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The best way to amuse children as you wait for everyone to arrive is to set up a simple, easy-to-do activity in which they can work at their own pace and interact with the rest of the group.
Games:
Here is a spin on a favorite game, "Duck, Duck, Goose."
What you need:
How to play:
- A group of children sit in a circle, facing inward, while another child, the "tapper," walks around tapping or pointing to each player in turn, calling each one a "mouse" until finally picking one child to be the "Mickey."
- "Mickey" then rises and chases and tries to tag the tapper. The tapper tries to return to the spot where "Mickey" had been sitting and sits in that spot.
- If the tapper succeeds, "Mickey" is now the new tapper and the game begins all over again. However, if "Mickey" catches the tapper, the tapper must continue his or her walk around the circle.
Pluto has lost his bones and it's up to the children to find them.
What you need:
- Bones -- candy bones or cut-out cardboard bones. Be sure to let children know not to put the bones in their mouths.
How to play:
- Carefully hide the bones all over the room.
- Have the children walk around on all fours, looking for the bones.
- Tell the children that when they find a bone, they must bark like Pluto before picking it up.
- Whichever child finds the most bones wins!
All children love this old party favorite. There will be giggles galore when they see where their ribbon has landed!
What you need:
- A picture of Daisy which you can print out here.
- Tape
- Brightly colored ribbon cut into strips
- A blindfold
How to play:
- Put a piece of tape on the end of a piece of ribbon.
- Let each child know everyone will get a turn, but that the birthday child will start things off.
- Blindfold the birthday child and spin her around three times.
- Face the child in the right direction and ask the child to tape the ribbon on Daisy's picture. Wherever the child tapes the ribbon, write her name. Remove the ribbon for the next child's turn (you could also have enough ribbons for each child and just write his or her name on the ribbon and leave it up until everyone has had a turn).
- Continue until everyone has had a turn.
Activities:
What you need:
- Stamp pad
- Paper
- Crayons or markers
What to do:
- Have the child press their thumb on a stamp pad and then press it onto paper.
- Show the children how to draw a mouse tail and ears around the thumbprint to make a mouse.
- Do this several times to make a mouse family.
- Have an adult or teenage older sibling use their thumb to help make different sized "mice."
A mousekespotter helps Mickey find things he needs so have the children make their own!
What you need:
- Paper towel cardboard tube
- Things to decorate with such as markers, felt, crayons, paint, and glitter
- String
- Glue
What to do:
- Lay out the decorating materials on the table.
- Have all the children sit at the table and give each child a cardboard tube.
- Ask the children to create and decorate their own mousekespotter!
- You can ask children to use their mousekespotter to find things around your home. Ask them questions like "What do we turn on at night so we can see?" and ask them to use their mousekespotter to look for a light.
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