Are you going to find yourself being in charge of entertaining children this summer? I know this can set up a panic in some folks, especially many of us senior citizens so I thought these fun and simple games might come in handy.
Barb
SIMPLE FAMILY FUN IDEAS


Entertainment doesn't have to be expensive. Sometimes
the simplest ideas are also the most fun. While preparing
for a birthday party for one of my children, I checked out
several books from the library on party games. I also
searched my brain, trying to remember fun group games
from my own childhood. I came up with several fun ideas
to use at the party, and I thought I'd share them with all
of you.

Many of these games work equally well for children's
parties, grown-up parties, and mixed-age groups (such
as family gatherings).


KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE

Two teams sit facing each other in two lines. One team
is chosen to go first and they must keep a straight face
no matter what. In the meantime, the opposing team is
doing everything within their power to make the other team
laugh or crack a smile. No touching or tickling, but other
than that, anything goes! It's so funny to watch the creative
ways people try to make each other laugh.


SPOT THE THIMBLE

Everyone leaves the room for a moment while one person
hides a thimble somewhere in plain sight in the room. When
the people who left the room return, as soon as each person
sees the thimble, they sit down without letting others know
where the thimble is hiding. The last one to find the thimble
does a forfeit of some sort (ie: sings a song, recites a poem,
spells their name backward, kisses their own shadow, etc.).
The first one to see the thimble hides it on the next round.


MUSICAL SPOONS

Played like Musical Chairs. You set out spoons on the floor
(one less spoon than the number of players). As the music
plays, everyone crawls around on the floor in time to the
music. When the music stops, each person tries to grab a
spoon. One person won't be able to, so they're out until the
next game. Continue the game using one spoon less than
the number of players until only one person is left.


NOAH'S ARK

This game was the hit of my daughter's slumber party. The girls
could've played it all night! Put the names of animals onto slips
of paper and then into a hat (be sure include two of each animal,
of course). Let each participant draw an animal name but don't
tell anyone else what it is. They're going to be the animals on
Noah's Ark. Something has happened so that all the animals
have escaped from their pens. The animals now need to find
their partners. The lights go out, and then everyone spreads
throughout the room or throughout the house. Then they're
told to find their "partners" by only making the noises of the
animals. At my daughter's party, at the end of the game, I
purposely didn't use matches for any of the animal names
so none of the children had a partner -- but the girls didn't
know this! My husband and I sat on the couch and laughed
'til we cried while all the little animals went mooing and barking
and meowing all over the house looking for their non-existent
partners.


STRIKE-A-POSE

A Charades-type game. Put words into a hat such as: tragic,
shocked, lovestruck, smart, silly. The person who is "it" draws
a word and then strikes a pose that somehow communicates
the word (no acting out, just holding one pose).


MANNERISMS

Another Charades-type game. This time put slips of paper
containing adverbs (happily, angrily, shyly, etc.) into a hat.
In this game, people in the room ask "it" to do things to act
out the word. The players say something like, "Go to the
door in the manner of the word," or "Read a book in the
manner of the word," or "Sit in the chair in the manner of
the word."

Have fun, everyone!