A Middle School Halloween Party

We treated our middle schoolers to a halloween party yesterday.  The format worked very well.  Initially, we all met community meeting style, where we called on a few brave volunteers to participate in Meet the Pirate.  We then explained the rules for the remainder of the evening - stay within the perimeters of the room, and participate in any of the stations available.  After 40 minutes, we regrouped for the brain eating contest, after which we awarded prizes for winners in the the station activities.

Meet the Pirate 
Students come in blindfolded and are introduced to a pirate.  They shake hands with the pirate's hooked arm, feel the pirates wooden leg, and then when being introduced to the pirate's glass eye, the student's finger is pushed into a tomato, after which the pirate screams...turns out the eye wasn't glass after all.  The kids got a huge kick out of this one.


Then we had 3 kids participate in the brain eating challenge - They had 1 minute to see who could devour the most brain:


Brain Eating Contest
Jello molded to look like a brain, with a little bit of whipped cream led to a lot of cheers and cream smeared faces.  We timed to see who could eat the brain the fastest within 1 minute.


Ghostwriter Pen
Inspired by Family Fun, our students created ghostly pens out of mold magic clay. Detailed instructions can be found here.  We awarded prizes for the most realistic pen and the freakiest pen.


Pumpkin Decorating
With our limited time, we used sharpies as our chief pumpkin decorating tool.  I printed off this page to inspire them.  We awarded prizes for most creative and spookiest pumpkins.

Check out some of the amazing designs the kids came up with:

Skull Toss
Students threw skulls into the cups - each player had 5 skulls to throw in the cups.  Each cup was worth a designated amount of points. Student who scored the highest over the course of the party won a prize.

Skull Hunt Matching Game
Skulls with one of two colors stamped on them were under the cups.  The goal was to run and find the skulls stamped with your teams color.  There were two lines of students and it was played relay style, so each student could look under two cups, and brought to their team the skulls they found that matched their team color, after which the next student would run to find the matching skulls.  First team to find all their skulls won.

Tower of Power

We recently did the Tower of Power activity at our after school program, and it was a blast!

Students were divided into teams of 5. Each team received a box that was labeled Top Secret.  In each box, we put a variety of supplies - marshmallows & spaghetti, tape and popsicle sticks, clay and straws, etc.  Basically a variety of something that is tall and something that can connect.

Once each team received their box, their challenge was to build a tower.  We had multiple categories for which the students could aim for, including Tallest Tower, Most Exotic & Sturdiest.

The teams began and after working with their materials, some realized they could borrow from other teams.  Before long, teams started combining, and in the end we had three very distinct towers built.

Teams were awarded based on meeting the categories (since the teams morphed into three groups, each group took home a prize). And of course, there were a host of debrief questions.  Students noted that by pulling together their resources, they were able to make towers that were stronger and by noticing how others were making their towers, they got ideas on how to build their towers.

I really liked this activity because it gave the kids a tangible challenge in which they had limited supplies, but room for whatever creativity their brains wandered upon - and they had to work together.  There were clear parameters (the supplies and their original groups) but also a lot of room for exploration and creative thinking.

Ultimate Picnic Games

We had a pretty awesome family picnic this summer for our families - 200+ people showed up, the weather was great and everyone left happy.  The combination of games worked so well that I wanted to share them with you:

The games:

Tug of War

Potato Sack Race

3 Legged Race

Limbo Game

Spoon & Ball Race

Chicken Run Race

Water Balloon Toss

Face painting



What you will need for the ultimate family picnic party:

rope

burlap sacks (easily found on Craigslist)

bamboo sticks (or any kind of long sticks or jump rope)

ribbon

plastic spoons

plastic balls

water balloons

face paint supplies 

4 cones (for making start and finish lines)

prizes

Preparation:

Set up station for face painting, it will be an ongoing activity throughout the picnic.  If it is clearly marked, children will flock to it.

Lay out rope and set up cones marking the start and finish for the relay activities. Lay out burlap sacks ( I had 6 laid out next to each other between the cones).  Have all remaining supplies ready in a box next to the cones.

Order of events:

1. Face painting is an ongoing activity, set up on the side.

2. Invite some loitering kids to start the tug of war, as soon as they get pulled in, others will notice and start gathering around the gaming site. 

3. Play tug of war. Variations included, boys vs. girls, parents vs. kids, staff vs. parents, etc.

4. Invite group to do the sack race. Demonstrate what the task is and then encourage others. After you do first run, do variations such as younger kids, older kids, parents, all girls, all boys, etc. Award prizes to winners and give candy to all participants.

5. As the last round of the sack race (3rd or 4th round) finishes up, transition to the 3 legged race. Demonstrate how the game works.  All participants must find a partner. As they have a partner, give each group a ribbon, help younger kids tie the legs together with the ribbon. Blow the whistle and the fun begins.  Allow the first run to be a practice run.  Then do it for real, awarding prizes as necessary. 

6. At this point you may want to take a break.  We did some raffle prizes here. Or you can continue to the next game. 

7. To slow the heart rate down (especially with the heat) we walked to the shade and began the limbo. We used a long bamboo stick, but a jump rope or any long stick will likely suffice. All participants got in a line and the fun began.  Music makes it more fun, but we were already in the mood and did not have the right hook-up.  We survived.

8. Next we resumed to get in line and I gave everyone a spoon and ball.  The objective was to walk with the ball on the spoon to the finish line without dropping the ball.  Dropping the ball meant you had to start all over. We did a practice round and then began the fun.  Prizes were awarded accordingly.

9. After the spoon and ball fun, we put away the spoons and put paper plates along the finish line. This became a nest.  Participants kept the balls (and received 5 more) and put one between their knees (no higher or lower - between the knees).  The objective was to walk each ball between the knees to the finish line. Repeating until all 5 balls are in "the nest." The walk inevitably looks like a chicken walk.  Winners receive prizes and everyone gets candy.

Woohoo! We then took another break and attempted to do a water balloon toss, but realized we did not have adequate water supply.

These games were a blast, and plenty of fun that lasted for at least 3 hours. Looking forward to more family picnics! 

*I would post pictures from the actual event, but because of client confidentiality, I will refrain.