Popular Children's Party Games
Popular children's party games are plentiful for both indoor and outdoor festivities, and it's easy for adults and even older children to arrange many of them. Know your guests and plan accordingly--children with disabilities and very young children will need special consideration and arrangements. Does this Spark an idea?
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Visually Impaired Children
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A visual impairment makes participation in popular children's party games difficult, unless the hosts make a few adaptations. Lawn bowling is a good example of a game that--with a few simple adaptations--can become a suitable party game for blind or partially visually impaired children.
Use empty milk cartons as pins and insert a bell into each carton. Use a volleyball as the bowling ball. Set up the pins in front of a board or wall to prevent the ball from rolling off if it misses the mark. As the children bowl, the sound of the bells indicates when they knock down the pins.
Autistic Children
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Children with autism find it difficult to socialize and participate in the fast-paced party games that other children enjoy. Games with rules resulting in "winners" and "losers" cause of frustration. A good alternative is an adapted version of Red Rover.
Two lines form the starting and ending spots. The children line up at the start line but do not hold hands, as would be the case in the traditional version of Red Rover. The caller tells children with varying characteristics to come over. For example, all children wearing green, wearing red socks or having a name ending with the letter "n." Once identified, the children run to the finish line and sit down. The game starts over when all the kids are at the finish line. In this game there are no winners and losers.
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Preschool Children
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Preschoolers have very short attention spans but ample energy. Playing party games that accommodate their short attention spans but involve lots of movement are a good choice for these little players.
Red Light, Green Light is a good example of a suitable preschool kids' party game. Adults can call out the colors red, yellow and green. Green means go, yellow requires the child to move very slowly and red leaves the child standing stock-still. Adults can also use color-coded posters that let the children see from a distance what condition is currently in effect.
Indoor Games
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For indoor games, you'll need to take into account the limitations of the enclosed space, as well as the fact that running and jumping inside too often has unfortunate results. The same holds true for throwing or tossing things. Musical chairs is an appropriate game choice for children's parties that take place inside.
Arrange chairs in a circle or alternately facing one another. Set up one less chair than there are children. Play a bit of music while the children march around the chairs. When the music stops, each child quickly claims a seat. The child without a chair gets to take one chair out of the circle and sits down on the sidelines to wait for a second round. The game continues until one player remains as the winner.
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