Need ideas for Parachute games.

[Papa Deuce]

I'm trying to add more activities for the kids parties I DJ. I know that many daycares use parachutes at play time. Well, I bought one, but have absolutely no idea what to actually do with it. It also came with an accessory package.... balls, foam fliers......

Care to share any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[PrincessCLM]

Play cat and mouse- one kid is underneath, another is on top, the rest of the kids move it up and down and the kid on top has to find the kid underneath. I played this with younger kids at camp and they loved it.

 

[Chereya]

Depending on how big the parachute is, you could have one kid sitting on top of it and the other kids hold onto a side and pull it around in a circle. Bounce a light toy up and down seeing how high you can get without it falling off. For boys you could get a rubber/plastic toy frog, for girls maybe just a small stuffed animal.

Here's a website I found with a list of activities (I didn't review it):
http://playparachutes.com/pagaac.html

Sounds like a lot of fun - I'd hire you!

Chereya

 

[Papa Deuce]

Depending on how big the parachute is, you could have one kid sitting on top of it and the other kids hold onto a side and pull it around in a circle. Bounce a light toy up and down seeing how high you can get without it falling off. For boys you could get a rubber/plastic toy frog, for girls maybe just a small stuffed animal.

Here's a website I found with a list of activities (I didn't review it):
http://playparachutes.com/pagaac.html

Sounds like a lot of fun - I'd hire you!

Chereya

Thanks for the link! I'll check it out in a few minutes.


OK, so I checked it... EXACTLY what I was loooking for! Thanks!

 

[GraysMom]

For field day we'd put small lightweight balls on the parachute and have the kids make "popcorn" by quickly lifting and lowering the parachute. Any ball that rolled/popped off was to be picked up and put back on by whoever was closest.

You could also call out a color and clothing item and have any kids wearing that color run under the parachute and find a new spot to hold on (ex-green shirt-anyone with "any" green on their shirt runs) before the parachute floats down.

We used to lift the parachute up and have the kids continue to hold on, but duck inside and pull the edges down quick to make a tent.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

One tip to add - make sure that kids ON the parachute have their shoes off while they are crawling on it. Parachutes can be remarkably fragile when there are several excited kids charging around on top of it in their sneakers!

One trick I used was to have a whistle or some other loud noisemaker thingy to get the kids attention, and we'd practice listening, stopping, and obeying me before we got to play with the parachute. Otherwise things could quickly get out of hand and the kids would be running into each other in their excitement. I've had kids end up with black eyes, stitches, and many bumps and bruises from crashing into each other under the parachute when they got a little crazy. So I started being much firmer about putting the parachute away if they didn't listen to me...and they suddenly all turned into little angels!

I love doing parachute games! Hope you have tons of fun with yours!!

 

[Blondy876]

One thing my students love is to take the parachute and raise it high over their heads then bring it down behind them quickly, while holding onto the handles and sit down with the edge of the parachute tucked under their bottoms. Got that? It sounds stange and boring but the kids love sitting underneath the parachute while it slowly comes down.

 

[Papa Deuce]

One thing my students love is to take the parachute and raise it high over their heads then bring it down behind them quickly, while holding onto the handles and sit down with the edge of the parachute tucked under their bottoms. Got that? It sounds stange and boring but the kids love sitting underneath the parachute while it slowly comes down.

What ages are your students.... and I did understand what you meant.