Ensure your beach party makes a lasting impression with these seashell fossils.

• Play dough in different colors
• Variety of seashells (use seashells you've collected over the years, or buy new and unique shells at a craft store)
• Pencil

1. Have a grown-up on hand at the crafts table to help with the fossil-making.
2. Let each child select the color play dough he or she wishes to use and roll the play dough into a ball.
3. Have the child use his or her hand to flatten the ball, creating a circle of play dough about one inch thick.
4. Encourage the child to choose one or more shells and have him or her gently press them into the play dough to make an imprint.
5. When the child is finished, carefully pick up the "fossil" and use a pencil to etch the child's initials on the bottom. Set the fossils aside to dry.

Give your preschoolers a perfect place to store a special memory from the party or a favorite summer vacation with this picture frame.

• Wooden craft sticks (8 sticks per frame)
• White glue
• Glue sticks
• Piece of poster board cut by a grown-up into 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares (for the mat of the frame)
• Little Einsteins' picture frame character art

1. Have a grown-up on hand to help with the gluing and arranging of the craft sticks.
2. Give each child eight craft sticks and help him or her lay out the frame on a pre-cut square of poster board. Each border of the frame will be made up of two craft sticks laying side-by-side. (Note: you may want to have one already made so the children can use it as a guide for creating their frame.)
3. Help the child glue the top and bottom craft stick borders of the frame onto the poster board. Then connect the left and right craft stick borders to the corners of the other sticks with white glue.
4. Once glue is set, children can use a glue stick to decorate their frame with Little Einsteins' picture frame character art.
5. Set the frames aside. By the time the party is over, they'll be sturdy enough for transporting home.
6. Guests can then tape or paste their photograph or art directly onto the poster board matting.

Challenge your preschoolers' listening skills with this Little-Einsteins-inspired version of the classic recall game "Simon Says."

• A quiet room large enough for everyone to sit in a circle

1. Instruct all the children to sit on the floor in a circle.
2. One person will be the "conductor" (for the first few games, have a grown-up play this role to help explain the game).
3. The conductor will "pat" his or her hands on the top of their thighs in a simple pattern. (For example: three short pats with both hands, or one pat on each leg with one hand, two slow pats followed by two quick pats, and so on.)
4. After the conductor pats the pattern, the rest of the children (the "orchestra") have to try and mimic the same pattern with their patting.
5. Remind children to listen carefully, and encourage the conductor to repeat the pattern until everyone gets it before moving on to the next one.

Who says you need to be on the beach to go shell collecting? With a little planning, a seashell hunt can be the hit of your party!

• Plastic beach buckets (enough for one per child or one per pair of children)
• Variety of seashells

1. Before your guests arrive, hide seashells throughout the yard, house, or other confined area. Be sure to hide shells in a variety of places, both in obvious and hard-to-find spots, to give every child a chance to discover a treasure.
2. Have children hunt individually, or match guests up in pairs, giving each a beach bucket to gather their shells.

*An alternative to making the seashell hunt a formal game is to let children know when they arrive that there are seashells hidden throughout the house and yard. Encourage them to collect shells as they find them and redeem their shells for a prize before leaving the party. Suggested prizes include various sand toys, silly sunglasses, and beach balls.

Running and playing is part of any beach day. Have your preschoolers become beach and sea creatures in this twist on a relay.

• Lots of room to run (or crawl or hop) around
• Beach ball

1. Divide the children into two teams.
2. Set up a starting line and a turnaround spot (about 15-20 feet away).
3. Start the race and have the first member of each team walk on all fours to the turnaround spot and back. When they have crossed the starting line, the next person goes.
4. After the walking-on-all-fours relay, have your preschoolers do the seahorse hop (hopping with both feet together) down to the turnaround spot and back.
5. After the seahorse hop, have your preschoolers pretend to be dolphins playing with balls and instruct them to walk or run to the turnaround spot and back while trying to balance a beach ball on top of their head.
6. Lastly, give the children the opportunity to come up with their own sea creatures to imitate in the relay!

* To add a musical component to the relay, remind the children of two musical words: "accelerando" (to get faster) and "retardando" (to slow down). As the children are racing, instruct them to follow your direction as you randomly shout out accelerando and retardando by speeding up or slowing down!

Preschoolers love water games, and even the grown-ups can get into a good waterball game!

• 2 laundry baskets
• Several dozen balloons
• An open outdoor space

1. Fill up the balloons with water prior to the party and gently place them in one of the laundry baskets.
2. Have children stand at one end of the yard with the basket of water balloons and place the other laundry basket five to ten feet away.
3. Have preschoolers take turns trying to toss a water balloon into the basket. Whether they make it or not, they'll be delighted to see the balloons break and the water go flying!