Solitary chicken - need advice

[Jules.]

At church on 31st October ( Hallowe'en) we're planning an alternative "Rainbow" party for children of all ages up to the age of about 12. Never done one before

 

We think we know of games for the younger ones- pass the parcel, musical statues etc, but wondred if those of you with Junior school children know what type of games these older children might enjoy?

Are "ordinary" party games too babyish for older children nowadays?

 

Thanks!!

[chickenNutter]

Top fun

 

What about ladders - where you split them into two teams and the sit side by side in lines of pairs with their feet touching with each pair having a number. When you shout a number, that pair have to step over the legs to the top, peg it round the back and up the ladder of legs again to their place. whoever sits down first that team gets a point.

 

Also, the tray of random objects memory game, where the kids get to look at a tray of everyday objects for 60 seconds and then you cover it an they have to write down as many as they can remember.

 

The chocolate game where you take it in turns to throw a dice and every time anyone gets a 6 they get to put on a hat scarf, gloves etc and then eat as much chocolate as they can (the rest of the kids are carrying on trying to get a 6) using a knife and fork.

 

Apple bobbing, (followed by getting the smartie out of a plate of flour when their mouths are wet if you are really mean!)

 

Ooooh! I could go on and on! I am a face painter too, so I go to a lot of children's parties!

 

A pinnata can be fun too.

[chickenNutter]

OOOh! OOOh! OOOh! And that ship one where you shout out port or starboard, or climb the rigging etc and they have to do actions or run to different sides of the room.

 

Sounds ace. Can I come? Will there be cake?

[Chucky Mama]

Don't underestimate how much older children love kiddie games like pass the parcel etc. My daughter had a 'kiddie' themed party for her 13th and the girls loved it. We also had jelly and ice cream which some of the girls had never experienced before. They also loved the party blowers etc.

 

For party games the most sucessful ones that we have had were actually treasure hunts. The children had to hunt the next question and when the found the question they had to do something like - score 10 baskets, skip 20 times, run and touch every wall 5 times, get from a to b without touching the floor, eat a doughnut without licking your lips and so on. At the end of the hunt there was a basket of goodies.

[Jules.]

OOOh! OOOh! OOOh! And that ship one where you shout out port or starboard, or climb the rigging etc and they have to do actions or run to different sides of the room.

 

Sounds ace. Can I come? Will there be cake?

 

I do hope there'll be cake

 

And yes, you can come too!

[Guest]

Agree the older ones will still like to win even if its participating in the younger ones games..pin the tail on the donkey. Dead lions all those brilliant..

 

can I come along too um cake

[bigmommasally]

How about the one wear you tie a pencil on a piece of string let it dangle down behind you and try to get it into the neck of a bottle by squating over the bottle - not very elegant but great fun.

Identifying mystery objects whilst blindfolded is fun - especially things like a plate of spaghetti or a bowl of baked beans.

You could try making a "name that tune" tape with bits of current pop songs.

And we always play the chocolate game that some else has already mentioned.

 

Sounds like you'll all be having a fun time.

[Fourbecameeight]

Dice Game- Dance to music with 1-6 on pieces of paper on the floor. Stop music and children choose a number to stand by. Roll a dice and what ever the number those children are out. I have played this at parties but given out glow sticks to the ones stood on the number and then carried on.

 

Mummy game- get children into teams and they wrap one member of the team in toilet paper and the first one to look like a mummy is the winner.

 

Group juggling – Get children in circle. Pick a child and ask their name. Throw or roll the ball at them saying Hi X my name is Y. Then X chooses someone else and says Hi Z my name is X and so on. This can be done again in the same order but faster and then again add in more balls. If a ball is dropped everyone stops until it is picked up.

 

Get children in a circle touching shoulders every one puts in their right hand and holds hands with the person opposite. Then everyone puts in their left hand and holds hands with a different person. The game is then to untangle it is always possible as long as you are holding hands with different people.

 

Sharks and islands- this can be played two ways 1, with a piece of newspaper for every child(island) and taking one away after every round and 2, with larger pieces of newspaper and children in teams but you rip a bit of paper off after every round.

 

Beans- When you call French beans they say Ooh la la. When you say broad beans they stand with their arms and legs out. When you say baked beans they wipe their brow as if they are hot. Runner beans= run. Jumping beans= jumping. Chilli beans= shiver. Baby beans= curl into ball. String beans= stand tall. Magic beans= spin round. Jelly beans= wobble and beans on toast = lie on back

 

Can you tell who was on a girl guiding training day yesterday?

