Instructional Parties

A birthday party can be an excellent opportunity to teach something fun and new to children in a more open environment. I personally love teaching children just about anything. They are just like little sponges ready to soak up new information and ideas and make it their own. Many families have a ‘crafter’ who loves to make, create and do anything new. I am personally one of these moms and I live for the moments when my children enjoy making things with me. If you are like me, you won’t have too much trouble deciding what to teach for your next event, perhaps making a pillow, creating a picture frame or making some oozing goo that you can eat. Now, if you are not like me you might think I am nuts and why would you want to bring that kind of mess into any situation with children. Well, for one; it is really fun to make a mess and two; you don’t have to be as messy as me. So here are a few suggestions to bring education and fun into the same room.

So, let’s say you are planning a teaching party for a mix of boys and girls, one of the hardest things you can do. So when planning a co-ed party doing something that can suit both active and quiet children can be difficult, although not impossible. Teaching a dance can be a lot of fun (and great exercise) and most kids just love learning something like this. Kids love to move and teaching a fun line dance, Bollywood dance or even something as simple as the hokey pokey if they are young children can be a blast and great to video tape. Now, if you are a natural dancer this may be easy, if not you might try learning a dance from YouTube or asking a friend or other parent to help out. If dancing isn’t your thing and you absolutely don’t want to learn a new one, try something you can do with your hands and learn at the same time – Bubbles! Everyone loves bubbles and whether you are having a pool party or a small indoor party you can incorporate bubbles into the mix. Having the children sit down and make their own bubble mixture and then decorate the bottles to put them into action is the perfect mix. There are so many things to learn with bubbles yet they will never even realize they are having a lesson of any kind. If you are able to go outdoors and get wet, set up a small little pool with a bubble mixture (Dawn and water is a great mix) and then use a variety of kitchen tools, circles and shapes to see what makes the best bubbles (reshaping wire coat hangers works well for this). Careful, bubbles in a large pool can get really messy and can also be dangerous with young children, make sure there is close supervision and no one is walking on tile after making the bubbles.

If you are just not in the mood to teach something but would still love to have the same effect, try bringing in a professional. There are instructors of just about anything out there, art, music, dance, animal care and even balloon twisting! Try calling some people in your area to find out if they can incorporate what they do into a fun instructional setting for a party. I love doing instructional parties for balloons and face painting. It is so fun and the time really flies by, the kids all leave with something new to think about and the parents are happy since buckets of sugar weren’t required to have a good time.

So next time you plan your children’s party, consider doing something different and memorable. The kids will love it and hopefully it will be much less stressful for you as well.