Serving tea
The tea party has always been a part of childhood, and is still going strong--even in these days of video games and instant messaging. Next time your child is clamoring to have friends over, go a step further than the usual play date and hold an old-fashioned tea party with these fun games to liven things up. Does this Spark an idea?
Goofy Dress Relay
Have two nearly identical sets of silly clothing: two hats, two pairs of glasses, two long skirts or baggy pants and so forth. Divide kids into two teams. The object is for each child to don the whole outfit over her own clothing, run as quickly as possible to the end of a designated path, remove all the goofy clothes so another child at that end can put them on and run back to her team. The first team whose members all successfully dress, run and undress wins. Prizes should be something silly to wear--like a giant pair of sunglasses with rhinestones.
Statues
Put on some lively music and tell the kids to jump, dance or run around as much as they like, but be prepared to stop whenever the music stops. Let the music go for a minute until kids are getting into it, then stop it abruptly. All kids must freeze in whatever position they are in when the music stops. If anyone moves, they are out and must sit down. Continue playing and stopping music until everyone is out. The last child standing is the winner. Give a cute figurine as a prize.
Blind Man Draw
Give each child a large piece of paper and several crayons or colored markers. Have kids write down several simple objects like ball, shoe, train, dog and so forth, on a scrap of paper. Fold and put them in a big bowl. Blindfold each child in turn and have another child select one of the names from the bowl and say it aloud. The blindfolded child must attempt to draw the object stated. When that child is done, pass the blindfold to the next child and have the first read a new name from the bowl. Continue until each child has a chance to draw something. Award prizes for best representation, silliest, most colorful or whatever category suggests itself. Prizes of coloring books and crayons would be appropriate for this game.
Tea Bag Drop
Get a box of cheap tea bags (the kind with tags and strings). You will need a straight backed kitchen chair and a one-gallon plastic jar with a wide mouth of the sort pickles come in, (or a tea pot) as well. Position the chair with the jar on the floor directly behind it and have one child at a time kneel on the chair facing the back. Give them tea bags and have them try to drop the bags into the jar. (Establish a rule for dropping them from chin height or similar so that they do not merely lean over and drop them straight into the jar.) Each child continues dropping bags until they miss, then another child takes a turn. Count and keep track of the bags in the jar between turns, to declare a winner--the child with the most bags in the target. A pretty cup with herbal tea (or hot chocolate mix) is the prize for this one.
Tags: another child, each child, from bowl, music stops