Activities & Crafts

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 can 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 Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle (Harpercollins, 1999)
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Putnam, 1984)
• Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk (Scholastic, 1994)

Having a craft activity set up as guests arrive is a good way to corral the excitement in a positive way, since each person can start working immediately.

Butterflies are also
beloved garden residents.

Ages: 3 and up

Preparation time: None

Playing time: 10 minutes

Players: Any number

What you need:

• Origami paper (2 sheets per child)
• Pipe cleaners (two per child)
• Pencil or thin dowel

1. Fold two brightly colored pieces of paper accordion-style.

2. Coil one of the pipe cleaners around a pencil to form the body. Slip coil off pencil.

3. Use the second pipe cleaner to secure the two folded pieces of paper together at their middles, and form an antennae with the two ends.

4. Use one end of the coiled body to attach the body to the wings at the center.

5. Spread out the wings.

Ages: 4 and up

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Playing time: 15 minutes

Player: Any number

What you need:

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or colored baking chocolate per guest
• 1 small zippered plastic bag for each guest
• Scissors
• Candy decorations such as sprinkles, licorice strings, stars, edible confetti
• Raisins, small pieces of cereal, chow mein noodles, and other crunchy or sweet items
• Waxed paper

1. Fill plastic bags with chocolate candy and seal. Microwave for at least one minute (or until melted). You may have to do this in batches. Don't let the chocolate get too hot to handle.

2. Remove the bags and cut a small hole in the corner of each bag.

3. Place a piece of waxed paper in front of each child. Set out bowls of candy, raisins, and so on.

4. Show children how to squeeze a blob of chocolate through the hole in the bag onto the waxed paper. Adding raisins, licorice legs, M&M eyes, and other items turns the chocolate into an edible creature.

5. Let chocolate cool until hardened and remove from waxed paper. "Bugs" can be eaten at the party or wrapped in plastic as a party favor to take home.

Ages: 6 and up

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Playing time: 15 minutes

Players: Any number

What you need:

• Red knit gloves, 1 pair for every 4 or 5 guests
• Black pipe cleaners
• Wiggle eyes, two per puppet
• Red posterboard
• Black washable markers
• Sequins (optional)
• Low-temperature glue gun or crafts glue
• Stapler

Before the party:

1. Cut 3-inch circles from red posterboard, one per puppet.

2. Cut each of the fingers off the knit gloves. (You may not be able to use the thumbs.)

3. Using a low melt glue gun or fabric glue, affix the back of each knit finger to the center of a red circle. Let dry.

At the party:

4. Help children staple pipe-cleaner antennae to each ladybug circle of paper.

5. Use markers to draw faces and spots on the posterboard circles.

6. For very fancy ladybugs, glue on sequins and sparkles.

Ages: 2 and up

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Playing time: 10 minutes

Players: Any number

What you need:

• Small clay pots, no more than 2 or 3 inches across
• Soilless seed mix, moistened (but not muddy; follow instructions on bag)
• A few small stones or styrofoam peanuts to cover the holes in the pots
• Plastic wrap
• Rubber bands
• Plastic spoons
• Permanent marker
• Flower seeds: Some good choices include marigolds, which grow quickly; butterfly flower (Schizanthus Pinnatus), which looks like a butterfly; or seeds for flowers that supply nectar for butterflies, such as bee balm (Monarda didyma), black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia) or purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Before the party:

1. Make a copy of the growing instructions (from the seed packet) for each child to take home. Transfer potting soil from large bag into several low containers.

At the party:

2. Cover the hole in pot with small stones, spoon in soilless mix, and sprinkle a few seeds following planting instructions on packets.

3. Cover each pot with plastic wrap and secure with a rubber band for the trip home.

4. Write each guest's name on pot or plastic wrap.

5. Tuck the growing instructions under the rubber band.