HT Games
What's On the End of Your Line?
Attach a paper cut-out of a worm to the end of the line on a child-sized fishing pole. Do not attach any actual hooks. Hang a large blanket in one corner of your room and form the children in a line. Seat an adult behind the blanket out of the view of the children. When the line flies over the top of the blanket, the adult attaches a prize to the line with a clothespin and tugs on the line so the child knows to reel it in. Stickers and other small items work well for these prizes.
Silent Charades
Break the group into two teams and give each a pad of paper. An adult whispers to one player on a team what she must act out. Once the charades begin, there is no talking. The person on her team who guesses the item cannot call out the guess, but must write the guess on the group's pad of paper. The teams take turns acting out items whispered to them by the supervising adult. Each player has five minutes to get her team to guess what she is acting out or the round is lost. The team with the most correct guesses at the end of a designated time wins.
Scavenger Hunt with A Twist
Choose one room of the house to play this game. Choose a child as the leader to think of five things in the room that he would like the other kids to find; have him write them on a piece of paper (or write them for him) that no one sees until the game is over. The kids have three minutes to grab five small things around the room that they think are on his list and then line up for the leader to look over their objects. The child with the most guessed items wins and becomes the new leader for another round. This game works best if you place small items tagged for the game around the room beforehand. Small party favors make the game more festive.