Preschool Party Activities

When planning activities for preschool aged children you should keep them simple and plan for them to last for only a short time, no more than fifteen minutes at most because children still have very short attention spans.  Plan a balance of rev up activities and calm activities and allow children time for free play.

Balloon volleyball- Provide each child a balloon and have them keep it afloat as long as possible without touching the ground.  If your group of kids will play interactively and share with one another this game can be played in pairs.

Bubble blowing- all kids love to blow bubbles, for more creative bubbles add a few drops of food coloring.  Let children try and blow bubbles of different shapes and sizes.  It is very possible that bubbles will get spilled so be sure to have lots.

Egg race- Children should all line up with a tablespoon and an egg and race to the finish line without dropping their egg.  If an egg is dropped it should be picked up and put back on the spoon before continuing. The first child through the finish line wins.  If you will be playing this game indoors it is advisable to boil your eggs to prevent a mess.

Freeze- As you play music children all dance, run, jump or whatever action they want, when the music stops each child freezes in place as quickly as possible and remain in the position until the music begins.  Any child caught moving is out.  You can choose to play this game without eliminating any kids and just let them have fun; elimination can cause hurt feelings and ruin the fun.

Musical chairs- To start this game you need one less chair than the number of children, arrange chairs either in a circle or back to back.  Children walk around the chairs as you play music, when the music stops the children all try and sit down in a seat as quickly as possible, whatever child doesn’t have a chair is eliminated and a chair is removed from the arrangement. Continue this process until there is only one player left.  To keep kids entertained after being eliminated you should have toys to play with or an activity such as coloring books.

Pin the tail- You can pin the tail on anything and it is a perfect activity to fit any theme. 

Limbo- Kids will love this game and so will you.  You will need a bar of some sort; a broomstick will work fine, and have two people holding either end in a horizontal line. The bar should start relatively high, the height of the child’s shoulder is reasonable.  As you play music the children all line up and lean back to get under the bar, after the last child has gone through gradually lower the bar and play until there is only one child left.  Players are eliminated if they touch the bar or lose their balance. 

Simon says- This game may already be quite familiar to your child and their group of friends.  Choose one child to be “Simon” and stand in front of the rest of the children, “Simon” calls out an action for the other kids to do such as “jump”, if “Simon” doesn’t say “Simon says” before calling the action the children should not follow, any child that follows an action is eliminated.  This will be a test of children’s listening skills!

Action rhymes- Kids will love listening to some of their favorite songs and doing the actions with their friends. Some examples of action songs are;

      o  Ring Around The Rosie

      o  Hokey Pokey

      o  Chicken Dance

      o  If You’re Happy And You Know It

      o  London Bridge

      o  Bingo

      o  I’m A Little Teapot