Hobbies And Interests
Monkey in the Middle
Perhaps one of the oldest and most enjoyable games for younger children is Monkey in the Middle. For this game, all you need is a beach ball. Ask the children to form a standing circle. Have the birthday boy stand in the middle of all of the children. Hand the beach ball to a child and have him throw it to another child. The kids keep doing this, trying to be careful not to let the boy in the middle (the monkey) get the ball. If the monkey in the middle gets the ball, the boy who threw it is automatically the monkey.
Banana Hunt
Monkeys love bananas. Instead of a treasure hunt like you would have at a pirate party, have a banana hunt. The children can be the monkeys in hunt of their favorite food. Hide a few bananas throughout the house and then make track marks out of construction paper. The track marks should look like real monkey footprints. The older the children are, the further apart the track marks should be. You can also hide the bananas up higher if the children are older. Give each child that found a banana a small prize.
Clean the Monkey
Place two equal-size fur rugs on the kitchen or dining room floor. These are your monkeys. Now dump two cups of rice on each fur rug. Tell the children that the monkeys are infested with lice and it is their job to clean the monkeys. Separate the children into two teams and give each team a bowl. When you say "Go", the children must hurry to get rid of as many lice as they can by taking them out of the fur and placing them in the bowl. After you say "Stop", you can weigh each bowl to determine which team got the most lice off of the monkey.