Games to Play at School Parties

Cooperative Musical Hoops

• This is a variant of musical chairs except no one loses. The game works best in a gym. Spread hula-hoops on the floor in a circle and play music. First instruct the children that no one is ever out. Let the children know that they have to figure out how to share the hoops in order to continue playing.

Colors

• Gather yarn of different colors and cut each color of yarn into short lengths. Cut enough pieces so that each child can have one of each color. Separate the yarn pieces and hide in various places in the classroom. The children, as a group, need to find the yarn and put the pieces together in bundles by color.

Find Your Partner

• Divide the class in half and ask the children to close their eyes. Give each child a card with a picture on it. The children open their eyes when you say "Go!" They need to find a person with a matching card and sit down as they find the matches.

Fortunately, Unfortunately

• Ask the children to begin with a sentence, "Fortunately..." and creates a sentence. The next student says, "Unfortunately..." The students go around the circle and take turns with statements starting with "Fortunately" and "Unfortunately". The basic rules are to be polite and to not hurt feelings. Silly statements are allowed.

Pencil Walk

• Pencil Walk is a variant of the traditional Cake Walk game. This works best in a gym. Use tape to make draw 10 squares in a circle and write a letter in each circle. Write the same letters on 10 separate pieces of paper and put these in a basket Play music and ask the children to walk around the circle until the music stops and the children stand on a square. Pick out a piece of paper that has a letter on it from the basket. The child who is standing on the square with that letter gets a pencil. Play the game until all the children have a prize or have consolation prizes ready so no one feels different from the other students.

Telephone

• The rules are simple. The children sit in a circle. One child whispers in another child's ear. This child whispers what she or he thought the first child said into the ear of the child next in the circle and so forth until the last child has had a chance to receive the message. This child says out loud what has been whispered and it sometimes does not have any resemblance to the initial statement.