Don’t forget the kids when you’re planning your 4th of July party this year. Here are some fun activities you can plan to help keep your kids entertained and having fun.

• Printable 4th of July Color Pages
• Patriotic Games
• Plan a parade- have all the children dress up in their favorite patriotic outfit for a fun parade. Have them bring a wagon, or bicycle, and decorate them to make their own float.
• Paint flags on the children’s faces
• Have a patriotic scavenger or treasure hunt
• Set Up a Wet and Wild Obstacle Course
• Make a patriotic pony bead necklace

I’ve posted more fun 4th of July ideas at my b5media blog, She Knows Parties:

•  4th of July party decorations
• Ideas for making your own 4th of July party decorations
• 4th of July fireworks safety
• 4th of July red white and blue dessert ideas

What fun games, and activities have you played at your 4th of July parties?

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Here are some things to think about when you’re planning activities for children’s birthday parties. This video gives some great pre planning advice for birthday party activities, crafts, and pinatas.

 

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I won a FunSlides Carpet Bocce game last fall in a blog contest. My son has had a blast with this game, and when my nephews came over they all played the game together.

Carpet Bocce takes the traditional lawn game and brings it indoors. It would make a great party game for a rainy day. The rules are fairly simple. The object of the game is for one team to get their pucks closer to the pallino (white puck). The game can be played as individuals or as teams.

The pucks are a special design with soft foam on the sides to bounce off walls without leaving a mark. The top and bottom surfaces are hard plastic to glide easily across the carpet.

If you’re looking for a simple rainy day party game for children age 6 and up, give Carpet Bocce a try.

To find out more information check out the Fun Slide Toys and Games website.

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A couple years ago my son wanted to have a Pokemon birthday party. With the release of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Pokemon is still a popular party theme for young boys.I thought I’d share a couple things here that we did for my son’s party, maybe it will give you some ideas for your own Pokemon party.Pokemon Party Game Ideas Have a Pokeball hunt. The Pokeballs can double as your party favors. Hide the Pokeballs like you would eggs if you were going to have an Easter egg hunt. Hide them in tougher spots if you have older children, make them easier to find if you have young children. Let each child find a Pokeball or two to take home with them.

Instead of a Pokeball hunt, you could also have a Pokemon treasure hunt. Divide the children into teams. Give the teams names like the Pokemon training team, or Team Rocket. Set up a trail of clues leading the children to a prize. Set up the trail before the guests arrive for the party. It’s easiest to start with the prize and work your way backward when you’re setting up the clues.

Draw a Pekachu on a large sheet of white paper, or a white board and play pin the tail on Pekachu.Get out the construction paper, pens, crayons, and markers. Let the children draw or create their favorite Pokemon.Play Pokemon trivia.

Play Pokemon charades and let the children pretend to be their favorite Pokemon while the other children try to guess who they are.

Pokemon Party Decoration Ideas Decorate with red and white, or golden yellow. Make stars, lightning bolts, or Pokeball shapes to stick on the walls, or hang from the ceiling.Pokemon Cake Ideas

Make a Pikachu shaped cake, or make a Pokeball shaped cake or cupcakes with the Wilton Mini Ball Pan or the Wilton Sports Ball Pan Set.

You can also purchase Pokémon Cake Toppers to decorate a sheet cake, or round cake with.

Whatever you decide to do make sure you include your favorite Pokemon trainer (birthday star) in the party plans. Kids love to help plan their own party.

More Pokemon party supplies, decorations, and ideas.

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Preschoolers are so easy to entertain, but you will want to keep things as simple as possible to keep yourself from pulling your hair out.

Sidewalk Fun

If it’s warm outside get them outside to blow off some steam. Sidewalk chalk or sidewalk paint are great fun for preschoolers, let them draw each other’s shadows, or make shapes, letters, or simple pictures. Draw up a game of hopscotch to play.

Homemade Sidewalk Paint

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

6-8 drops of food coloring

Mix cornstarch and cold water together in a small container. Add the food coloring and stir. Repeat this process to create different colors of paint. Washes away easily with rain or water.

Play Dough

Playdough is a fun and easy thing to do with preschoolers at a party. Keep the playdough in one area, with plastic on the floor to catch any pieces that may escape. Get several colors of playdough, and some cookie cutters or let them mold their own creations.

Make your own playclay recipe:

Edible Play Dough

1 cup of peanut butter

1 cup of corn syrup

1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar

1 1/4 cup of powdered milk

Mix all the ingredients together. Your kids can form their own creations, then eat them. Make sure they wash their hands before playing with this play dough and they should work on a clean surface. You can provide coconut, nuts, raisins, sugar coated candies, or sprinkles for them to decorate their creations with.

Play A Simple Game

When you’re playing games with preschoolers stick to games with simple rules they may be familiar with. Some good preschool party games to play include the old favorites, Simon Says, Duck Duck Goose, Freeze Tag, Warmer/ Colder, and simple scavenger hunts.

You can also lay a large sheet of butcher paper (leftover wrapping paper works great too) or use a plain white roll of paper, on a long table or on the floor and give them some simple drawing books, and some crayons or colored pencils. Let them make a mural for the birthday child.

You can also set up craft stations, and let them rotate between the stations, just make sure you have an adult helper for each station.

Whatever game or activity you plan to do with preschoolers keep it simple, and if it’s not going well regroup. Free play time always works well if none of your ideas are working out. Don’t get too stressed and have fun with it!

