Gaming chair

Finding kids birthday party games to work with this great party theme isn’t as easy as finding LEGO decorations and other LEGO themed items to spend your money on. What your LEGO party really needs are good games that you can tweak to fit the LEGO theme- birthday party games that keep the kids busy and having fun. Turning a dozen preschoolers loose on a table full of LEGO’s doesn’t cut it- your LEGO party needs more structure than that if you’re to keep your sanity.Just Google ‘LEGO party ideas’ and you’ll find tons of great decorating and food ideas, so that’s not the focus of this information.Here are several preschool appropriate games that tweak beautifully for a LEGO themed birthday party:LEGO Door Prize: Have a nice sized jar full of LEGOs at your party entrance along with small pieces of paper and pencils. Each party guest (plus the birthday child) gets a guess at how many LEGOs are in the jar, and at the end of your party the closest guess gets to take the jar home. Parents can help the preschoolers write down their guess and their names as they all arrive.

LEGO Ring Toss: Create a narrow tower of LEGOs with a LEGO base that you can duct tape to the floor or rug for stability. Create 3-5 rings by cutting the center out of plastic plates (sturdier than paper plates). Experiment with your preschooler to find the right distance for the ‘stay behind’ line, and mark that out with more tape on the floor or rug. If you use different color plates for the rings, the scoring for each can be different. If you choose to score the game, it can be done either individually or by teams.

LEGO Pitch: This is an alternative to the LEGO Ring Toss. Assemble a variety of different shaped targets such as cut down milk cartons, bowls and boxes, all placed at different distances from a ‘stand behind’ line on your rug or floor. Put a point count number on the front of each target (the farthest away the higher the point count), and give each child 5 LEGOs of different shapes and sizes. Keep score either individually or by teams.

LEGO Drop: From either a standing position or kneeling backwards on a chair, the kids will drop 3 or 4 LEGOs from their nose into a jar or bowl. The wider the mouth on the target, the easier the game for the little ones. If backwards on the chair, have a helper hold onto the chair so there aren’t any accidents.

LEGO Spoon Relay Race – Part 1: Place a bowl or bucket full of various LEGOs a good distance from the kids, and have a ‘stand behind’ line on your floor or rug. Divide the kids into two teams, each with a spatula or big spoon- the spoon is easier because of the sloping sides. Make the two teams implements the same, ie. either both spoons or both spatulas. On ‘Go’, one child from each team races down to the bucket, picks up as many LEGOs as they can on their spoon or spatula- no hands- and takes the LEGOs back to their starting position where they hand the spoon or spatula off to the next team member to repeat the process until all the LEGOs have been retrieved. The winning team will have accumulated the most LEGOs.

LEGO Spoon Relay Race – Part 2: Once all counted up and a Part 1 winning team declared, set each team the task of building the tallest tower with their accumulated LEGOs. Cooperating to build that tower as a team will be a challenge, and that’s the point.

LEGO Bingo: Use this game when the excitability level needs to be brought down a bit. Have these downloadable bingo cards pre-printed and ready:

LEGO Scavenger Hunt: Have your LEGOs well hidden before hand, inside or out. For the youngest ones, just score it by how many they find and bring back. For older ones, you can score different values for different colors and/or shapes. Send them out with a key card so they know what to look for that scores them the most points.

LEGO Lift (for kids too old for the LEGO Drop): Either with a small pile of LEGOs for each child or a big communal bowl of LEGOs, each child is tasked with lifting out as many LEGOs within 1 minute as they can with chopsticks. Give them all a few minutes to practice before the competition. If they’re older, you can increase the challenge by adding other small items in with the LEGOs that they then have to avoid picking out.

LEGO Building Competition: Give each child or pair of children an equivalent number of various LEGOs and challenge your LEGO Lovers to build either a bridge or a pyramid within a 10 minute time frame (the bridge for older kids, the pyramid for younger ones). Working in pairs increases the challenge in this game.You may need or want to add to your existing LEGO collection to have enough for these games, but that can be part of the birthday gifts and if you’ve got a LEGO lover who wants a LEGO party, you know these will be dollars well spent.

