Crafts & Activities

Choose two or three relatively calm activities for a two-hour party. Have a few extra ideas ready just in case. Alternate crafts and other sit-down activities with active games to keep the pace of the party moving.

Reading is great between activities such as a game and cake time. It could be used to keep children occupied while a parent sets out the tableware and cake. Also, reading can be effective at the end of the party, when children are waiting for their parents to arrive. Some suggestions:

• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister (North South Books, 1996)
• The Little Mermaid (multiple publications; choose your favorite)
• Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James (Aladdin Paperbacks, 1996)
• The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear, illustrations by Jan Brett (Philomel, 1996; older editions by other illustrators may also be available)

Set up a craft activity so each guest can start working immediately as they arrive; it's a good way to corral the excitement in a positive way.

Ages: 4 and up

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Playing time: 20 minutes

Players: Any number

What you need:

• Scissors
• Glue
• Magazines
• Paper
• Pencil
• Prizes (optional)

Before the party:

1. Collect magazines with pictures of beaches, oceans, and sealife, such as National Geographic or travel publications.

2. Compile a list of items to find in the magazines, such as sand, water, a palm tree, a fish, a shell, a lobster, a beach, a boat, a scuba diver.

At the party:

3. Give children scissors, glue, and paper and divide them into teams of three or four. (In a small group, each child can work alone.)

4. As children cut out the items on their lists, have them paste them onto paper to create a team or individual collage.

5. To make the activity competitive, award prizes to the first team to finish, and for categories like most creative display and most unusual pictures.

 

Lots of shells on the beach
already have holes in them.

Ages: 3 and up

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Playing time: 10 minutes

Players: Any number

What you need:

• Scissors
• 20- to 24-inch lengths of colored cord
• Shells with holes (see Before the Party, below)

Before the party:

1. Collect shells with small holes in them, either at a nearby beach or at a bead store or jewelry-supply web site. If you can't find them with holes, use a small drill bit to make holes large enough for cord to pass through.

At the party:

2. Give each child a length of cord and put out the shells. Let children thread the shells onto the cord and then tie at back.

3. Older girls may like to make shell hair wraps. You can thread small shells onto cloth cord and then braid it into small clumps of hair. Leave enough cord at each end to tie around the end of the braid.

Ages: 4 and up

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Playing time: 10 to 15 minutes

Players: Any number

What you need:

• Colored sand (available at craft stores)
• Plastic spoons
• Plastic bowls (at least some of them should be disposable, for holding glue)
• White crafts glue
• Cotton swabs
• Copies of a black-and-white picture with large open areas in the design, such as from a coloring book

Before the party:

1. Make photocopies of the picture onto sturdy white paper (or let children draw their own designs at the party). The design should be large and open so that the children can easily fill it with glue and sand.

At the party:

2. Pour each color of sand into a separate bowl and place a spoon in each. Pour glue into a few containers and provide cotton swabs to spread the glue.

3. Give each child a paper with the design. And a cotton swab to fill in one area of the design with glue.

4. Working with one color of sand at a time, use a spoon to sprinkle sand over the glue. When the area is covered, carefully pick up the edges of the paper and shake the extra sand back into the sand container. Continue with additional colors until the picture is complete.

Ages: 4 and up

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Playing time: 15 to 20 minutes

Players: Any number

What you need:

• Small plastic bottles or necklace bottles used for sand art, with a stopper or screw on top (found at craft stores)
• 1 package of Pixie Stick candy straws for each guest
• 1 yard of stretchy colored cord per guest (optional)

Before the party:

1. If you want to make the bottles hang from necklaces, tie the cord to the bottles by wrapping the middle of a length of cord around the neck of a bottle twice. Knot tightly, then tie the two ends together.

At the party:

2. Each child opens a package of candy straws and pours the "sand" from each straw into the bottle to form colored layers, alternating colors as the bottle fills. Warn the children not to shake the bottle as they fill it, or the colors will mix.

3. When the bottle is filled, seal it tightly to preserve the layered effect until ready to eat. If the bottles are strung on cords, set the necklaces aside or save this craft until after all of the party's active games have been played.