Tonight was the first PTA meeting, and our fearless leader, Michele Gilmore said something very profound. One of the reasons people are upset about the new guidelines is that we've been told we can't bring in cupcakes. As soon as you tell us "no" what's the first thing we want to do? Exactly the opposite. We are such rebels. So, it's time to focus on the positive, what we can do.
Games. Talk to your teacher before the party. Is he or she open to pushing the desks and chairs to the outer edges of the classroom for some activities? Especially with the older kids, it could go really fast with everyone helping, and just think what you can do with all that floorspace. (And, some of these games can be played without rearranging furniture too.)
1. Freeze dance: Start and stop music, anyone moving when the music stops is temporarily out. Get all tricky at the end until one player remains.
2. Hot potato
3. The nose knows: Put different strong-smelling items in numbered paper bags, cover with a tissue for no-peeking and have kids fill out their guesses on a sheet of paper. Whoever gets the most right wins. Try using coffee grounds, orange peels, pepperoni, toothpaste, ripe banana, fruit roll-ups, crayons, hand sanitizer, and whatever else you come up with.
4. Four Corners: There are many variations of this game. I like the "getting to know you" version for a classroom party. Ask a question with four possible answers. It can be trivia, multiple choice style, or favorite color, or favorite type of vacation, or favorite subject in school. For favorite subject you could have everyone whose favorite subject is reading go to corner 1, math to corner 2, science to corner 3, recess to corner 4. It's fun for the kids to see who ends up where and they get to know their classmates a little better. Definitely throw in some silly ones! It's always nice to have a game with no winners and losers to mix things up a bit.
5. Memory Game: Prepare a tray with various items from home or the classroom. Walk around the room slowly with the tray giving everyone plenty of time to see what's on it. Put the tray away or cover it with a cloth and then have the kids write down everything they can remember. Whoever remembered the most items is the winner. (A fun variation on this one, is to have the person holding the tray leave the room, then ask the kids to write down what that person was wearing instead of what was on the tray. Hilarious.)
6. Silence: A good game for the very end of the party. Have the students arrange themselves in some sort of order without speaking a word. You could tell them to line up tallest to shortest, shortest to tallest, alphabetical order by first name, by last name. How about arrange themselves in a square or circle, or a straight line alternating boys and girls. They get to move around and the adults in the room get a little break from the noise.
7. Pin the Blank on the Blank: First of all, use tape, not pins! Now, get creative for your holiday party. Harvest Party? How about pin the pumpkin on the vine, or pin the hat on the pilgrim, or pin the feathers on the Indian, or pin the butter on the corn on the cob, or pin the spider on the web. Winter party? How about pin the carrot on the snowman, pin the mitten on the kid, pin the marshmellows on the hot chocolate. You get the idea.
8. Guess how many: Remember the old jar of jelly beans contests? Guess how many are in the jar? So, get creative. Find a jar and fill it with holiday appropriate stuff (probably not candy, I guess). How about pumpkin seeds for Harvest, small pebbles spray painted whatever color is appropriate for the party, high bounce balls, legos (try yard-sales maybe), grapes, blueberries. Ok, that's all I've got for now. Feel free to comment with more and better ideas! (Shouldn't be too hard...)
All right, that's a good start. I know you've all got really great ideas you can share in the comments section. The internet is our friend (that's where most of these ideas came from!). The kids will be having so much fun, no one will want to stop for snacks anyway! If you bring something like individual applesauces or fruit cups or yogurts, you can send them home in backpacks if they want to keep playing instead of eating. Please comment with more fun game ideas!
No comments:
Post a Comment