Phew, there is another birthday! That of course means throwing a party. How should we go about it again to keep all those children calm? With a story, some musical instruments, paper, pots and pans, boxes and small materials such as spaghetti, shells, sand, etc., you can go a long way.
The invitation
Make a card with the cover of a book or a character from a story on it. Stick some musical instruments here. On the back the traditional text: I’m turning… years old. I am throwing a party ……… (day) …… (date) from .. to .. (hour). Place: ………… . Please let us know if you are coming on ……………. (telephone number).
Or something more mysterious, such as “Are you not afraid and are you creative? Do you think fairies (or something else) are oh so sweet? Come quickly, don’t stay out in the cold. Give mommy a call, because it is definitely not a joke. ” And then you also write the details of the time, day and place underneath. For older children you can glue on a picture of a theater or the sign of theater in certain countries, namely a smiling and a weeping mask.
Story with sounds
Preparation
Find a fun story. Adapt the theme to the children present and age. Are there many guys? Choose something with a lot of action in the style of pirates, knights, dragons, circus, etc. Are there a lot of girls? Choose something in the style of princesses, castles, fairies, etc. Now start looking for musical instruments of all kinds: a harmonica, a flute, a guitar, a drum, a triangle, a xylophone. Children must have such toys among their things.
Now the homemade sounds: a sheet of paper, straws, jars with spaghetti, sand, shells, a balloon, …
Arrange everything on a table. You may also add dressing-up clothes and some make-up. Decorate the place in the style of the story.
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The aim is for the children to come up with appropriate sounds for the story. Explain to them briefly. Let them try out all the “instruments” so that they know what makes which sound. Give them the necessary hints and clues.
Place the children on a cushion or blanket on the floor or in the armchair. First read the story in its entirety. The children can already think about which sound belongs to which action. Some examples. The dragon comes flying: fold a sheet of paper in half and let the ends flap. The fairy waves her magic wand: just blow the harmonica. Tears are rolling: tapping the triangle. There are birds in the trees: shake a jar filled with sand, imitates the rustling of the leaves. Someone is going up or down a flight of stairs: tap the bars of the xylophone, down scale for going down, up scale for going up. It’s raining: shake the shells. The wind is blowing: blow through a straw. Let the children come up with all sorts of things themselves, they must have more imagination than an adult.
Now read the story sentence by sentence. Select a child for each character or action and let them choose the appropriate sounds. Have each child remember their role. Depending on the age of the children, repeat it every five or ten sentences. This is how to finish the whole story. Now let the children dress up and paint them up. Now it is the big rehearsal with everything on and on. And then the performance, possibly when the parents are there. Children have a lot of imagination, like this a lot and are sure to enjoy it for an hour.
Portraying songs
Preparation
Make notes with song titles on them. These can be children’s songs or songs from the charts.
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Each child takes turns drawing a note. This child must now act out the song and the other children must guess. One correct point per correct answer.
Listen to story
Preparation
Choose a story that often contains the same word (eg ghost or forest).
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Read the story. Whenever the particular word occurs, the children have to sit down. Anyone who is not paying attention or is scattered will lose weight. Whoever remains last wins.
The life course
For small children you can simply ask to portray the different stages of life. The person who best portrays a whole life wins. With older children, you can portray a certain fact in the different stages of life. Being evil, for example. A toddler is going to stamp feet, a teenager is going to bang the doors, an adult is going to swear, etc. Have them portray different data, for example want to watch a certain TV program, be afraid of a spider, hang out with friends, etc. Here wins also the one who best portrays the different phases.
Wush
A very nice game, with a lot of laughter. The intention is to imitate feelings, without laughing of course!
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The children stand in a circle. For example, we start with the emotion “angry”. The first angrily looks at the next and angrily shouts “wush”. The next one does it to the child next to him and so on, faster and faster. The intention is to be as angry as possible and not to laugh! After a first round of trying, things get serious. Anyone who laughs drops out. Until one remains. It can also be made more difficult by switching sides. So not to the child next to you, but back to the person who just “wushed” you. Now you have to pay extra attention!
Variants
After the evil “wush” other feelings can be portrayed. Scared, for example. Here the first one does a move and a scream. The second repeats the movement and scream of the first, adding its own variation. The next one repeats the last variant plus its own variant. And so it goes on. Quite difficult to always remain expressive and to keep finding new variants. Ditto with “shy”, “happy”, “sad”, etc. Here, too, it is certainly not allowed to laugh! The emotion must be portrayed correctly and as expressively as possible.
Musical
Musicals can certainly appeal to children. Just think of the musicals of Studio100: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, The Three Piglets or more recently Wikkie the Viking. Geronimo Stilton’s De Muisical is also a possibility. Or the classic musicals and musical films like West Side Story or The Sound of Music. Let the children practice the songs and make up their own dances and music. If necessary, a performance can be given when the children are picked up. Do mention it in advance on the invitation, so that the parents provide some extra time.
Supplemented with the classics of a party, unpacking packages, singing, eating a cake, and so on, the afternoon will soon be over! Another small tip as a delicacy in the sign of the theme: fry tawny dolls or other figures and place them on a skewer. Decorate the dolls with a tube of edible coloring. Just like theater figures that you can play with for a while. Or prepare cupcakes with a fairytale character in marzipan or roll sugar. In addition, a delicious non-alcoholic cocktail and the party cannot go wrong!