 

Tags: preschool party games, preschool party ideas, preschool party games and ideas, party ideas for preschoolers, games and activities for preschoolers

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A treasure hunt can be adapted to almost any birthday party theme. It’s perfect for a pirate, under the sea, or mermaid theme, but it can also work for almost any party (just change the name to something clever related to your theme). It’s a fun game, and many children are already familiar with it.

Hide the clues ahead of time so no one sees where you put them. The best way to lay out a treasure hunt is to hide the treasure first, then work backwards until you get to the first clue.

Define boundaries, so no one wanders off, gets hurt, or gets lost.

Make your clues clever and cryptic (coded). You can use codes the kids have to break, or you can use riddles, and even drawings for the clues.

The kids can search for the treasure individually, or it’s even more fun if you let them work in teams. The size of the teams will be determined by the number of children at the party.

Make it even more fun by making everyone a winner in the end.

Pirate and Mermaid birthday supplies. 

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You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to party games. Some of the oldest games work the best when you’re trying to figure out how to entertain a group of children. Most children already know the rules and understand how to play these old familiar favorites. This means less explanation from you, and more playtime for the kids.

If you’ve overlooked a game because you don’t think it fits the theme of your party, think again. Many old favorites can be tweaked a little, or maybe just renamed to fit the theme of your party.

Pin the tail on the donkey is one of the most versatile games there is. All you need is a blindfold, Something to be pinned, and something to pin on. If you’re having a farm or tractor party, just draw a large tractor on a whiteboard, or poster board. Cut a tractor wheel out of black cardstock, or construction paper. Use sticky tack on the back of the tire to help it stick repeatedly, or have a helper hold the tire in place until you can mark the exact spot, and the initials of the person who last pinned.

Pin the tail on the donkey can also be renamed as pin the tail on the mermaid, pin the cord on the microphone (for American Idol, Hannah Montana, Rockstar, or Karaoke theme birthday parties). You can also try pin the tail on the Pikachu (Pokemon), pin the horn on the unicorn, pin the hook on the pirate, the tiara on the princess, and I think you get the idea. All you need is an imagination, a poster board, some markers, and construction paper to change pin the tail on the donkey to fit your party theme. Don’t forget the blindfold!

Another fun game that’s easy to adapt is hot potato. Instead of a potato you can have an object to fit your theme. Some titles might include, Don’t Get Caught With Hannah Montana’s Hat, Don’t Be Left Holding the (beach, base, foot, soccer, basket) ball (for a sports theme or beach party). Use a soft Nerf type ball in case someone gets hit. If your having a jungle, dog, cat, dinosaur, Webkinz, or unicorn party use a soft stuffed version of the animal for the “hot potato,” and make up a name to fit. Whoever is left holding the “hot potato” when the music stops is out of the game.

Easter egg hunts can also adapt to several party themes. Rename them dinosaur egg hunts, Poke-ball hunt, or hide party favors for your theme around the yard or house and let the children find them.

A relay race is simple and works very well with most party themes. For a beach party you can have the children divide into teams. Each team will have to grab several beach related items (a towel, a pair of flippers and a snorkel, a beach ball) and race down to a marker and back. They then hand the items off to the next person who races down, until everyone on the team has gone.

You can make this a dress up relay for older children, the dress up relay works well for princess or pirate parties. Have a costume ready for each team to put on. Each person on the team has to put on the costume, race down and back, take off the costume and hand it off to the next person in line.

I think you get the idea, just use your imagination, and any game (with a little tweaking) can fit your party theme. If you play a game that the children are already familiar with they will be less nervous, they’ll be able to focus on the game, and have more fun.

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Have you thought about having a holiday movie party this Christmas season? There are so many Christmas classics out there it would be hard to narrow down the movies you’d want to show.

Think up some movie related decorations, games, and snacks to match the movies theme. The party can be just your own family, or invite the neighborhood.

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Make Polar Express Hot Chocolate

Make a Christmas Story Leg Lamp, or bumpus hound floppy ears.

Have a Christmas Story bundle up relay.

Play Grinch tag (put a grinch twist on freeze tag)

Rudolph’s flight school- see who can jump the furthest

You get the idea, the games and snacks don’t have to be complex, just name them after the movie your watching. The kids will get a blast out of it.

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One very important thing to remember when you’re planning a children’s party is that most parties don’t go exactly as planned.

Don’t make your activities and plans too difficult. Children don’t like to be bogged down with details. They’ll have more fun with simple games that allow them some freedom, and room for play.

Make your games age appropriate if you have children of different ages make sure you have rules even the younges children can follow without getting frustrated. Older children will generally still have fun with a simpler game but younger children will not understand a game that’s too complex.

All of the play at your child’s birthday party does not have to be organized. Let the children have some “free” time just to socialize, interact and play what they want.

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Football Toss
Divide the children into teams of two. You will need a football for each team. Have each of the children line up facing each other behind a designated line.

The kids will toss the ball from one to the other. After each successful toss the person who catches the ball takes a step back. If either player drops the ball, the team is out. Play until there is only one team left. The winning team gets the prize.

Football Throw
Let each child throw the football, the winner is the child who throws the football the furthest.

Flag Football
Cut up some fabric in two different colors. Divide the children into teams. Dangle the fabric swatch out of each child’s pocket. Each team is a designated color. Then play a fun game of flag football. You set the exact rules. Make sure you let the children’s parents know ahead of time, so they don’t send their children in their dress clothes.

Football Hoop Toss
Hang an old tire in a tree, or have an adult hold a hula-hoop at arms length. Have the children attempt to toss the football through the hoop. If you tie a tire in a tree you can also start the tire swinging and see if the children can hit the moving target.

Here are more ideas and supplies for your football themed birthday party

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