How To
By
eHow Holidays & Celebrations Editor
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You’ll Need:
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Sand Pails
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Plastic fish and other sea animals
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Seashells
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Bucket or pail
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Toy boats
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Licorice strands
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Donut shaped cereals and candies
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Marbles
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Prizes and favors
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Timer
Step1
Hide seashells or plastic fish. Give each of the kids a sand bucket for a fun treasure hunt game. Set a time limit of 5 minutes to see who can find the most items. For older kids make it more challenging by having only four or five different kinds of shells and instruct them to find one of each kind. If they find one they already have, they can choose to place it back where they found it or they can hide in it a new place.
Step2
Hold a wet marble contest by placing fifteen or twenty marbles in the bottom of a bucket of water. Use a timer and give each child one minute to pick up as many marbles as possible with his or her toes and place them on the ground. The child who manages to pick up the most marbles gets to keep them all as a prize.
Step3
Place a dozen or so items on a table that all have an aquatic theme like seashells, a small toy boat and different types of plastic sea animals. Everyone sits around the table and looks over the items. A chosen player then turns her back and closes her eyes. While her eyes are closed, point to another player and have this player quietly sneak one of the items off the table and put it in their lap, hidden from view. The first player can then face the group again and must determine which item is missing from the table and who snatched it. Allow for a few guesses. Then have the culprit confess and show the stolen item. Return the item to the table and start the next round. The player who snatched the item leads the next round closing her eyes and facing away from the group. Continues until everyone has a chance to snatch and guess.
Step4
Search the Internet or check out a book at your local library with fun facts about the ocean. Create trivia questions and base the complexity of the questions on the age of the children who will be playing the game. Then divide the kids into two teams and ask the questions. Encourage them to discuss the answers and work as a team. Then give them one point for every correct answer. If they miss the question, the other team gets a chance to answer and score two points. Award a small prize to all the kids, not just the winners, like goldfish crackers or small bottles of bubbles.
Step5
Place long, thin strands of licorice and bowls of donut shaped dry cereals or candies on a table. Let the kids make their own party necklaces by threading the licorice through the cereal pieces and tying the ends together with a double knot.
