing
the Game:
Set up chairs in 2 rows back to back. Put out one less chair than there are
children. Start playing music, and have the children walk around the chairs
without touching them. When the music stops, the children must each sit on a
chair. The child without a chair is "out". Remove a chair and repeat. Keep doing this until there is only one chair
and 2 children remaining. The winner is the one who gets on the last chair. If
there is a tie, the child with more bum on the chair wins.
Hot Potato
You will need:
A potato or other
object
Playing
the Game:
This
game is an old favourite. Sit the children in a circle on the floor facing the
centre. Ask somebody who is not playing
the game to be the "leader" for the first round. The leader must stand outside the circle with
their head turned away and eyes closed. Give the potato (or other object) to the
birthday boy/girls and shout go. The
children must then pass the potato to the person next to them as fast as
possible so it goes round the circle. At
any point the "leader" can yell "Hot Potato" and whoever
has the potato is out of the game and is the leader for the next round.
Continue to play until there is only one person left, and he/she is the winner.
Guess how
many?
Find a variety of items
that your guests can guess "How many…" For example, "How many
jellybeans in a jar," "How many words on a page in a book,"
"How many crisp in a bag" "How many pages in a magazine".
Award a prize to the person who has the closest guess for each item.
Chinese
Whispers
Have the children sit in
a circle on the floor. The first player begins by whispering a phrase into the
ear of the person next to him/her. One by one, each person repeats the
whispered sentence as they hear it when it is whispered to them. When the last
person receives the message, he/she repeats it out loud. It is usually
completely different than the original statement.
Musical Statues
You will need:
A music CD
A CD player.
Playing
the Game:
All
the children need to be standing on a clear floor. When the music starts ask all the children to
dance. When you stop the music the
children must stop and stay in whatever position they are in.
Any child who moves is out of the game and can help to spot other children who
may be moving in the following rounds. The winner is the last person left on
the floor.
Extra
Idea
If playing this game more than once instead of dancing you can ask the children
to act like animals or do bunny hops.
Sense-sational
You will need:
Some paper bags or
containers
Variety of items that have an aroma.
Playing the Game:
Test their
powers of smell! Fill paper bags with a variety of items that have an aroma,
such as coffee beans, salami, toothpaste, orange peels, chocolate, and so on.
Be sure the smells are familiar to the age group. Then pass the bags around and
let the children smell them without looking inside! Give prizes to whoever
guessed them all correctly (or whoever guessed the most correctly).
All the
children can work together to guess the items and all of them receive a small prize
(ie a mini bag of haribo’s). This is great for the last game as everybody wins.
Balloon Grab & Pop
You will need:
A balloon for each
child.
Playing the Game:
Prior to blowing up
the balloons you need to write ‘WINNER’ on a piece of paper, roll it up and put
it inside one balloon.
Throw all the
balloons up in the air and every one as to grab a balloon. Once everybody as a balloon they all have to
pop it and the one with the ‘WINNER’ note in wins a prize.
The Price is Right
Here's a great wind-down
game that also serves as the going-away present. Buy inexpensive gifts for all
your guests, such as a big bag of sweets, a small stuffed animal, a scary book,
and so on.
Distribute paper and pencil to each player. Hold up one item and have the children
try to guess how much it cost. Reveal the price tag and award the gift to the
player who guessed the closest. That player is out of the game, while the rest
continue guessing the prices of the gifts, until everyone has received gift.
Human
String Relay
You will need:
A Spoon per team
A
ball of yarn per team
Playing the Game:
Split the children into 2 or 3
teams. Tightly tie a spoon to the end of a ball of
yarn. Line up each
team in a line. When the host/hostess says, "Go," the first person
from each team must put the spoon down his shirt, as well as his pants. When it
comes out of his pant leg, he must then pass it to the next player and feed the
yarn through (As it is still attached to the first player). When it has gone
through the entire line, and everyone is attached, then the last person at the
end of the line must reverse the process (While the first person winds the
string into a ball as it comes back out of each person's clothing). When the
team finishes unwinding the string then the first person in that line needs to
shout, "Done!" The team to finish unwinding the string first wins.
Sleeping Lions
Playing the Game:
This is a
great game to end your party on or to calm the kids down if they're getting a
little over excited! All the children (the 'Sleeping Lions) lie down on the
floor. When somebody moves they're out and can help spot other lions that
move. The winner is the last lion
sleeping.