Know any fun toddler/preschool age games for birthday parties?

[CamAnd]

I'm planning a 4th birthday party for DD soon and need some ideas for games to play. Attendees will be boys & girls toddler to preschool age. DD's theme will be Cinderella/princesses.

Is it now "in vogue" where everyone is a winner when playing games these days? Ex:hot potato( in the past) each one is eliminated if caught with the hot potatoe and only 1 winner in the end. In a recent party we attended, a new twist is you pass around the "hot potatot" and the one holding it gets a prize & goes on until everyone has it and gets a prize . Are all the games we played as children now like this-everyone wins?

 

[JenniferW]

Instead of a cake walk you could have a prize walk, shapes on the ground like slippers, coach, dress, prince, etc. When the music stops you say which one gets a prize. Go until everyone wins.

It is up to you if you want everyone to win or have one winner per game.

Pin the shoe on Cinderella (like pin the tail on the donkey!)

Go on a picture treasure hunt. Draw a picture of a table, everyone goes to the table to get the next clue. There they find a picture of a tv and they go to tv and get a picture of a sofa and then find a prixe box there and everyone gets one.

I'm sure others will have more ideas, I have a 2 year old so I am getting geared up for a 3 year old party. I've seen these at friend's houses.

Jenn

 

[ntburns22]

I found this on a website and plan on using it. Put the kids into 2 groups. Have 1 group leave the room and have group 2 lay on the floor and cover with a big blanket or beach towels seperately. Leave only their feet showing and group 1 has to come back and indentify the the person by only seenig their shoes. No winners no losers and sounds like it could be fun. I already know my DD will be laughing the whole time she is covered up.

 

[Mom to Jordan]

It really is best to avoid "winners" in games with this age children. You will have al least one child to cry if you do not. Not sure if this is your "first" kids party or if you are used to boys but with a DD wanted to warn you that preschool age boys (and some girls) can get very over excited and become really out of hand if not occupied every minute. I like crafts for parties. Most preschool boys will not mind if it is princess themed and wal-mart has a lot of really cute disney princess crafts. Be sure to have a activitiy already set up for arrival that does not require a lot of attention form you as you will be answering the door and greating parents. Also be sure to put away any toys that your daughter is not willing to share if the party is at your home. Guest tend to find every part of the home. Another great idea for preschool age kids is a huge box of legos or other building set.
Serve food early and make sure it is not all sweets.

Games can be hard for really young kids. They like carnival type games such as toss the object though a themed board with a curt out. Toss the glass slipper through the castle window perrhaps.
Preschoolers love music and would be happy with some time to just dance to some disney music.

I know this is more than you asked for but hope something in there might help make it a great party!!

Jordan's mom

 

[OceanAnnie]

For Easter we did some fun games with 4 year olds. They loved them. I think you could modify the games to your theme.

* Egg race: (We did these games inside.) Kids formed two lines. We had a start and finish line. The kids in front of each line (2) had a spoon and had a boiled egg balanced in the spoon. They had to race to the finish keeping the egg from falling off the spoon. Everyone was cheering & laughing. They couldn't wait to give it a try. You might be able to use something else to balance in keeping with your theme.

* Another type of egg race: Two lines again, use blocks or dividers to mark off two "lanes". Children would line up behind the start marker and push the hard boiled egg down the lane with their nose. Couldn't use any other part of their body! First one to push the egg across the finish line wins. It's harder than it looks! And fun. This one can be adapted too.

The adults couldn't stand it. They all jumped in after awhile too. It was great fun.

IMO, you don't really need to give a prize for the winner. Sometimes it's just fun to play for the sake of playing. You could always give a small goodie bag to everyone before they leave.

 

[isla bonita]

We had a princess party and one king. I had the kids dress up and they painted wands, had tiaras and a crown at there place mat and they just played for an hour. It was not organized play it was just have fun with the stuff in the play room. It went well and there was no pulling my hair out trying to get them to follow directions.

 

[Bearvet]

I have 3 boys and loved planning their parties! I usually start with a craft activity they can work on while waiting for all guests to arrive. Some examples: Pirate theme - bought small treasure chests to decorate with gems, glitter, etc.; contruction theme - used coloring book pages of different truck, then they glued kitty litter on for the "dirt".

A favorite game is always a treasure hunt - hide small toys and/or candy around house (or yard), give each child a bag and let them hunt! There are lots of great party idea books and websites (FamilyFun has some good ideas too - magazine or website).

I really miss these parties (Boys are 17, 13 and 11 now) and they still talk about their favorite parties (like the time we had a Spiderman party and made a huge spider web in our living room with 1 color yarn for each child. They were given the end of their yarn and had to follow it to the beginning - what a riot!). Enjoy these special times - they disappear much too quickly!!

 

[lillygator]

are doing any crafts?

you could have all the children paint those small pumpkins...
decorate tiara's
decorate wands

birthdaypartyideas dot com has some great ideas!!

 

[Breakfast@Tiffany's]

I have to agree with some pps about games with young children. It's hard to get everyone to follow directions and some may not even want to play the game. Free play, dress up, coloring and crafts are so much easier (and easier for your stress level, too). If you did want a "group activity", have them do a craft and then do a "parade" to show off what they've created. One idea that comes to mind is to have them decorate shoe boxes with stickers, markers, etc and then tie a string for them to pull their "float". DD did that at library time recently (they also brought their fav stuffed animal to ride in the float), the kids loved it! All of us moms were shocked that it went over so well. Makes really cute pictures too.
I know that wasn't really your question, but thought I'd throw my two cents in. Have fun with your party planning, and happy birthday to your dd!

 

[CamAnd]

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. Anymore games you've done at children's parties?

