Example of Party Games and Activities are:
Simon Says: the children have to copy your actions when you say Simon Says before the Instructions; if you don’t say Simon Says before the instruction, the children must not copy the action, if they do it they are out. For example: Simon Says jump up and down … and everyone jumps up and down.
Musical Chairs: Set the chairs in a row, some facing one way and some others facing the opposite way. Play music as the children walk in one direction around the chairs; when the music stops, the children must find an empty chair and sit on it. The child who doesn’t get a chair sits out. Remove one chair and repeat until there is only one chair left and 2 children. The child that gets to sit on the chair first wins.
Pass the Parcel: Wrap one special gift before the party starts and continue wrapping the special gift with several layers and put some lollies between the layers. Make sure there are more layers than children. Sit the children in a circle and turn on the music. The parcel is now passed from child to child until the music stops. The child holding the parcel when the music stops, gets to unwrap one layer of wrapping paper and can keep the lollies. Repeat until all the wrapping paper is removed and the final special gift has been unwrapped by the winner. Watch carefully to ensure that every child gets a turn to unwrap a layer.
Children at this age love dressing up so you could ask your young guests to come dressed up or have some dressing up clothes at hand. They will also love face painting.
Balloons and Bubbles are great fun at this age, although some of the children may be scared if a balloon bursts.
They will enjoy dancing and music, so have some CDs ready for some Action Rhymes or hire the services of someone who can play the guitar and then distribute some musical instruments (like shakers, drums and clackers) around the children so that they can participate.
If you have outdoor space, you could hire a bouncy castle or have a paddling pool or some ride- on toys for the children to play. Parachute games are also great fun for both indoor and outdoor play.
Set up an arty session and provide colouring books and crayons for the children to colour in. They will also love to play with play dough and do collages.
1st Birthday Party Games:
Bubbles: Young children are fascinated by bubbles; blow bubbles over the children and see how much fun they have just by watching them or trying to pop them.
Action Rhymes: Kids this age love action rhymes like “The Wheels on the Bus”, “Row Row Row your Boat”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Hokey Pokey”, “Round and Round the Garden”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It” You can either get the adults to sing a long and make the actions or use CD’s and just join in with the actions.
Puppet Show: To keep the little ones’ attention, remember to use silly voices, lots of expression and movement with the puppets.
Ball Pit: Fill a Blow-up Pool with plastic balls, put the pool on the grass or carpet so that it is softer in case of a fall and see your little ones have fun playing with the balls.
Dancing: One year olds love to dance, move and have fun with music. Just put some music on and let them freely dance.
Others: Peek-a-boo games, Roll the Ball, Finding toys hidden in a box, Helping with opening the presents, etc.
