Welcome to the Fun Factory

Before sitting them down for a long meal or after they’ve been sitting for a what seems like hours, let the younger crowd use some of that youthful energy by providing them with the items and space required for these low-supervision activities.

Pasta flakes

Working on a piece of wax paper, kids glue together various shapes of pasta – like bows, tubes and wagon wheels – into large snowflake ornaments. Let glue dry thoroughly, peel off, paint if desired and hang from string in window. Great way to get kids involved before the company arrives!

One-word-at-a-time story

Starting with the old standby opener “once upon a time…”, kids tell a story improvised on-the-spot, each contributing a single word in turn. Always hilarious. Good for mixed age groups, even with, bleh, adults.

Grab

Get all the kids to leave the room. Place several small items on a table. Ask the kids back in and get them to look at the items and remember them. Designate a child to turn away from the table and close their eyes. Another chosen player takes an item off the table and hides it from view.

Then the first player opens their eyes and gets several tries to guess which item was taken and who snatched it. If they don’t get it right, the culprit confesses and reveals the stolen item.

Put the item back on the table and designate the next guesser and snatcher.

Copycat

The children sit in a circle. One player starts the game by making a body movement such as wiggling nose, clapping hands, shaking head, shrugging shoulders, etc. The next player must repeat the first player’s move and add a new movement. The third player must copy he first two movements in the order they were made, and then add their own movement. Play continues in this fashion around the circle. If a player can’t remember a particular movement or repeats the movements in the wrong order, they are out of the game. The last player remaining wins.

Edible jewellery

Kids thread assorted colourful, loop and ring shaped cereals, as well as Life Savings – like candy, onto strands of liquorice. They show off their creations, then eat’em up!