Many holidays throughout the year in the United States are perfect ways to celebrate and teach about the country, flag and American symbols. Here is a site with information on the flag and Betsy Ross. Great information to learn about during the Fourth of July, Flag Day, Memorial Day, President’s Day and any other patriotic event.
Learn how to make a five pointed star in one snip. You will need a 8 1.2 x 10 inch piece of paper and scissors.
Go for the Gold with this fun party theme. Plan a fun summer get together or a birthday party using the summer Olympics as your theme. Children will enjoy being a part of their own Olympic games!
Invitations:
Start by sending the guest their first gold medal. Cut circles out of gold poster board or cardboard sprayed with gold paint. Attach a colorful ribbon so children can wear their new medal around their neck. Write the party details on one side and “winner” on the other side. Or you can write the invitation on a separate piece of paper and have the child wear their medal to the party.
Gold Medal Cake:
Bake two round layer cakes and cool. Use yellow frosting to decorate and then place second layer on top. Cover the top layer with the yellow frosting as well. Attach a large ribbon to make the medal’s neckpiece. you can write “Happy Birthday, Winner!” or Go for the Gold for a summer party. You can find tiny country flags to decorate around the cake.
Or, you can bake three round cakes and color three separate colors with ribbons to represent the Olympic medals.
Ideas for Prizes or Gift Bags:
• Ribbons and trophies
• Chocolate gold coin medals
• Inexpensive sporting equipment like hula hoops, frisbees and balls.
• Any items you may find relating to the United States or other country flags or olympics.
Decorations:
• Any Olympic memorabilia or posters.
• Posters or items from around the world to create an international atmosphere.
• Hang medals and ribbons or make a large one out of paper to decorate.
• Use a trophy as a centerpiece.
• Make place mats out of different country flags.
• Red, white and blue streamers (or the country colors you are from)
• A podium with three levels, you can use steps or stools for this.
• Make a banner with the Olympic rings on it to welcome guests.
Use sports, patriotic or Olympic themed plates and decorations. All available at party stores or on-line stores like Birthday in A Box. Click below to see more themes and ideas.
 Baseball |
Games and Activities:
Decorate Flags
Have outlines of country flags available to color for a beginning activity to keep the children involved while waiting for all of the guests to arrive. The children can use these to tape to a wooden dowel to use in the opening ceremony.
Opening Ceremony
Have the birthday child lead a parade with a torch, a paper towel tube wrapped in foil and stuffed with orange, red and yellow tissue paper. The other guests follow with their country flag. The birthday child ends up where the games will begin!
Olympic Games
Set up a series of games or events for everyone to complete. Depending on the age of the children you can design an obstacle course or mini-games. Some examples are crab walk, hopping on one foot ten times, walking on a balance beam (or a piece of rope or tape), throwing a ball through a hoop, long jump, etc.
Silly Olympics
Use fun games to create a silly Olympics such as pie eating, wheelbarrow races, balloon popping, egg toss, three legged race, sack race etc.
Pass the Sand
Divide the group into 2 teams and line them up. Have the person in each line grab a handful of sand from a container. They must pass the sand to the next player, who passes it to the next, and so on down the line. The last player pours what is left of it on a plate. The team with the most sand wins the game. (You may have to weigh the sand on a food scale.)
*Try to include group games so everyone has a chance to win and make sure everyone gets a medal throughout the party.
A simple experiment if you live near or visit the ocean. This is a great summer activity to do with the children and such a simple way to keep them involved in learning. All you need is a sample of ocean water and a shallow pan.
If you cannot make it to the beach make your own ocean water with salt and water.
First, fill up the pan with the ocean water.
Predict what will happen.
Wait, wait, wait for the water to evaporate.
After the water has evaporated, taste what is left on the bottom of the pan.
Ask the question, “What do you find in ocean water after it evaporates?”
How to explain what happened. Ocean water contains salt, which is a solid. When the water evaporates, the salt is left behind and leaves a light colored residue on the bottom of the pan.
Making a frame for dad is fun and simple and makes a great father’s day gift.
What you will need:
Remove glass from frame. Paint frame solid color and let it dry.
Use permanent adhesive glue to decorate outside of frame with nuts and washers. Let dry completely.
Insert the photo and the glass into the frame.
Tips:
Nuts and bolts can found at hardware store or maybe leftovers from the tool box.
This frame can be made to fit dad’s interests. For example, use tees and markers instead to make a golf frame.
I found this frame for one dollar at Michaels, but there is not a piece of glass in it. They also have wooden pieces painted or not painted in different shapes such as baseball gloves and bats, fish, etc. (These range from 59-99 cents.) So, this can be made for any theme and it is inexpensive. A great project for a group of children in a class or social group such as boy scouts.
This popular book and movie has made Horton a fun themed birthday party and now it is so simple to plan a great birthday party with companies that sell all that you need in one package!
 Horton Hears A Who |
Click on Horton to see the available product and more party ideas.
Choose a few activities for the party and plan one more “back-up” activity. This can be as simple as a large piece of butcher paper and crayons or having music available for freeze dance.
Decorate a Pot
Terracotta pots are easy to find at any of the craft stores or garden centers and then buy several colors of outside paint. I found paint at Michael’s and written on the label it says for use on terracotta. Write the child’s name with a permanent marker on the bottom before painting. Decorate at the beginning of the party so the paint can dry before planting a flower. I suggest potting the flowers outside, so the children can do most of the activity on their own. What a neat little gift to take home.
Pin The Trunk on the Elephant
Your good old pin the tail on the donkey with an elephant. This can be made with an elephant or if you have the talent make Horton and his trunk. For the little kids, you may want to let them do this without the blindfold. Other versions, pin who-ville on Horton’s trunk or pin the tail on Horton.
Save Who-ville Obstacle Course
Set up an obstacle course appropriate for the age of children attending the party. Each child gets an inflated balloon, otherwise known as Who-ville and they must complete the obstacle course while hitting the balloon in the air and not allowing it to touch the ground. The little kids can just hold the balloon.
Horton Hatches an Egg Contest
Use water balloons for an egg toss, or do the traditional egg race with an egg on a spoon. Split the children in two groups and have a relay race.
Animal Crafts
Animal crafts such as animal safari puppets, animal foam frame and animal beaded bracelets can be bought from an online birthday store, just click Horton below. You can also check any craft store for related craft ideas.
Make an Elephant Trunk
Gray Paint
Paper Towel Roll
Yarn
Paint the paper towel roll gray. When they are dry punch two holes near one end and tie on some yarn to tie around head.
Elephant Ears Headband
Construction Paper
Crayons or Markers
Stapler or Tape
Cut a strip of paper about 2 inches thick and long enough to wrap around child’s forehead (make sure you make it an inch or two longer so you can staple the ends together.) Now, fold another piece of paper in half and cut out a set of large, floppy ears.
Put the bottom edge of each ear up against the strip of paper and staple or tape them in place. Once the ears are attached, staple or tape the ends of the strip together to snuggly fit around forehead.
A fun way to practice skills or just be silly and create fun family times! Make up a rule for the day and see how long your whole family can follow that rule. Following are some silly rules but your family can create your own to match your family. This can also be done in the classroom and creates a fun atmosphere while practicing a skill.
Always enter the room hopping or backwards.
Say the alphabet or a spelling word before sitting down.
Avoid using certain words such as yes or me.
Do a jump every time the child’s name is said.
Snap fingers or clap three times when the phone or bell rings.
Eat with opposite hand (use left hand for the fork if right-handed.)
This is just silly and fun!
Cool Mom Ideas
View blog top tags
