2nd grade birthday party games and activities?

[Denise L]

My high functioning autistic daughter will be celebrating her 8th birthday on Saturday. We will have about 7 kids at our house. Does anyone have any fun yet simple activities/games that would work?

I have three hours to kill...pizza/cake/ice cream, some free play. Then I am a blank. Oh, the theme is palm trees .

 

[Luanne]

A friend of mine just sent me an email with a description of her dd's birthday. I think her daughter might be a little younger, like kindergarten or 1st grade. But the theme sounded a little similar and maybe this will give you a few ideas.

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We ate pizza & pineapples, had 7Up & Orange pop - the straws had little palm tree umbrellas on them. The cake was decorated to be fish & a jumping dolphin. We played with the balloons for a LONG time, played "Pin the Beak on the Parrot" (aka pin the tail on the donkey, btu Sarah drew a parrot & cut out beaks for everyone). We played "Musical Beach Towels" & did the limbo (using our flag pole!)

 

[Denise L]

We played "Musical Beach Towels"

This is a great idea. We were thinking of musical chairs but my special needs son (5) is so sensitive to losing, he would have a fit. Maybe if we have beach towels, it will be less stressful. We might try it where there is a prize for whoever doesn't get a towel...

 

[wackymother]

If you have a "fun" adult around, this is a game we've played several times at parties. (My DH is the fun one. I am no fun!)

Take sections of newspaper (outdoors) or pillows (indoors if you have a big playroom or other open area. Scatter them around so they're close enough for children to jump from one to the next with a little difficulty.

Start the game by putting all the children on a newspaper, standing. They are the penguins. Then tell them you are going to release the walrus and they have to jump from ice floe to ice floe. If they fall in the water, the spaces between the ice floes, the walrus will get them. Release the walrus--the fun adult. The walrus just chases the kids (very sloooowly) as they jump from ice floe to ice floe. The walrus can pretend to eat the kids as he catches them. After a penguin is caught, the penguin is out. The winner is the penguin who is the last to be caught. Or you can play so there's no winner, just the penguins and the walrus chasing them. You may need more than one walrus or you may need to move the papers farther apart or closer together.

That's one game. Another outdoor game is that you prepare a large bowl of slime. This is just cornstarch with water and food coloring, mixed to a kind of slurry. Add water till it looks solid, but when you pick up a handful of slime the slime runs through your fingers. Ick.

Divide the kids into two teams. This is a relay race. Set down the large bowl of slime and put two smallish empty bowls about 10 feet away. The first two kids reach into the large bowl of slime, grab a handful of slime, and run like maniacs down to the two small bowls. Most of the slime dribbles out, but whatever is left they dump in their team's little bowl. Then they run back and the next kid on their team runs a handful of slime down. The winning team is the one that fills its little bowl first. But usually the little bowls get filled at about the same time, so it's not really very competitive, it's more about running and making a mess.

 

[wackymother]

Oops, just noticed the palm tree theme. Well, you could do coconuts on desert islands with shipwreck survivors chasing after them instead of penguins and walruses. But kids always think penguins and walruses are funny. Maybe they're even funnier in the tropics!

Krill and whales? Fish and dolphins?

 

[elaine]

kid-friendly games

some simple, old favorites:

throw bean bags, or beanie babies into buckets (or holes cut in plywood decorated to be a coconut, etc., if you feel inclined)--get a bunch of little prizes, so everyone wins each time--you can adjust distance they stand to make it easier).

Pin the coconut on the tree---let little ones do it with only 1 eye blind-folded to make it easier.

Scavenger hunt--or silly clues for things around the house or yard.

Everyone thinks up a silly word (pineapple, raccoon, airplane, swim, earthquake) and Mom/Dad makes up a story--or let kids take turn making up the next sentence in the story using their word.

Things in a box you can't see--stick your hand in and see how many you can figure out.

Instead of a cake--make dirt (oreos, gummy worms, etc.)

make masks out of bags with feathers, sequins, markers, etc. and have a parade--(or shirts out of bigger grocery bags).

 

[smsavage]

Friends of ours had a party for their 6 year old son where they supplied a fishing pole and the kids fished over the fence. This worked well from the sideyard into the front, so as not to impose on the neighbors.

Parents on the other side put treats/toys on the line and put up the fight, allowing the kids to reel in the loot. The comic relief came in when one child reeled in one of the parent's shoes. That was later replaced with a true prize. Eventually everyone won and there wasn't any disappointment. The kids really seemed to enjoy it.

 

[Jestjoan]

I made a children's birthday party fishing game using a magnet at the end of line on a pole. I cut out fish shapes (kids could decorate or not) and put paper clips at the mouth. The fish had numbers on the side that went on the ground. We gave candy or treats corresponding with the number on the fish, so don't number very high.

I like the previous idea a lot. My game was played indoors because my girls had winter birthdays and we lived in cold country at the time........

 

[Denise L]

Thanks for the creative ideas. We are thinking of some version of the fishing game, but I have to find 7 fishing-type rods...

