Need 6 Year-Old Birthday Party Activities!

Everyone has given you great suggestions.. Pin the Tail On the Donkey is fun, too. And a pinata is always a big hit with the 6 year-old crowd. Have a fun time!

D.,
I am a first grade teacher and my students love to play the game, "four corners". It can be played indoors or out. You pick four corners of the area you're playing in.(swingset, porch, etc.) Label them north, east, west, south. You can also choose four words that go along with your theme or use pictures for nonreaders. Put these four words or pictures on an oversized dice. Children spread out and run to any of the four corners and stay. Have an adult or one of the children roll the dice and yell out what it lands on. Any children at that place are "out" and stand in the middle. Keep going until only one child is left. If you don't have oversized dice, you can write them each on a piece of paper and have a child pick one.
My students also love sidewalk chalk! Good luck!

If you're going to be outside.......you are in luck! Your options are WIDE open. LOTS of RACES ...3 legged, hula hoop (have to go in 2's or 3's or however you determine, but "drop off" one child, go pick up the next, drop off the next person who got in, etc. until you are down to one person who crosses the finish line...or modify it if that doesn't make sense.

Tie a balloon on a string ALL STRING THE EXACT SAME SIZE and tie to one chosen ankle of each child. Tie them the SAME length. When you say, "GO" everyone hops around & tries to burst the rest of the balloons. Last one standing with an unpopped balloon wins.

Suitcase races-3-4 items in a suitcase at a determined point. One child races, puts on the clothing items, comes back gives it to the next child to PUT ON, they go down and take them off, back into the suitcase, run back the next one runs down, puts them on, etc. until everyone is done. USE ONLY CLOTHING THAT YOU DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO. THEY NEED TO BE BIG, but not so big that it deters them from the race.

The more ACTIVITY, the better! You can have a mental game too if you want. Create a word search (or you can find them online or in books in party stores) Whoever finds the most words in a specific time frame wins.

Birthday word scramble. Mix up letters of words that have to do with a birthday or birthday party....i.e. KCAE, LOSBALNO, whoever figures out the most in a certain # of time, wins.

My son just turned 6 years old in March, his friend turned 6 years old in Decemeber. At both parties things were planned, and at both parties nothing that was planned happened.
The kids love to just run around and play with each other. I would plan a couple things as back up but nothing major.

Pin the tail on the donkey, button-button who's got the button. A pinata is good too.

My kids love learning games. Maybe you could make up games similar to Eye Spy. I call it Blues Clues because it makes you think. We act out what we are looking for, use words, numbers, letters. Look for whatever you can think of... vehicles, colors, letters, items that make specific sounds or begin with a specific letter. I give my kids hints and then they try it on their own. When they get answers, you could reward with little things from the dollar store, popsicles, hard candy, bouncy balls, cars, etc.

Kids love arts and crafts. There are new paints that dissolve and are washable for the sidewalk. You could get a bunch of cheap construction paper from the dollar store and let the kids go to town painting. They could even paint their own clothes. You could get a bunch of really cheap kids shirts from a craft store, dollar store or Wal-Mart and all the kids could use the paint. They could make whatever design or maybe make pirate themed items for the treasure hunt. You could give them examples of simple things they could make like a ship, treasure chest, sword, pirate patch, parrot, etc.

If it's warm enough outside, you can probably just get out the hose and some old towels to clean off the kids hands. You can keep all the activities outside to keep the mess out of the house...lol.

I recently spend out $5.00 on a gallon of Magic Bubbles and a bunch of bubble toys. About 10 kids from the neighborhood all gathered in front of my sidewalk and all played in the bubbles. They tried to catch them, pop them, count them, chased them all over the yard. I recorded them playing on video and took tons of pictures. It was really cute to see them play, share and trade bubble wands.

Kids love science and exploration. I found a bunch of really cheap magnifying glasses at the dollar store. They were only a dollar each. My boys love going outside to look at rocks, ants, worms, leaves, dirt, our frog, etc. They lift up the landscaping bricks and there are tons of little creepy crawly things beneath them. They've examined our puppy, looked at the lines in their hands, acted like doctors. I used those times to tell them about their bodies, plants, animals.

Here's a few ideas that we played at my daughters 6th...
~pass the purse...similar to hot potato...using a smallish sized purse, put a prize inside (lip gloss, a lolipop, small candy bar), then play the music, when the music stops the girl holding the purse is out, but gets to open the purse and take the prize. Everyone wins! The last girl gets the bigger prize.
~Musical shapes...I cut guitar shapes out for the girls to use, but any shapes will do using your party theme. Play the music loud and have the girls dance around and have fun. When the music stops, find a shape! I handed out small prizes again to everyone as they were out. I had them put the prizes in their treat bags to take home.
Have fun!

How about a "Game day" with Toss the Ball in the Bucket, Knocking cans down that are stacked,(paint veggie cans bright colors) sack races, Egg Race (boil eggs and put on plastic spoons and race). As a former Nanny I used to have a Sumeer Game day with the neighbor kids and we did all of these, and they loved it!! You can go to local craft store and buy little boxes and have them paint, glitter, sticker them, that was a big hit too.

Hope these will help!! Have fun!!
S. J.

This might sound cheesy, but an old fashioned race for prizes, simon says, red light green light, etc if nothing else comes up! If you have a basketball hoop you can have a contest or a guessing game about the birthday girl...