The games you do at kids parties will depend on the age group concerned. Here are a few to get you started!

Ages 6/7

Always do a pass the parcel.... if you are struggling at all it is a great way to keep the kids interests and gives you a break too!

Scarey Musical Statues: Just the same as normal musical statues but you never get anyone out - the only difference with this game is that when the music stops, as well as standing like statues, they also pull a silly face - and can make a scarey noise - give a prize to the scariest/funniest face/noise each time.

Musical Bumps: Not just musical bumps but the first one to sit down gets asked to come to the front to tell a joke. Make sure that you explain to the kids that if they are chosen, they dont have to come up if they dont want to, but if they do, give them a small prize.

Animal Conga: Play the conga but ask them to make themselves look and sound like the animals you call out.

Ages 8 and above (not teenagers)

15 second fame game: Play music then stop - first person to sit down gets asks to come to the front to either tell a joke (explain that it must be one they would tell their own parents and musnt be longer than 15 seconds). Ask the audience to score it on the clapomete - which is your hand rising to the applause. Give prizes to the ones who come up - even if it is a crap joke. If they dont want to do a joke, they can do an impression of a cartoon character, film star, someone off tv, animal etc or they can sing 15 seconds worth of any song - completely on their own.

Celebrity band: Invest in some inflatable guitars/saxaphones etc and wigs.. Choose about five to come up and mime to a song of their choice.... tell the audience that the more they react the better the "artistes" perform. Kids love doing this one.

Piggy back game. Get everyone into pairs. Play some music and tell them that the must dance face to face but when the music stops, one partner jumps and opens his/her legs whilst the other person runs a complete circle round them, then slides under their legs, runs round again and jumps up for a piggy back. The slowest couple are out each time and they become the "spotters" to see who is next out. Explain safety rules such as that when their partner is on their back they must not run around, or if they cannot hold their partner, then they are allowed to keep one foot on the floor.

Sharks & islands: Get a newspaper and give everyone a page. Ask them to "swim" around the islands to music, but when it stops, shout "shark alert" and they must swim to an island. Take away an island each time and the ones who dont make it are again spotters to referee the game.

Hoola Hoops: Well worth investing in a dozen or so...... have a hoola hoop contest... get 6/12 up at a time and play music. The last one hool-ering(!) on each occasion goes into the final.

Limbo - self explanatory

Reach for the stars: Get some luminous stars (available at stationery stores) and place them on the floor. Get the kids to run/dance round the stars and tell them that when the music stops, they have to "reach for a star" with a certain part of their body ie., head/leg/arm/knee/nose/ear etc. Take away a star/s each time and get those out to pick up the next one/ones. When you have about 4/5 kids left, place three stars in a line and get them to run around them end to end and when the music stops, the first one to get to the middle star wins.

Who am I: Get one child up and stick a sticker on their forehead with the name of a famous person on it. They have to ask the audience questions requiring a yes/no answer and will get a prize if they guess within one minute.

Gong game: All the kids can play this one... get a bell or a gong and ask them questions (one child at a time) - use your stop watch here... they are not allowed to say yes or no or um.

Tunnel of Lurve!: Girls or boys form an arch and the opposite sex have to go through the arch until the music stops - which is when the arch bring their arms down and whoever is caught has to either kiss a hand or head.... make sure you take your ear plugs cos they scream like mad! Suggest you only play this with the 10/11 year olds.

The following is an example of a typical 'intro' to get childrens attention within 5 minutes of a party.

WARNING
Everything expressed here in the example is conducted in a 'safety conscious' manor. Nothing should be attempted or performed without a little thought first.
Once you 'gain' the attention of children, they will 'trust' you to carry out any further 'instructions' in a responsible and 'example leading' manor.
Please use care and attention at all times.
Note
Not all 'party' games are suitable for all ages / children with a history of medical conditions.

Basic rundown of a typical warm-up (say, an 8 - 10 year old party...100+ kids)
Empty school hall - no tables or chairs / bench's.

THE PARTY WARM - UP.
Everyone spreads out - no-one can not touch anyone - find a space!

OK! stand still, spread your arms out wide - look up at the ceiling.
NO ONE is allowed to look down!

