Games keep children interested in a birthday party and prevent boredom. When planning a party for your 4-year-old, include some games that are easy enough for the young kids to play without getting frustrated and wanting to quit. Keep their short attention spans intrigued by awarding game participants and winners with small prizes, such as stickers, toys and party favors.
Try beanbag-tossing games for the children to play. Coordinate the game with the theme of the party. If it is a circus or clown party, draw a picture of a clown's head on a poster board and tape it to the bottom of a cardboard box. Cut the mouth out of the clown and lean the box up against a wall. Children can try to toss beanbags into the clown's mouth. For a monkey-themed party, use a picture of a monkey and have the children try to toss yellow banana-shaped beanbags into his mouth.
Treasure Hunt Games
Hide coordinating party favors around the party area for the children to hunt. Give each child a party favor bag to hunt for her own favors. Make sure each child finds a few favors to avoid any hurt feelings. The children can take the favors home as mementos of the party. If you are having a pirate-themed party, hide gold coins all over the play area. The children can take the gold coins they find home and you can award a small prize to the child who finds the most coins.
Since most young children have plenty of energy, plan a couple of chasing games to exhaust some of that energy. Play a game of cat's tail by tucking a long piece of party streamer into the back of each child's pants. When you say "Chase," the children must run around trying to grab the "cat tail" off another player. Once a child loses his tail, he is out of the game. The last player with his "cat tail" still attached wins the game. For a variation, play lion's tail or dragon's tail instead of cat's tail.
Put party favors inside inflated balloons and scatter them all over the play area. Tell the children they must sit, stomp or squeeze the balloons to pop them and get the prizes. Keep the game fair by allowing each child a certain number of balloons to pop. For another balloon game, have the children stand in a circle and hit a balloon in the air. Add more balloons to the circle and see how many balloons the children can keep in the air. Award participation prizes to all players.
- Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images