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Ideas for Children's Activities at a Party

When there is a party for a birthday or other special occasion, children may be in need of games and activities to keep them occupied. There are several activities they can play both indoors and outdoors with minimal supplies needed. These games require both their mental and physical skills, many of which offer prizes to the winners.

Mystery Gift Pass
- Mystery Gift Pass is played by first wrapping a present in several layers of wrapping paper. You want enough layers so that each child can get a chance to unwrap at least once. In between each layer of wrapping paper, put a slip of paper that has an action or command; for example: "jump on one foot five times." Sit the children in a circle and hand the present to one child. He unwraps the first layer of wrapping paper, then does whatever the command says to do. Keep going around the circle until the present is finally revealed. Whichever child got to unwrap the last layer, keeps the present.
Egg and Spoon Race
- This is a relay race played with hard-boiled eggs and spoons. Hand each child a spoon with an egg setting in it and and "Go!" they each must walk as fast as they can to the finish line, carrying the egg. The child who gets across the finish line first with her egg still balancing on the spoon wins a prize.
Twenty Questions
- For 20 questions, first select a child to be "It." This child must go to another room while the other children find an object in the room to use for the game. Then the "It" child is called back in, and he has the chance to ask 20 questions of the other children, until he figures out which object they chose. The questions can only be "yes" or "no" questions such as "Is the object blue?"
Poor Kitty
- Set the children in a circle and put a blindfold on one child. The blindfolded child stands in the middle of the circle and is spun three times. She then points her finger, and whomever her finger is pointing at says in a disguised voice "Poor Kitty" and then makes a meow sound. The blindfolded player tries to guess who the voice came from. If she guessed right, the two change places. If she guessed wrong, she keeps going around the circle until she gets a correct guess.
Catch the Balloon
- Set the children in a circle on the floor and assign them each a number. Have the player with the largest number be "It," stand up and hold a balloon as high as he can. He drops the balloon and calls out a number at the same time. The player who was assigned the number he called, has to try to catch the balloon before it hits the floor. If he was able to catch the balloon, he sits back down and the child who was "It" calls out a different number. When a player doesn't catch the balloon in time, he is now "It."

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