(cue up music - secret weapon from DD's music box - use an appropiate track)

When I say go - every one must spin on the spot until I say stop - Go!

Approximately 5 - 8 seconds in (using the tune as a beat counter)
cut music - Stop! Everyone stand still on one leg - DON'T MOVE!!!

Everyone naturally stops and 'attempts' to stand on one leg to fits of laughter and loss of balance. They find it hard to stand still.

Everybody jumping up and down - JUMP!
(Everybody Jumps - Whilst I call 'JUMP' over the beat tempo of the music)

Everybody running on the spot - RUN!
(Everybody runs - etc)

Quick - find a partner - everybody pair up.

Barrell Rolls
Quickly explain for the Kids to face one-another and hold hands, and without letting go, 'roll' together until they end up facing one-another again
( the old rock n roll routine !)
When I say go - roll out the barrell - ROLL!
(I use the tempo of the track for 'cue calls' - and haven't changed it yet)
Everybody.....change partners....etc.....etc.
'Chaos' and 'screams' as the kids change partners and roll it out.

THEN......
Everybody line up one-behind the other, into two lines - QUICK!
(Everybody lines up one behind the other into two lines - my prop's are my two extended arms which they line-up in front of).

Everybody put your hands on the shoulder of the person infront of you.
(You can guess what's coming next)
Everybody lean left - lean right - lean forward - LEAN BACKWARD!!!!!
(Fits of laughter and mass participation)

Mass Mad Conga
Marching forwards, backwards, quick turnaround, touch the floor - whatever I call on the mic, to the tempo of a Conga-type tune.

Within 3 minutes, everyone is involved, everybody want's to know what's next and having a great time.

Normally, before functions, I am either informed of children that could be affected by lighting, etc, or, I enquire if there is any children with any type of medical condition' or history that would prevent their participation with the other children.
Essential Tip
The Games and music should be guaged for excitement / time-outs for refreshments, etc. Too much of one thing can lead to boredom or dehydration.
Suggest you instruct the organisers / parents to arrange refreshments within the first 10 - 15 minutes from commencement of the party.
Children like routine, and will be happy to 'line-up' behind one another for participation - handy for the entertainer to 'keep order' if required, but don't over do it!!!
Try to involve everyone present - including supervisors and parents. Kids love it, but again, don't over do it. Use your commen. The great, great grandma might not appreciate being asked to 'limbo' or 'spin around' with the youngsters!!!!!

Have Fun.

Dan... what age group do you do this with... or do you do it at every kids party?

What a great tune Animal Magnet was, around 1983/4 at a guess..Welcome to the monkeyhouse. I have it and play it occasionally

Andy.... Was just wondering why the subject of welcome to the monkey house was being discussed here.... mind you kids and monkeys do go together!

Oi - this is a pinned topic, pinned for future reference, so less of the posts!

I've tried most of the games you have suggest kazzachi and they've had all had a very good response. If anyone who's thinking about doing a lot of kids parties a RADIO MIC is absolutely essential, it just makes it so much easier to direct things etc.

The hard bit I find is to know actually if an audience will appreciate party games. I usually find this with an audience of around 11/12.

I find with older age groups I stick to mainly music but do occasionally do a dancing competition or a more adultish party game.

Thats my 2 cents worth. I will post some games I do as well as the ones mentioned in a minute.

Karen's Games are certainly for younger, primary school aged kids. Most older teens often don't require any games since they don't suffer from the low boredom threshold of younger kids. Essentially 14 - 16 year olds are young adults and should be treated as such.

If I do any competitions (rather than 'games' where this age group are concerned) then I often find that the Free O2 sim cards make a very welcome prize or anything to do with mobile phones . In this case I would do some of the more adult orientated games mentioned on the other thread but clean them to make them acceptable & legal.

Here are some games that I have tried and am going to try at future kids parties.

8-11

Ropewalker

Each player is given a rope of about 2m long. The object is to walk on the rope up to it;s end. While walking the players must hold the end of the rope in their hands. The players are not allowed to leave the rope or they start again. The player who manages to get to the end of the rope first is the winner.

Mixed Musical Chairs

If possible get all the girls or all the boys sitting round the ages. Lets take girls for eg.