[Space Chick]

hanging ring doughnuts from string and eating them with your arms tied behind your back in a fab game

[Alis girls]

See if you can get a plastic pumpkin and pass that with sweeties in - instead of a parcel - they love it.

[poachedegg]

The chocolate game where you take it in turns to throw a dice and every time anyone gets a 6 they get to put on a hat scarf, gloves etc and then eat as much chocolate as they can (the rest of the kids are carrying on trying to get a 6) using a knife and fork.

 

 

I was going to suggest this one - we did it at DS2's party in Yr 6 and they loved it! We used a bobble hat, gloves, sunglasses and used smarties as they are very hard to pick up with a knife & fork.

 

We sat everybody in a circle and put the items on a table to one side. The dice is passed around the circle until someone rolls a 6, they run to the table and can only start to eat when they have all the items of clothing on, in the meantime the dice rolling continues until somebody else gets a 6, then they run up and the one at the table has to stop......very funny!

[sadietoo]

I totally agree older kids love "old fashioned" party games. I was going to suggest the Mummy Game..but see that has already been posted.

 

Also there's the one where you mould flour in a pudding basin, and then invert it on to a plate , making a sort of flour mountain (pack the flour in really tightly to make this work). You then balance a coin on top of the mountain. With a small knife (plastic one will do) every one takes a turn to shave away a bit of the mountain of flour...the idea is to leave the coin on the top...eventually it collapses, and the unlucky child who made it collapse has to retrieve the coin from the flour using their teeth, with their hands behind their backs...messy (an apron or two to pass around is a must) but always popular at our parties...

 

Also depending on how musical they are (not really) you can make an orchestra.. Every one chooses a pretend instrument to play and makes the appropriate noise for it.. Choose a song that everyone knows, and they all make the noises of the instruments in tune with the music (still with me?)..you conduct...then point to an orchestra member and start "playing" their instrument...they have to take over conducting until they chose someone else to conduct by doing the same thing...any delay in taking on conducting means you are out...very very noisy, and very very silly....

[C&T]

Clump:

Get all the children to move around the floor in a certain style - e.g. like lions, or snakes, or monkeys etc. Then shout out a number. All the children have to then in groups of that number. Any children left over are out - i.e. shout out 4, and if you have 15 children, 3 of them would then be out. Keep going till only 2 children remaining.

 

Fish:

All children sit in a circle. Name them all in turn Cod, Haddock or Plaice. WHen you shout out COD, all the children names Cod jump up and run clockwise around the circle. If you shout Tides Turning, they have to change direction. Shout Tides Turning lots (can be very funny to watch!!) and they will will keep having to change direction. Then shout Sharks Coming, and the children (without changing direction) have to run back to their place in the circle. Last one to sit down is out - or you can just keep everyone playing. By the end you can have all the Cods, Haddocks and Plaice running at the same time - but that does depend on the children!!

 

You could change this colours of the rainbow instead of fish names, and Wind is Blowing instead of Tides Turning... Can't think what you could use instead of Sharks Coming through...

 

Blind...

A great one for teaching small children what it might be like to be blind. Also great for cleaning the rooms floor... But can only be played when dark outside. All children work in teams, and each team has a leader. The leader is given a bowl. All children sit down on the floor, and the adult then scatters a (large) quantity of dried peas (or similar) across the floor. Turn all the lights out, and let the children find the peas. The team with the most in their pot wins.

Very important to make sure children stay on their hands and knees while playing. After few minutes can gradually bring the lights up, so they can find all the peas!

 

 

A great place for ideas is the Scoutbase website (just google Scoutbase) and then search for Rainbows. There is bound to be loads of ideas on there!

[freddie]

Drawing in the dark,

as long as you have a totally dark room, some loose paper(wallpaper) and some crayons.

get each them settled in a space on the floor. turn out lights, and say... draw a house, Add a chimney. Add some windows, path etc etc

or draw a horse, tail, mane ,rider, etc anything that can be added to. a barn, with animals, people etc, theres no prizes, its just fun, and silly!

my lot love it!

[Jules.]

Thank you all, there's some really good ideas these

[jenuk99]

One game we played at the junior party was to put children in teams and give each team two bowls one has some small sweets in and a set of chopsticks. Each member of the team has to move all their sweets from one bowl to the other using the chopsticks. The first team to do it wins.