party games?

[Sustainer]

I need ideas for games that 2nd graders can play at a birthday party. TIA!

[K-Mom3]

This depends so much on your climate, your house & yard, how many kids...

I highly recommend the book "Unplugged Play" as it has tons of birthday party ideas arranged by age and type. I found it at my local library.

My favorite group game when I was a kid was Fire in the Jungle. I have a September birthday and we would play it outside in the yard. Could also be an indoor game if you have a big space.

One person is the Hunter (It). Everyone else is a jungle animal. We would usually choose 2 or 3 different animals and have a few people be each animal. The Hunter calls "Tigers, run!" and everyone who is a tiger runs from one side of the yard to the other. The Hunter tries to tag them. Anyone who gets caught is a tree. They have to stay in one spot for the rest of the game and try to tag other people as they run past. The Hunter repeats, calling out the different animals to run. The Hunter can also call, "Fire in the Jungle!" whenever he wants and then all the players run across the yard. Repeat until there's only one player left. That person becomes the next Hunter.

[Sustainer]

Thanks!

Upstate New York. Small house. No idea how many kids yet. Could be anywhere between 3 and 12.

[columbusmomma]

You could do bingo, good for indoors and doesn't take much space
Maybe a scavenger hunt?
You could also do a couple crafts everyone could participate in.

[Sustainer]

Thank you for the ideas mentioned so far.

Still looking at approx. 4-11 kids.

[GreenKnitPocket]

Hey have you thought about a piñata? It's awesome because it takes up like an hour of the party and the kids all work together to get the end prize! Also - what about face painting or Twister?

I know kids love to see themselves on TV and sing/ dance, maybe something like the
Playskool Dance Cam would be good?

Hope this helps! I remember the best parties I had when I was growing up were the ones where my parents really took the time to make them special --- so I'm sure no matter what it'll be great!

[Althetrainer]

games for kids

Our little guy is turning 8 next Monday. After 7 b-day parties and trying so many different games we picked the winner. All kids seem to like one very simple game: hitting a balloon back and forth. This is one game that doesn't require special skill or experience. Let them sit in circle or spread out, as the balloon flows toward a kid, he/she can hit/push the balloon whichever direction they want. You can hit it soft or hard, fast or slow, high or low, at a person or up to the air. It's always a blast when the balloon hits something and pops! We have tried this game many times with different age groups and no one ever complained and the game could go on FOREVER! You can put a piece of paper inside the balloon before blowing it up. When the balloon pops, whoever popped it can get a "reward" or have to do/say something silly i.e. tongue twister, according the the note inside the balloon. We have even done it with their grandparents (they just sat there and hit the balloon when it came to them) and they loved that too. Al

[plantmama]

They should be a good age for a treasure hunt with riddle clues (depending on how clever you are about riddle making this might be pretty time consuming to set up)
DH and I made our ds a "pin the tail" type game for his birthday party last year. We painted a pirate ship on a big piece of posterboard and then had the kids put all different parts of the picture on: pirates, a flag a treasure chest etc... and ofcourse they were blindfolded so it was funny where they ended up on the scene. but this might be more appealing for younger kids.

[Sustainer]

Thank you!

[IntuitiveJamie]

I was also thinking pirate party with a treasure hunt.
Or Dinosaur party with excavation site. Do you have a sandbox you could hide dinosaur bones? Also, there are sites online that show you how to make dinosaur eggs from coffee grinds. You put a little dinosaur in them and they harden and kids can crack them open.
You can make pin the tail on pretty much anythng. Like a dinosaur. Or you can change it up, like pin the spikes on the dinosaur.

We did a party starting at our local firehouse. They gave us a tour for free and then we came home to our house for lunch, cake and ice cream. They gave the kids firehats and tattoos.

[Girlprof]

We resurrected these classic games that my DH used to play each New Year's day in his family. We played these on New Year's with a crowd ranging from 2 to about 65.

1. Drop the clothespin in the bottle. You can adjust the size of the bottle opening for grown-ups and kids.

2. Kick as many balloons into the laundry basket as you can in 60 seconds.

3. Blow the cup. Get two strings. Tie them to something about 3 feet apart. Put a dixie cup or equivalent on each string (it needs to go through the middle of the bottom of the cup). One person holds the other ends of both strings (the strings are 15-20 feet long). Then, two people race to blow their cups to the far end of the string.

These were HUGE hits. The two year olds love watching and wreaking havoc while everyone else played. In fact, for DH's uncle's 70th birthday party, they re-staged the traditional New Year's party and played these with 3 generations. Very fun!

[eepster]

Oldies but goodies:

• hot potatoe
• musical chairs
• simon says