| Planning a birthday party for your preschooler? Party | | | | postcard that statethey are having a contest to see |
| games area great way to keep young children | | | | whose balloon travels thefarthest. Also ask that the |
| entertained and engaged in theparty. Make sure every | | | | location, date, and time that theballoon is found be |
| child gets a prize of some kind so childevery goes | | | | written on the postcard by the person whofinds the |
| home a winner! | | | | balloon and that the person drop the postcard in |
| Bean in Your Shoe | | | | themail. Place the postcards in ziploc bags and attach |
| One player goes out of the room. A dried bean is | | | | them to theballoons. Set a date for when the contest |
| given to one ofthe players to put in his or her shoe. | | | | ends, and launch theballoons! |
| Play some music and haveall the players dance, each | | | | Farm Animals |
| child pretending to have a bean intheir shoe. The player | | | | Secretly give the name of a farm animal to each |
| that left the room comes back and tries toguess who | | | | player. Theleader yells "Go!" and each player acts out |
| has the bean in their shoe. If they guess right, | | | | their animal at thesame time. At the end of 2 minutes, |
| theperson with the bean in their shoe gets to guess | | | | each player calls out as manyof the animal names as |
| next. If theyguess wrong, they get to leave the room | | | | they can remember. The playerthat remembers the |
| again and try again. Ifthey guess wrong a second time, | | | | most animal names correctly wins the game. |
| they get to choose who gets toleave the room next. | | | | Dog Bone |
| Hot and Cold | | | | All players are seated in a group. One player is |
| Have the players hide an object while one player | | | | selected to bethe dog. The dog sits with his back to |
| leaves the room. | | | | the rest of the players. Abone (eraser, ball, or some |
| When the object has been hidden, the player that left | | | | other object) is placed on the floorbehind the dog's |
| returns tothe room and guesses where the object has | | | | back. One at a time, each player tries to sneakup |
| been hidden. Thisplayer must move around one step | | | | behind the dog and steal his bone. If the dog hears a |
| at a time while the otherplayers call out "Warm!" or | | | | soundfrom the player trying to sneak up behind him, he |
| "Cold!" or "Colder!" or "Warmer!" or | | | | "barks" and theother player returns to their seat. If |
| "Boiling!" until the player finds the object. The closer | | | | someone is successful instealing the bone, that player |
| theyget, the "warmer" they are. The further away they | | | | returns to their seat and hidesthe bone. All of the |
| get, the | | | | players then say, "Dog, Dog, where's yourbone?" The |
| "colder" they are. | | | | dog has three chances to guess who stole his bone. |
| Lucky Number | | | | Theperson who stole the bone gets to be dog next. |
| Give each child five buttons. The players go from | | | | Break the Balloon |
| player toplayer, exchanging buttons with each other. | | | | Each child receives a balloon. The first child to blow up |
| They can give away asmany or few as they want, | | | | theirballoon and pop it wins (show the children how to |
| but they cannot refuse buttons fromother players. | | | | tie theballoons before the game begins). |
| After approximately 2 minutes the leadercalls "Stop!" | | | | Blind Man's Bluff |
| The leader then calls out a "lucky number" | | | | Choose one child to be blindfolded. Let the child |
| betweenone and twenty. Whoever has that number | | | | wander aroundthe room until they touch another child. |
| of buttons wins. | | | | The blindfolded childtries to guess who they have |
| Cat and Rat | | | | touched. If they are correct, theother child gets to |
| This game is best for 10 or more players. The players | | | | blindfolded next. If they are wrong, they getto be |
| hold handsin a circle. One player is the rat on the inside | | | | blindfolded one more time. If they are wrong a second |
| of the circle,and one player is the cat on the outside of | | | | time,they get to choose who gets to be blindfolded |
| the circle. The cattries to break through the circle to | | | | next. |
| get to the rat. The playersin the circle try to prevent | | | | Penny Dropping |
| the cat from getting to the rat. | | | | Give each player 5 pennies. Place a jar on the floor |
| When the cat succeeds in breaking through the circle, | | | | behind achair. Have the players take turns kneeling on |
| the playersthe cat broke between are the next cat | | | | the chair andtrying to drop their pennies into the jar. |
| and rat. | | | | Their hand should notgo lower than the top of the |
| Balloon Race | | | | back of the chair. Whoever gets themost pennies in |
| Give each child a self-addressed postcard. Have the | | | | the jar wins the game. |
| childrendictate to an adult notes to write on their | | | | |