Ice-Breakers

It is a good idea to start the party with some simple ice-breaker games to make sure that all the children know each other, feel comfortable in their new environment. Ice-breakers will also help any shy children integrate more successfully into the party.

Dressing-up Game

Age: 3-7

Equipment: Simple dressing-up items, ideally related to your party theme such as a pirate eye-patch, ‘princess’ jewellery, a mask, a party hat and a sticker.

This is a great starting game to get everyone into the party spirit.

• Before the game starts, distribute the dressing up items around the room.
• Start the music, and ask all the children to dance around the room.
• Stop the music and shout out the item that you want to the children to find and put on e.g., “Everyone grab an EYE-PATCH”
• Keep going until the children are wearing all the dressing-up items

Party Ark!

Age: 3+

Equipment: Cards with the name of an animal (or picture if the children can’t read). There should be two cards for each animal.

Put the animal cards in a hat. Ask each child to pick out a card, but to keep the name of their animal a secret - the children walk around the room making animal noises, until they meet their ‘partner’.

Line-up in Order of…

Age: 4+

Equipment: None

The younger the children the simpler the tasks should be here.

• Divide the children into two or more teams (depending on the size of the party), each team with an adult helper.
• Ask the children to line-up in a certain order e.g.,
• Age
• Height
• Alphabetical Order
• Hair Length
• Shoe Size
• The winning team after each round of the game receives a small prize. Alternatively, a number of rounds could be played in sequence with the winning team gaining a point each time. The prize would then go to the overall winner.