Now set everything up like you would with musical chairs. Get the boys to walk/dance/jig round the chairs and when the music stops the boy must grab a girl and sit them on their lap on a chair. Like Musical chairs the number of chairs will decrease etc, so you will eventually get down to a winning pair.

Head, hands and feet

This game is a race. Organise the kids into teams. Each player from each team must pass the distance of say 10m with a book on his/her head, and plastic cup of water in his/her lef hand, a broomstick or other object in his/her right and at the same time rolling a small ball. Lots of screams, shouts and laughter as they struggle to get to the other side and back.

Feed a friend

Probably for smaller numbers. Get a 2 long piece of string and put for example to bits of chocolate on each end and sit the two friends back to back to back. The object is for one another to feed each other. This can be done with lots of people sitting in a line back to back.
NB. Check for any food allergies etc. Use appropriate food accordingly.


Piece of string

Get two teams boys and girls.

Give each team a large piece of string. The string most get to the end of each line going up and over each person's clothes. The team who finishes first wins.

Another game for the 6-11 year olds:

Get them in pairs, they can pair with adult if possible but kids only works fine.
Give each pair a full (two pages) sheet of news paper on the floor between them.
Play music dance / move around , when music stops they must both stand on paper, no part of shoes or body ie hands to touch the 'bare' floor.

First time round should be no problem, so get them to step off and then fold the paper in half.
Rinse and repeat untill you have them balancing two people on a very small piece of paper. Any part of body / shoes etc touching 'bare' floor means they are out.
Encourage them to help each other, balance each other etc , keep folding in half until left with one pair.

limbo is always the way to go from 3 to 16.
Works every time

My favourite game that goes down well with most ages is The Colours Game aka The Corners Game.

All you need is 4 sheets of different coloured paper or traffic cones one in each corner of the room and an audience.

It's the usual dance around to the music and when the music stops everyone has to go to a coloured corner you then call out a ramdon corner and whoever is standing in that corner is out.

If the game drags on simple remove one of the colour and only leave them with 3 to choose from.

Last one or two left standing are the winners and give them a prize.

Got a gig this afternoon- a 7 year olds birthday so will test a few of Kazzachi's and Discodirect's games out as well as a few of my own. I might even get my radio mic and a lead the mass mad conga!

Wasn't so sure about pass the parcel though as I'm sure they will have done loadsa of it in the past so it might not go down to well.

Been getting lots of kid's parties recently, Kazzachi's games and a few of mine have been going down a storm................

But i;m looking for a few different games, if anyone has any suggestions that would be great?

so far i have done lots of stuff

Musical statues - silly and scarey faces

Mass Mad Conga

Sharks And Islands

Musical Bumps- First one down has to tell a joke

Reach for the stars

Corners

Musical chairs

Limbo

Is there anything else I can try? I don't want to get repetitive........... and keep things fresher!

Try a simple bursting balloon game.

One is to tie a balloon to their ankle and all run around to burst each others. Last one left wins.

Another is put kids into sacks with say 5 balloons and they burst them by sitting, rolling etc. Fastest wins.

Not suitable if you have very young ones who are scared by bangs, though.

I think some of these games are great ideas BUT i was wondering what you guys used as prizes. The reason I asked was because I no a someone who gave lollypops as a prize and a child fell over and damaged the back of there throat & its a bit of a safety issue giving sweets away?

Any ideas welcome

DM

I always get the mother of the birthday child to arrange the prizes, then nothing can fall back on you.

When I've had to give out impromtu prize, glow sticks go down well.

Cheezy
Nightsounds

I usually give our small packets of jelly sweets. They don't contain nuts and the worst you can do is make the kids hyper active. It's always a good idea to check with the party host if it's ok for you to give out sweets.

Hopefully then if a child is allergic to something the party host should have been advised and should tell you.

One game which always worked for me was a variation on the theme of musical chairs.

When I stop the music, the winner is the first person to touch the wall with their....elbow.

Obviously the list of body parts and different surfaces to touch is endless.