Arranging preschool party games might be a head-ache when there are quite a few items to take care of for this type of social gathering among young children.As someone who have organized parties for years, I hope the following recommendations can present you with old and new ideas for the hassle-free and fun-filled activities for your little one’s celebration.(A) Pin The TailThis is a really classic, time-tested party game loved by children across the nation.The organizer will need to prepare a large image of a donkey, sticky tag or double-sized tape, a donkey tail drawn out of large craft paper or newspaper, and a piece of cloth to blindfold the kid.Before the activity:

Get a large piece of craft paper (or adhere many pieces of paper / newspaper together) and draw a donkey.
Draw a tail on a separate sheet and cut it out. Make a tail for every single participant.
Put a double-sided tape on the tip of each and every donkey tail. Rules of the game:

Pick a child (generally the birthday kid) and blindfold him/her. Ask him/her to stick the tail to the appropriate place of the donkey.
Each child then takes turns, hold the tail and attempt to stick to the appropriate location.
At the end, the one child who sticks the tail to the best position where it is supposed to be is the winner. Tips for the organizers:Customize your pin the tail activity with your party theme! You don’t really need lots of time for this DIY activity, as nowadays you can simply download images from the Internet for this game. Otherwise, ready-made party kit are available for popular themes such as Mickey Mouse and Blue’s Clues.(B) Pass The Parcel You’ll need a CD, a Stereo, one (or more) small gifts and several large pieces of paper. Gift wraps or newspaper will work fine.

Wrap up the gift item (the “parcel”) with many layers of paper
Ask the youngsters to sit down in a circle
Start the songs and ask children pass round the parcel
Once the song stops, the kid holding the item will need to unwrap one piece of paper.
Start the music and the passing of the parcel
Repeat the passing and unwrapping until the kid unwraps the final layer of paper and the gift is revealed. The lucky kid can then keep this treasured content of the parcel!For extra fun, you can insert small gift items such as stationery in each and every layer of the parcel so no one is being left out. You can also prepare several pieces of parcels in case the kids want to play the game again.(C) Duck Duck Goose This is another time-proven party game that is loved by preschool children. The kids are probably quite familiar with the rules, but let me list it out for your easy reference.

Ask the youngsters to sit in a circle. Decide on a kid (generally the birthday kid) to be the “duck”.
The duck will then lightly tap the children randomly. If s/he says duck, then absolutely nothing occurs; but if s/he says goose (typically quite loud), then the “goosed” kid has got to chase the duck.
If the goose fails to catch the duck, then s/he gets to stay as the “duck” in the following round.
If the goose manages to catch the duck, then the duck has to sit down inside the “soup bowl”, i.e. the middle in the circle until finally one more duck is caught in later rounds. Tips for the organizers:

Please remind the children to tap lightly on the other young children. Really do not hit!
get something that is reasonably firm but soft, e.g. a balloon stick, for the tapping
Be considerate if your “caught duck” refuses to sit down inside soup (some young children may well finds this very embarrassing). One option is to encourage the kid decide on other “penalties” (but really do not call it penalty – call it a little performance or something positive) by singing a tune or by undertaking a funny act. (D) Musical Chair What is required: songs in CD and chairsRules of the game:

Set up the chairs in two rows, preferably back to back. Make sure the number of chairs equal to number of participants minus one.
Call the children to join the game and ask them to walk round the chair once the song begins.
When the song stops, all people needs to get a seat. The one participant who fails will be out for this round of the game.
Take away one chair and repeat the above, until there are two participants left with one and only one chair.
The one who manages to sit on the chair (instead of the lap of the other person) wins! For a safe and fun activity, make sure the chairs are of appropriate height and sturdy enough for the children. Also, for very young children, it is better if one of the parents can participate with the child. There should also be constant reminder that walking, and not running, is the rule of the game.(E) Birthday Hat Contest Would you like to have something arty and fun for the children? This is also a great alternative for the “active” activities described above.What you need: craft paper, coloring products (coloring pens, markers, glitter glue), arts and craft materials (e.g. aluminum foil, feather, scrapbook stuff), scissors and glue.

It is possible to either create a pre-cut form of the birthday hat or let the children do it themselves. The decision should largely depend on their age.
Ask them to decorate in any way they like – the sillier the merrier! For create more excitement out of this activity, you can hold a Hat Contest and give out prizes to the winners. For children of this age group, it is important to prepare more than 1 prize, such as the silliest, most creative, most colorful, tallest, widest… so every child will go home happy and proud of their creation.Afterall, a party is meant to be a celebration of friendship, so it’s important to make everyone happy. Enjoy the party planning and the success that comes with it!