For Ages 1 - 4:
A Colour Party - Ask guests to come dressed in your child's favourite colour. Get balloons, streamers, wrapping paper, etc in different shades of your colour, and borrow coloured sheets or blankets from your friends to drape over the furniture.
The Treasure Hunt - Set up an easy treasure hunt for this age group by wrapping small treasures in different coloured or patterned paper. Give each child a piece of wrapping paper and have them find the matching treasure.
For Ages 2 - 5:
Hideouts - Set up 'hideouts' by draping blankets and tablecloths over the side of a table. Place something hefty (but not kid-damaging heavy if it falls) on the cloths to hold them in place. Have the blankets touch the floor on three sides, and not quite on the opening side. Populate the fort with pillows, books, toys, etc. Give each kid a small flashlight and send them in.
Animal Party - Get your guests to bring their favourite animal 'stuffy'. Decorate the party place with animal pictures, have materials on hand for guests to make an animal mask when they arrive, serve animal crackers, play animal charades. You can do this with either a farm, jungle, or zoo animal theme.
Try cutting out cardboard shapes of animal food - bones for dogs, mice for cats, carrots for rabbits, etc. Your guests decide which animal they want to be, then run around as that animal looking for their cardboard 'food'. They can trade it in for real treats later - maybe cookies cut in the same shape!
Music - Play them some upbeat music. Experiment by putting on some songs they know alternating with snappy songs from different ethnic cultures. It is easy to over-stimulate this age group so when they start to get ‘wild’ turn the music off and move on to the next thing.
Froot Loop Jewelry - This is a great activity for when children are arriving. Have a couple of bowls of froot loops or cheerios set out and pieces of string, wool or ribbon that can easily fit through the middle of the cereal. Let children make their own necklaces, bracelets or anklets while everyone arrives.
For Ages 5 and Up:
Magazine Hunt - This is a great backup activity for a rainy day. Put a stack of picture-rich magazines in the middle of the room, and have scissors for each child. Give them a list of items, or simple pictures if they can't read yet, and ask them to find similar pictures in the magazines and cut them out. Tailor the list to the magazines on hand. After a set time, depending on age, give ‘prizes’ to everyone – and then let them make their own or a group collage.
For Any Age:
Air Balloon - Start with half as many balloons as there are children. The balloons must stay in the air and no one can hit it more than two times in a row. Keep adding balloons and see how many the group can keep in the air. With younger children start with one balloon and let them hit it as many times as they need to.
Alphabet Scavenger Hunt - Give your hunters a paper with the alphabet down one side, and tell them to find one item that begins with each letter. Give them a time limit and a designated area and set them loose.
Beat the Clock - Get an alarm clock or timer and set it for three to five minutes. Have the children try and find it – or some other item – before the alarm rings.
Cards - At the end of the party have decks of cards available for the children to play Fish, crazy eights, or to make card houses with while they wait to be picked up.
Gak - Who knew glue could be so much fun without making a mess? This recipe will create a fluid substance that holds its shape. Easy to make, easy to clean.
Mix together: 2 cups white glue & 1½ cups warm water
Combine: 1/3 cup water & 1 teaspoon Borax
Drizzle into glue mixture & stir
Limbo Contest - Remember this one? Place a broom across the backs of two chairs and put on some music from the South Seas. Don't forget to show them how it's done!
Magic Eco System - Have a one or two litre clear plastic bottle for each child. Fill them – or let the kids fill them – with oil, vinegar, food colouring, glitter, sequins, small toys, etc. Seal the lids with glue or duct tape and let the kids enjoy shaking and watching them.
Nickel Rummage Sale: Have guests bring three to six items that they no longer play with to contribute to the sale. Price the items between 5 and 25 cents. Give each of the guests an envelope or purse with twenty nickels in it and let them go shopping. You’ll get your nickels back when they purchase items, and the players will get to go home with different toys. Have labeled bags ready for them to take their ‘purchases’ home in.
Penny Toss: Give each child ten pennies, a line to stand behind, and a bucket with a wide opening to toss the pennies into. You can use small plastic animals from a dollar store rather than pennies if you prefer. If you have a space you can get wet, put water in the bucket. Add some food colouring to the water to spiff it up. Float blocks of wood in the water for the players to hit. At the end of the game divide the tossed objects up between the players to keep.
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