When planning a birthday party or get-together for a group of kids, use your creativity to create games the children can play to earn prizes. Prizes will entice the children to play the competitive and challenging games. Award prizes, such as plush toys, plastic toys, inflatable toys and candy, to all the game winners.
Floating Boats
Purchase several floating toy boats from your local retail store or online. Write “You are a winner” on the bottom of about half the boats. Fill a small plastic pool with water and place the boats in the water. Have each child select a boat from the pool. If the boat says, “You are a winner,” the child wins a prize. If the boat has nothing, give the child a piece of candy for participation.
Penny Toss
Take a white sheet or large piece of butcher paper and paint colored circles all over the sheet. Make the circles different colors and sizes. Mark a starting line about 10 feet from the sheet or paper (you can adjust the line according to the ages of the children). Give each player five pennies to try to toss on the sheet. For each penny a child lands on one of the colored dots, he earns a prize.
Ball Throw
Use television trays or small tables to make a pyramid of aluminum cans. Mark a standing line about 10 feet away from the cans. Give the children a small soft ball to toss at the cans to try to knock them down. The children must knock all the cans down on their first try to earn a prize. For older children, fill the cans halfway with water to make them heavier and harder to knock down. You can also adjust the standing line and use different balls for this game.
Prize Walk
Write numbers on sheets of paper and place the sheets of paper on the floor in a circle. Use a pen to write the same numbers on slips of paper and place them in a bowl. Have the children stand on a number in the circle. Play music and have the children walk from number to number. When the music stops, each child must stand on a number. Someone must draw a number from the bowl. The child standing on that number wins a prize. You can also call out a couple of numbers each time for several winners.