I am NOT good at coming up with fun things for kids to do. My two daughters have wanted to have a 'summer party' all season, so we are having one this Friday from 3:30 to 7:30. WHAT am I going to do with seven kids ages 5-11 for four hours?? We don't have a pool, so only two kiddie pools will be set up. One is the large rectangular blow up kind with the enormous sides, the other is the typical large, round one with one foot sides that collapse without water. We are talking about a 12 foot diameter and one foot deep pool and a four by eight foot, one foot deep pool. Not too exciting. They want to do water balloons, too, which doesn't take up much time. We will be eating during this time and having hots/hamburgers, popsicles, and making s'mores on the hot grill. Other than those few things I am out of ideas.

Are any of you more creative than me??

By Colette on Saturday, August 5, 2006 - 02:15 pm:

What about a bunch of squirt guns that they can run around and spray each other with? Bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a kickball game, face painting (maybe the 11yr olds can do the 5yr olds).

By Reds9298 on Saturday, August 5, 2006 - 02:30 pm:

Ditto all of Colette's ideas. Those are great. Also, what about races? Kids LOVE to race! Hopping on one foot, backwards, forwards, gliding, bear walk...endless. You could race in age groups, or boys vs. girls, or tall vs. short, tie shoes vs. sandals, or any silly way you can come up with.

My K's and 3rd graders used to have math/spelling "races" for fun with sidewalk chalk once the weather got warm. It was purely for fun and they loved it. With my K's, it was more like "Write the # 5" or "spell cat" or "Make a triangle" or "the first letter in dog". Anything fun and silly.

Water balloons are so fun. You could have throwing contests to see how far they can throw them, too.

Prizes could always be candy...cheap and everyone's going to like it. Especially if they get to choose.

I'm sure everyone will have a great time.

By Luvn29 on Saturday, August 5, 2006 - 03:58 pm:

We do a couple of fun games at get togethers with balloons that kids of all ages love. For one, you blow up balloons and tie a piece of string to it. You then tie the string to one ankle on each kid, and the point of the game is to run around and try to pop each other's balloons while keeping your balloon from getting popped. As the balloons are popped, that person is out of the game. The last one standing with a balloon is the winner.

The next one: blow up enough balloons for each kid to have one. Don't blow them up too fully, because you don't want them to pop too easily. Divide the kids into two teams, if you don't have many kids, each kid can go twice. The point of the game is to run to a specific point and bust the balloon by sitting on it. After popping the balloon, they jump up and run back to the next person on their team, and they do it. It is a relay race. And a lot of fun.

If you wanted, you could also get a cheap plastic pool, fill it with sand, and either just let the kids play in it, or dig for treasures, or plastic coins (get them in the party section at wal-mart) to redeem for a piece of candy or small prize...

Another fun thing is to take a long rope or jump rope and play jump the snake. Two rope holders hold the rope on the ground and jiggle it so that the rope is moving back and forth. The kids have to take turns jumping over it, and the last one to make it is the winner.


Here's a great game site:

Party Game Central

By Cybermommyx4 on Saturday, August 5, 2006 - 07:17 pm:

Can you set up a sprinkler near one of the pools? Maybe an obstacle course.......outdoor musical chairs? It's SO hard to think of games ahead of time, but I've found that kids are pretty resourceful at coming up with ideas on their own, too Have fun!

By Heaventree on Saturday, August 5, 2006 - 09:52 pm:

Here is a great alternative to water balloons:

Sponge Balls

You could try egg toss or races with eggs on teaspoons, 3 legged races, sack races, I'll try and think of more.

Have fun.

By Luvn29 on Saturday, August 5, 2006 - 10:07 pm:

I love the sponge balls! That is so much easier than water balloons! My fingers ache after trying to fill enough of those, and then they're gone in no time! The kids and I are going to make some ourselves for them to play with. Thanks!

By Breann on Sunday, August 6, 2006 - 05:40 pm:

I didn't read the other posts, so sorry if I repeat

The big thing here is to rent the giant blow-up water slide. At least once a week someone has it rented for a party. The kids can play on and around that thing for HOURS and HOURS. Great for the summer heat.
It's $50 for 1/2 a day, and $100 for overnight. Well worth the expense.

By Bellajoe on Sunday, August 6, 2006 - 09:34 pm:

these may be repeated, i didn't read all responses

sprinkler
freeze tag
water balloon toss/fight
obstacle course
scavenger hunt
ice cream sundae bar
sack race
3 legged race

i wouldn't think you need to plan too much. Kids usually end up entertaining themselves.

By Kate on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 01:14 pm:

Welllll, it's party day and the pools are filling and it's a whopping SIXTY EIGHT DEGREES. Big sigh. AUGUST is NOT supposed to ever NOT be HOT! It MAY go up to a whole seventy one degrees....

Thanks for all the great ideas! We bought 24 sponges to make the sponge balls and they are all cut up and ready to be assembled, but again....no one is going to want to be smacked with a cold sponge ball on a day like today! Oh well. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

By Heaventree on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 02:46 pm:

That sucks! It's cold here today as well, I took Matthew out this morning in his shorts and t-shirt and he said "Ohhh Cold!" But once he was running around and in the sun all was fine.

Make your balls anyway, fill up a bucket with warm water and let them go! They probably won't care that it's too cold.

Enjoy the day, summer's almost over!

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, August 12, 2006 - 08:40 am:

You would think that having an August birthday, would guarantee hot weather, but when Sarah was younger, I know we were outside having a water balloon fight and it was barely warm enough to be out in a swimsuit! LOL! I'm sorry it wasn't very warm by you!