A bit of yarn can become part of a fun scavenger hunt.
The main entertainment at a child's party is usually an exciting game. If you're out of ideas for provide this entertainment without breaking the bank, consider trying a treasure hunt, a scavenger hunt or the hilarious game "Who Am I?" Kids will enjoy working together to play these games at their friend's party. Does this Spark an idea?
Treasure Hunts
Although a treasure hunt does require preparation and originality, kids will love running from one location to another trying to figure out the clues you have created. At the start of a treasure hunt, the children receive a clue that leads them to a specific location. The clue might be a rhyme, such as "If you want to get your clothes clean/ You put them in the ___ ___." (Answer: washing machine) Alternatively, it might just be a phrase, such as "pulverizes stains." Either way, kids will run to that location and find another clue, which will take them to a second location containing a third clue. The hunt continues until they reach the last clue, which leads them to the treasure. A good treasure might be a box of party favors, bags of gold-foiled chocolate coins or the birthday cake.
Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts require less work than treasure hunts, but they are still plenty of fun. At the start of a scavenger hunt, kids receive a list of descriptions of objects, and they must find as many of the objects on the list as possible. They can work individually or in groups, and the descriptions may be as specific as "a bottle of fruit punch" or as vague as "something shiny." Whoever finds the most objects on the list, or finds all of them the most quickly, wins the game.
Alternatively, you could hide pieces of yarn, several inches long, all over the party area. Teams of kids compete to pick up as many pieces as possible. The team that makes the longest string with its pieces wins the game.
Who Am I?
To play this game, make a list of people--TV characters, school authority figures, famous political figures--that you know the kids at the party will be familiar with. Then write each name on an index card. At the start of the game, tape one of the index cards to each child's forehead, facing outward, so that only the other party guests can see them. Then have kids take turns standing up in groups of five in front of everyone else, while someone asks three questions about the names on their foreheads (e.g., "Which of these people would you rather be friends with?"). The rest of the children vote, and the five kids in question try to figure out which names are written on their foreheads based on the answers.
Tags: scavenger hunt, treasure hunt, clue which, kids will, leads them, objects list, their foreheads