Children's Activities for an Oktoberfest

Use candies and icing to decorate gingerbread houses at Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest is an event typically associated with beer drinking and other adult behavior. But Oktoberfest can also be a family event, and in many cities---including the origin city of Munich, Germany---there are activities in place for children to enjoy in addition to the revelry enjoyed by the older population. If you plan to host an Oktoberfest event and wish to let children in on the fun, there are many ways you can keep the spirit of the celebration alive with entertaining activities for the younger set.

Gingerbread House Building

Gingerbread houses are tasty and can be amazing works of art as well. More importantly, they are something most children can learn to make easily. German-style gingerbread is hard and is useful in making the houses; the material is often associated with Germany because of the witch's gingerbread-like house from the classic German children's story "Hansel & Gretel" by the Brothers Grimm.

Gather gingerbread, icing, candies and other house decorating materials and have a workshop for kids to learn to assemble gingerbread houses. Once they have the houses put together they can choose from the different icings and decoration candies to create their own look.

Chalk Art

Chalk art is a popular and easy activity to set up. All you need are a few buckets of sidewalk chalk in various colors and a large, open space of sidewalk or concrete patio where the children can draw on the ground. Allow them to come in at will and draw designs on the surface throughout the celebration. Encourage them to draw things associated with Oktoberfest, such as fall harvest scenes with pumpkins or German flags. This will keep kids busy and entertained and will add to the décor of the area as people walk by to see the artistic creations.

Stein Relay

Children often enjoy competing in funny games. Although semi-intoxicated adults generally run in this Oktoberfest event, you will have just as much fun with an innocent kids' version of a stein relay. Each young participant should be paired with several other children. Have a table at each end of a race course, perhaps 20 or 30 yards in length, with a serving tray on each table. One table should have three steins of apple juice filled to the top. Repeat this arrangement for each team.

Half of each team stands at one table and half at the other. When the race starts, one child must place the steins on his drink tray and rush to the other table, unload them onto the table and set the tray down, then run his tray back to the original table. A teammate will load the steins onto her tray and return them to the first table. The relay continues until everyone has made a trip. The first team to finish without spilling a stein wins. If one gets spilled, the child must take it back to the previous table to refill.

Polka Party

Polka music has its place in German history and throughout Europe. It's common to see polka bands play at Oktoberfest events, and it is a musical genre children can enjoy as well. Prepare an adult-supervised polka party space with snacks, drinks, a dance floor, party games and polka music. This provides a safe place for children to remain while parents are off at other parts of the celebration not appropriate for children. It will be like daycare, but the kids will never know that.

References

• Cleveland Oktoberfest: Children's Activities
• Destination 360: Oktoberfest History