 

[laughinplace199]

DD6 had a princess party this summer. I ordered a big cardboard "coloring castle" and a bunch of washable markers. This gave the kids something to do while waiting for all of the guests to arrive and also in between activities. The castle was a huge hit!

As for games, we only played one. I had another planned but they just kept wanting to play this one. I took a tray and placed several objects on it (tiara, necklace, lipstick, purse, wand, etc.). You have the kids look at what is on the tray and then the child whose turn it is leaves the room. You then remove one item and hide it under a blanket or towel. The child returns to the room and has to guess which item is missing. I gave each girl a necklace as a prize when their turn was over. Even after all the prizes were handed out, they still wanted to keep playing.

The other game I had planned (which we never did) was to print out small pictures of Disney princesses and tape a different one to each child's back so they can't see it. Then they have to go to their friends and ask questions (Do I have blonde hair? Is my dress blue?, etc.) to try to guess which princess they have.

We also did a craft. I ordered some small teddy bears that came with gowns and foam tiaras. They decorated the tiaras with "jewels" and glitter. While the tiaras were drying, they dressed the bears in the gowns and then colored the castle some more.

Instead of a big cake, I made cupcakes and let the kids frost them and put sprinkles on them. It was fun for them, but I was finding sprinkles all over my kitchen for days, even after vacuuming several times!

As the party was winding down and we were waiting for the parents to pick up the kids, we went outside and they blelw bubbles and played with sidewalk chalk. They seemed to enjoy this as much as any of the other activites. I think as long as you have activites to keep them busy, you will all have a great time!

Good luck!

 

[McKelly]

I found with a little creativity most games are able to modified to have everybody be a winner. I would always keep a prize bucket and if we did Pin the Tail on the Donkey, the child who was closest to the right spot got to pick first out of the bucket, the child who was second closest got to pick second, and so forth until everybody received a prize.

I have also cut out shapes pertaining to the theme of the party in different colors of construction paper and hid them throughout the party area. I would then hand each child the shape and tell them once they found three matching shapes they could pick another prize from the prize bucket. It ended up being sort of a like a scavenger hunt and the kids really enjoyed themselves. For instance, for a Cinderella party, I might cut out crowns, glass slippers, carriage, horse, etc to meet the number of guests you have coming. If I couldn't think of enough items I would just make two of the same shapes but make them different colors. One child would have to find blue crowns, another pink crowns.

I have found the pull-string pinatas to be good for this age. Freeze dance was also popular. Have fun!! I love planning parties!!

 

[jojowentbyby]

WE took used soda bottles and made them into bowling pins. WE used a regular ball and evey kid got a prize.

 

[CamAnd]

I have found the pull-string pinatas to be good for this age. Freeze dance was also popular. Have fun!! I love planning parties!!

Where can I find the pull -string pinatas?

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

My 4 year old and his friends love Duck, Duck, Goose!!!

 

[McKelly]

Sorry for the delay in the response regarding the pull string pinata. I have found them on Birthdayexpress.com. I love this website, all sorts of great ideas!! I think they even have a pull-string Princess pinata, otherwise, you can turn any pinata into a pull-string with a kit they sell separately. Have fun!

 

[southjerseymom]

I just did a party for my DS5. Like the other posters - I was kind of winging it but it turned out great! I had free play until all the guests arrived, then we decorated those little wood boxes from Michaels with glitter and stickers and stuff. Then we played drop the clothespin in the can. (That's how old I am - I remember dropping it into a bottle!). I just cut out a hole in the top of the plastic cover on a large coffee can. Then I covered the outside with wrapping paper. I got some wood clothespins and off we went. The kids kneeled on a chair (make sure you are holding it) and dropped the pin in. They really really liked it. I also had planned for the kids to split in two and one child wrap the other in crepe paper (like mummies) - turns out all the kids wanted to be wrapped and we did them all. They loved being wrapped up and they were a riot breaking out of the wrap. By the time we did a couple other activities etc they were ready to go home. (1 1/2 hours was PLENTY of time)

 

[Chereya]

These might be too young for 4 year olds:

Rubber Duck Pond - Put rubber ducks in a wading pool and let kids scoop them out with a fishing net. Or glue magnets on their backs and use another magnet at the end of a fishing line to fish for ducks. Can also do with plastic fish. Numbers on the bottom can correspond to prizes. Not every duck needs a number.

Pinata - Toys R Us has some pull string Pinatas that are less violent than the traditional whack with a stick pinata. Each child gets a string and pulls on it to let the candy/toys down.

Treasure Hunt/Dinosaur Dig - Bury some small treasures or plastic dinosaurs in a sand box for kids to find.

Bean Bag Toss - I second that idea.

Bucket Toss - Similar to the bean bag toss but you line up buckets one behind the other or from left to right and the kids have to toss their bean bag/ball into the buckets in succession.

Marble/Penny Drop - Place a shot glass (or other small cup) at the bottom of a big mayonaise jar (or other large glass jar). Fill to the top with water. Have kids try to get marbles or pennies into the shot glass by dropping them in above the jar top.

Getting Dressed - There are multiple variations of this. Place a big pile of assorted clothes on the floor and have kids race to put it on (can do with music or not) When the music stops or there are no more clothes on the floor, count who has the most clothes on. Alternately, you can have matching sets of clothes and the first to get all of their set on wins, ie - one shirt, one pair of pants, one pair of socks, one pair of gloves, one hat, one scarf, etc. You do have to have enough sets for all the kids. Or another variation is just socks and try to get on as many pairs of socks as you can. The truly reative ones will put socks on their hands and ears etc. These games are funny for adults too.

I can't wait till I have birthday parties for my sons. My oldest just had his 2nd BD with all adults present and an Elmo theme.

Chereya