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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:
What you need:
- Music.
- Lots of open space for the children to stretch out.
How to Play:
- This game is great for releasing excess energy and can be done indoors or out. Have music on and an adult calling out different "monkercises."
- Different "monkercises" can include:
- Reaching up high to grab bananas hanging off trees -- ask guests to jump up if they have to
- Swinging arms from side to side like a monkey
- Shake your monkey tail
- Let children create their own monkercises!
What You Need:
How to Play:
- In this copycat game, all activities become monkey-oriented and no one loses!
- Have an adult call out different Ooh and Aah activities such as:
- Scratch under their arms while making monkey noises
- Walk like Dave the penguin
- Walk like an elephant
- Pick fleas off each other
- Look for bananas
What You Need:
- A monkey tail use a piece of ribbon or stuff a sport sock and knot the opening of the sock.
How to Play:
- In this version of "Duck, Duck, Goose," the children sit in a circle while one child (the "monkey") walks around wearing the "monkey tail."
- The monkey walks around the circle tapping the sitting children on the head, saying alternatively "Ooh" then "Aah". When the monkey taps a child and says "You" that child must get up and try to tag the monkey. In the meantime, the monkey tries to return to the spot where "You" was sitting and sit in that spot.
- If the monkey succeeds, "You" is now the new "monkey" and the game begins all over again. However, if "You" catches the monkey, the monkey must continue his or her walk around the circle.
Activities:
What you need:
- Pictures of butterflies - print some here
- Wooden craft sticks
- Decorating tools such as crayons, markers, glitter, etc.
- Glue
What to do:
- Print out twice as many pictures of butterflies as there are guests.
- Cut out the butterflies.
- Glue the wooden craft stick to the back of one of the butterfly pictures right down the middle.
- Glue another butterfly picture to the wooden craft stick, which should be between the two images.
- Print guests names on the butterflies in small letters.
- When guests arrive, have them decorate their own Sheila puppets using crayons, markers, and glitter.
- Children can make their Sheilas fly around by holding onto the stick. Let kids know they can take their Sheilas home as party favors.
What you need:
- Different-colored clay
- Cookie cutters, preferably animal - shaped ones
What to do:
- Ask the children to use the cookie cutters to create their own jungle creatures or ask them to mold anything they want with the clay.
- Send each child's creation home with them in their party favor bag.
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