The added attraction of this is that all of the children are far too busy concentrating on their own game to take much notice of the others, so being devious you can pick almost any child to be the winner. Politically correct then.

buy a parachute 40 quid on e bay


play at try and hit the aeroplane,
get a ball have all the children hold on to parachute
and try and hit roof of hall [ caution watch out for your mirror ball]

parachute football = again children all grab parachute
one half tries to hit one wall
other half hits other wall
first to 3 wins big cheer every time someone scores
build up the suspense


crocodiles= sit round parachute with legs under two wee children
go under and grab legs and try and pullother children under or [eat them up]


my biggest mistake was putting parachute on the floor getting 2 people
to stand in the centre and every body else to run round in a circle
until the two in the middle lost their balance and toppled to the floor
it went fine for a few parties then it happened=== [SIZE=7]zapp
crying children and angry parents
don.t suppose I will be doing that game in the near future

Does Anyone Use These Games...

Rondtrees roulette:
Were You Get A Packed Of Thoose Roundtree Fruit Pastel Sweets And The Children (In Turn) Have To Guess Which Colour Comes Next...
If There Correct They Get The Top Sweet And Play Again For The Next Sweet But If They Get It Wrong They Only Get The Top Sweet And It Moves On To The Next Person. (As There Is Only About 5 Different Colours In A Pack This Game Does Take To Long.)

Find The...:
The Winner Is The First Person To Bring Back To You Any Object You Ask Them To Get. To Make This Game More Funner Tell Them They Must Get It From A Stranger (For The Older Ones Only)

Touch The...:
The Last One To Touch The Item You Have Said Looses. (This Can Include People. So This Person Get Loads Of Children Running Towards Them And Grabbing Them.

Water Torture :
Get 2 Containers Filled 3/4 Quaters With Water And Get Two Players To Hold The Container Straight Out From Thier Body The Longest (The Weight Of The Water Makes Thier Arms Ache Really Badly Very Quickly (Play With Older Children Only.)

Personaly I Have Neaver Used Any Of These But Am Thinking About Trying Them.

i play "the burping game" with my boys...

always wondered how it would go down with parents!!

who can burp the loudest!... kids love it, parents hate it!! (but secretly laugh inside!)

Aside from the Party Games proper,
I've found that a good old-fashioned Party Song can get the kids going! Kids of any age, and adults love these ones! We have a female member who comes with us and she dances with the guests! You know the songs.... Superman, Wig Wam Bam, Time Warp, Agadoo, Hokey Cokey.... that kind of stuff.
I think they're good to use before or after any actual party games you may want to try.
And again, I'd probably use the usual, musical chairs/statues, pass-the parcel.

used a Limbo set up on Saturday went down a treat well worth the investment.

I do a game where I give them all a modelling balloon show them how to make a basic dog and stick 2 minutes of music on and they have to try and make one, some of the balloons end up looking quite funny but thats only if you do balloon modelling.

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One Smart Fellow - You get 4 kids up and they say

Kid 1 : One Smart fellow he felt smart (he will actually say one fart smello he smelt fart.)
Kid 2 : Two smart fellows they felt smart
Kid 3 : Three smart fellows they felt smart
Kid 4 : And they all felt smart together.

Things to remember with this game is you can drag it out by going back to the start if anyone does it wrong and say that was a practise but dont let it go on too long, other pointer is learn it yourself because you dont want to screw it up on stage.

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The Ahhhhh Game - Simply get kids up and tell them to go ARRRRRRRRRRRRRR for as long as they can and make a competiton out of it.

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Sausages - You get children to say sausages in a deep voice in response to your questions and they are not allowed to laugh.

Ste

I have been reading this as I was contacted by a school yesterday to do a disco next week.

So this is very interesting, and I find this topic extremely useful.

If anyone can think of others let me know!

Charlie Penrose....Laughing Policeman.


3 Kids.


Play verse and chorus..let them listen.


Then play verse to kid 1...and let them do the larf.....same with 2 and 3.


Prize for the audience chosen funniest laugh!!

Instead of doing one for every thread here is my two hour party for 4 to 8 year olds, and Infant schools!

To run the games I use a minidisc player to control by remote control. I find this fantatsic for more traditional games like musical bumps and statues. I also recommend a headset microphone as well as a handheld one.

I ask the parents to provide two pass the parcels and 3 spot prizes. In the rest of the activities I give out medals.

I've also considered buying a megaphone just for the comical value of it!

Now the party itself. I use the same music to the same games all the time!

For background music I use the current chart music.

