6-9 Years

Youngsters from 4-8 typically love dinosaurs and will enjoy learning about what real paleontologists do. 

Set Up: You’ll need to get lots of plastic dinosaurs. If you’d like to make it an educational party, you should read up on the names of some of the most common creatures, and be ready to give a little lesson on them. Before the party you should bury several dinos in a sandbox or wading pool filled with dirt. Hide enough that each guest will be able to find 3 or 4. You’ll also want to provide some large spoons or small shovels to dig with.  

This is a great party for warm days and provides a lot of entertainment for school aged kids.

Set Up: You will obviously need a collection of squirt guns, balloons and a way to fill them with water. You should set up targets at one end of the yard. Some can be made of colored construction paper that will change color as soon as they get wet so kids can tell if they hit the target. Others can be made of tissue paper stretched over the open end of a box, with the object being to squirt enough water on it to break through the paper. Targets for the water balloons can be buckets or barrels, or holes in containers to aim the balloons at. You should also put marks of some kind at different distances away from the target to offer more challenges. 

Kids from about 3-6 love cowboys and horses and will enjoy this party. They’ll get a chance to stretch their imaginations and pretend to be riding the range. 

Set Up: You will need to gather as many stick horses as you can. If you can’t find enough store-bought ones, a yardstick with a mop head fastened on the end will satisfy most imaginative pre-schoolers. If you can build an actual campfire at your party spot…great.

This party is for elementary aged kids that enjoy playing board games. They will get a chance to try out several different games and challenge their friends. 

Set Up: You will need to gather many different games together. Those that require two or four players will work the best. Some good choices are Checkers, Chess, Mancala, Parcheesi, Sorry, Trouble, Battleship, and Rummikub. You will also need a timer and a whistle or bell to indicate when the next round of the tourney is beginning.

Kids of all ages will have fun at a snow party. The main disadvantage is that the weather can be a problem. It it’s too cold, everyone is miserable and if it’s too warm, the snow will melt, but a nice winter day is perfect.  

Kids of all ages will have fun with this one as long as they have some sort of riding toy. Even toddlers who just push on the ground with their feet can join in 

Set Up: You will need to find a large open field that is smooth enough to ride on for this gathering. You may be able to get permission to use a school or church parking lot at a time when the facility is not busy. Before the party starts you need to establish a start and finish line for several races of different lengths. Bring some chairs or buckets to use for a barrel race and an obstacle course would be fun too. It will also help if you have a stopwatch and some kind of loudspeaker. 

Kids that are old enough to help out in the kitchen will enjoy this party. (Probably 8 and up) They should have a great time preparing their own treats and then eating them. If you’d like to judge the finished tacos and offer prizes for the biggest, messiest, most unusual etc, it will add an element of competition that kids enjoy.

This gathering will be fun for kids from about 3 to 10 and even older if they are fond of drama. You can look forward to a lot of creativity and imagination with this theme. 

Set Up: Before the kids arrive, you will need to provide a space for a puppet theater. This can be as simple as letting the kids hide behind a table covered with a floor-length cloth. You could also hang a sheet on a cord strung across one end of a room at about waist height. This might be a good choice if you will have several puppeteers presenting at one time, because it will allow more room.

Lots of moms are enjoying rubber-stamping these days and their daughters will like it too. Little girls love to mimic mom so this type of party will make them feel grown up when they make something that is usually done by adults. 

That is especially true if they can get together to work on their projects. Use your friends who like to stamp as resources for borrowing stamp pads and supplies, and for teaching girls how to do some basic projects.

Skating, whether on ice or with roller blades, is great exercise and lots of fun for kids. Many ice rinks and roller skating parks will rent their facility for a party, or you can take your group and join with kids already there. 

 If you do go to a public rink, give your guests colorful stocking caps or scarves to wear that will identify them as part of your group. Before turning the kids loose on their skates, tell them you will be judging them for prizes to be awarded at the end of the party.