Usually it is cold and rainy here in March...well, cold for CA. We can never usually plan anything outside. We can still do the musical towels inside if it is wet outside, but fishing...hmmm..not a big barrier in our house that I can think of.

I'd better check the forecast. I can't believe I still have to order the cake! I am very unorganized this year.

Any more ideas?

 

[ctreelmom]

You don't have time to place an order, but if you look at the Oriental Trading Website, they usually have crafts related to just about any theme (I did a tropical party for my 10 year-old last year and got lots of stuff from them). You could probably "borrow" their ideas then find the materials at a local craft store. Kids that age like crafts, and it usually takes up a little time for you. Party stores usually have a CD of tropical music. If you get really desperate and there's still time before they get picked up, you can always put on a video--"The Little Mermaid" or "Lilo and Stitch" come to mind.

I also made fruit kabobs on bamboo skewers and stuck them into half a pineapple--looks pretty on the table and the kids devoured it.

 

[akbmusic]

A couple of ideas

We had a small party a few years ago during spring break for the kids' friends who weren't going anywhere warm either. We made paper leis out of colored paper cupcake liners (threaded them on some plastic string like you string beads on) and "grass" skirts out of brown, supermarket paperbags and then we put on some "tropical" music and the kids hula danced. It killed about 30 minutes worth of time and they had a blast!

 

[johnmfaeth]

Hi Denise,

One way to have some games where someone is the winner is to have other prizes too. Such as "best effort" or even "last place". It's a great way to encourage your kids that winning is not as important as trying and having fun. And no one feels like a "loser". May be just what your 5 year old needs for an ego-boost. This way everyone is a "winner" of something during the party.

John
"3rd slowest mile runner in HS gym class"

 

[Sylvia W]

For my granddaughters birthday party, we had an area set up for photographs. My husband took each childs picture as they arrived. I had cheap craft material frames ready for the pictures and a craft area where the kids could decorate the frames with foam shapes, stickers, markers etc. As the kids were leaving, we put their picture that my husband had printed, into their frames. They had a nice souvenir of the party in frame they had been creative with. It was a hit with the kids as well as their parents.

 

[Jestjoan]

I only used one pole and they took turns. They enjoyed watching the others catch their fish.

Our family room was down a few steps so they stood at the top of the stairs to fish.

Maybe a dollar store would have poles..........

 

[wackymother]

I've seen it where the "fish" were in a dry kiddie pool. And once where the fish were in a kiddie pool FULL OF WATER, on a tarp, in a high-rise apartment. That was quite a party!

I think the fishing poles are often just dowel rods with a string. If you can get the kind of dowels that have a slot cut into the end, those are ideal. You thread the string in and tie a knot above the slot.

 

[Denise L]

Thanks, everyone!

Well, the birthday party turned out to be really fun! The weather cooperated, so we got to do some activities outside. We had seven kids altogether, and these were the activities:

Decorate a wooden frame, with paint, sea shells, flat shiny marbles, colored pebbles, confetti (beach theme), & small wooden items (beach umbrella, pineapple, fish). Then we took a photo of each kid with my daughter in front of a Hawaiian-type background that my DH found at Diddams. Everyone got a lei. We let the frames dry and put the photos in before everyone left.

Lunch, pizza delivered!

Musical beach towels, outside, to Beach Boys music. Prizes for everyone were mini-beach balls with blown-up fish inside. Kids had fun playing with the balls.

Water balloon toss, two teams, tossing balloons into a bin in the center. Then it just became water balloon throwing.

Ice cream cake, happy birthday song.

Pin the monkey on the palm tree game. This is a pretty cheap game but the kids loved it and wanted to play twice!

Decorate a cake to take home. I made mini-cakes and the kids got to decorate them with frosting and sprinkles and icing. What a mess!

Everyone took home their photos/frames, beach balls, leis and palm tree goodie bags with gift cards to B&N, fish pencils and fish erasers.

I was able to order most of the items from Oriental Trading and some I got from Party City, Diddams and Michael's. I can't believe all this work for a 3-hour party! We were exhausted!

Now my kids are asking when we are going back to Maui.... !

 

[Sydney]

This is a great idea. We were thinking of musical chairs but my special needs son (5) is so sensitive to losing, he would have a fit. Maybe if we have beach towels, it will be less stressful. We might try it where there is a prize for whoever doesn't get a towel...

I really dislike musical chairs. It's a cruel game, guaranteed to pit one child against another as they scramble and ruthlessly push others aside or fight over who got there first and make the losers feel bad. The nice, timid, well mannered and gentle kids always lose. What's the point?

We have Mintie Man. Stick Minties or mint lollies on a shirt with double sided tape, put it on Dad and get the kids to chase him around trying to grab minties off him. Have handfuls of minties in your pockets to toss at slower kids. They can collect them and put it in their lolly bags to take home. We have a limit so that once a child has collected a number like 5 or whatever, then they stop and let other kids continue chasing Mintie Man.