Activity 1
Introductions. Make a big event over it. I play Robbie - Let Me Entertain You. I then get the kids to scream are you ready for some fun... I said are you ready for some... "I might as well go home, I said are you ready to go" Cue louder screams! I then get all the kids to say their name into the mic, loudest person wins a medal. To a random girl I say, "believe it or not I've never being called Danielle!". Then I ask for everyone to say their age into the mic. To a random age, I say "I was four when I was your age to". I then go on to say I'm from Sunderland and have a bit of banter about who supports Newcastle etc... Great fun. Loudest child overall wins a medal!

Activity 2
Since then are all sat down on the floor I play a simple game of Pass the Parcel to Pink - Let's Get The party Started. Parent supplys the present.

Activity 3
I get them jumping up and down to get motivated. Do this to Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger.

Activity 4
Dancing competition time. Get four judges to take four chairs (already setup) and play X Factor them tune. Introduce them as Dani, Sharron [Had your hair done recently?!], Pete and Simon. Get all the kids to boo Simon loud as they can , as he is ugly, bald, recedding hair line. By the way do you put sun tan lotion on your head?. I do the competition to Cha Cha Slide. Note: I place a business card on each of the judges chairs (a prize for taking part!) At the end of the dance go to the judges ask for their verdict, Simon will be negative. Send him away and let the remaining three judges each give a medal out as a prize.

Activity 5
Next I do the Hopscotch to a looped version of One Step Beyond. Tell them a story on how I went out last night on the dirty beer, can everyone shout dirty beer after 3!, and that I messed them up so could them help me put them back together! I take the numbers out to if they are 6+. More of a challenge. Winning team all win medals.

Activity 6
Contiuing on One Step Beyond, I then do Musical Statues. A prize will be provided the parent for this game.

Activity 7
I get them all lined up with the birthday child in front and get them marching... "Get those kness right up!" This is to Amirllio. Best marcher wins a medal! This goes straight into...

Activity 8
The animal conga... we do impersonations of every child's favourite animal! You've got to be able to think very quickly on the spot!

Activity 9
Work for our food. I explain that Aunty X and Uncle Y have bought food for us all to eat. But they say we've got to work for our food! Dance is Fast Food Rockers, Fast Food Song.

Break for food, on average 20 mins

Activity 10
Go round the room with the children looking for a responsilbe adult to help with the birthday cake. Since we can't find one, Aunty X has to do it... Sing happy birthday. Stop it after first line, one adult isn't singing and give them a mic to sing into!

Activity 11
Sing-a-long to Spongebob!

Activity 12
Swinging western style to Cotton Eye Joe. Before I start I pair up all the kids! Straight into...

Activity 13
Steps 5678 dance workshop... "Contuining on the western theme!"

Activity 14
Musical bumps to Blue f/... - Get Down On It. Also ask the parents if they know what advert its off they will a prize (a business card!). Prize provided by parents.

Activity 15
Next we do an elephant impersation to The Toy Dolls, Nellie The Elephant. Great fun... The idea is when the music is really slow we all creep round like nice slow elephants but when the music goes really fast we all run around like fast elephants. The fastest elephant wins a medal.

Activity 16
If they are over five, I use camping mats sketch. 2 camping mates per team, and they have to get from one side of the room to the other. I use the It's A Knockout! theme for it!

Activity 17
Musical corners - to Rock This Party. Four high vis vests worn my adults in the four corners of the room. Put the red and white one together of course!

Activity 18
Hokey-Cokey. Bet you were wondering when this pop in!

Activity 19
Get them all sat down, and give each kid a business card. "If you had a good time I want you to put your hand in the air like this... Now some call this marketing, some call it tacky, some call it advertising..." Get a good laugh, and I now know a good plumber who give his kid his business card to give to me!!

Activity 20
Final game of pass the parcel to Queen - Don't Stop Me Now.

Also, I get kids to scream quite frequnelty, and daft stuff.
Like before musical bumps, I go scream "musical" then scream "musical bumps"
Before working for food I go scream "Hunger strikes"
I also after food say im getting tired so if I fall asleep at any point i should fall asleep please scream "WAKE UP CRAZY IDLE GARY".
Also have a bit of panto banter with the kids... OH NO YOUR NOT!! etc...