Little people don’t really understand proper games - some of the usual party games will entertain them but they don’t really understand winning… and certainly don’t like losing!! Here are a couple of games that will keep them entertained and happy:

Tight Rope Walker (ages 2-8)

Put a long piece of string or tape on the floor and have the children pretend to tightrop walk along it - show them how first then let them have a go - make it funnier by adding instructions and or silly props - give them an umbrella, a bunch of flowers or tell them to hop and jump!

Leaping Frogs (age 18m+)

Cut out several Lily leaves from green paper, fabric or even newspaper, lay them on the floor and have the children hop about like frogs in between. When the music stops, each child must find a lily pad. There is no need with very young children to take away a pad each time but older children find the competition fun if you do. For younger children there need not be a winner though they enjoy it if you tell them who made it to the lily pad first each time. ( You can theme this if you like - your children can be monsters stomping to their rocks, butterflies landing on flowers, fairies flitting to toadstools etc etc)

Magic Wands (ages 2-6)

Wave a magic wand at the children and tell them “Abracadabra, you’re all lions!” - each child then acts the part - you can have all the children be the same animal together or pick them individual ones until you’re surrounded by a whole farmyard of noises! Be careful not to upset anyone by giving them horrid animals that they won’t like (…you know your little guests best!!). Make your boys into mucky pigs rolling in the mud and your girls into pretty kittens.

 Follow the leader (age 18m+)

Start marching and get the children to copy your every move. Do silly walking, jumps and dances around the room. Sit down, sneeze, do star jumps - guaranteed to get them laughing.

Blowing up a balloon (ages 2-7)

The children hold hands in a tight circle. Everyone blows and the circle gets bigger like a balloon. When the leader says pop, all the children sit down. You can make this last longer by letting some air out and making the circle smaller again. if you have enough children, make long thin balloons too - this means they’ll start off closely facing a friend increasing the giggle factor.

Zoo Animals

An animal version of Charades - the children sit in a circle to make a cage. Each child stands in the cage in turn and acts out an animal while the others guess what they’re trying to be. You can decide whether they should be allowed to make noises or not depending on your guests ages - perhaps older children must be quiet - younger children can make noise.

Find the balloon

Draw a face on a balloon and hide it while all the children close their eyes. Have them all try to find it. Any object can be substitued; things like ticking clocks might make seeking easier - though the children will have to be quiet to find it!

Snowball Fight! (age 3+)

With much animation, tell the children that it is snowing (inside!!) and act out making and throwing snowballs. They’ll take it up immediately - remember how cold and wet it feels down the back of your neck and mimic this. Make sound effects when you hit or miss and act as if you get hit - sometimes from behind! (my little boy plays this in the supermarket, much to the amusement of other shoppers, grabbing imaginary snow from the shelves as he goes by in the trolley.)