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Smiley Face
Beanbag Toss
You'll be grinning from ear to ear as you toss beanbags at the
ever-smiling faces on the cardboard target. Each player has five
chances to toss a beanbag through the semicircular smiles.
Ages: All
A discarded refrigerator box is ideal for creating a target, but any
large cardboard box will do.
On one side of the box, draw or paint five yellow circles with black
outlines.
Draw a smile and two eyes in each circle; the smiles should look
like semicircles.
Cut out the semicircles, making sure that they are larger than the
beanbags. Make openings of varying sizes and at various heights.
Players try to toss beanbags through the smiles. Each player
receives five beanbags.
Plan-Ahead Tips:
Ask an appliance store near you for refrigerator boxes or check with
a local moving company.
Make your target by painting the box or drawing on it with markers.
Buy or make beanbags. Party goods stores, toy stores, and the online
retailer U.S. Toy are places to look for beanbags.
Hit Parade
Charades
Sounds like ... a little family heritage and a lot of fun. Players
try to guess the titles to hit songs as a team member acts them out
in charades. If Mom and Dad met at the disco, greatest hits of the
'70s would be a perfect category for clues.
Ages: 8 and up
Played like traditional charades using favorite song titles for
clues. Share a little family history and choose tunes from the
decade that Grandma and Grandpa were born in or the year Mom and Dad
married.
Write the titles on craft sticks.
Place the sticks in an empty coffee can.
Review the classic charades signals so clues will be understood.
Plan-Ahead Tips:
You can ask family members to send in song titles or choose them
yourself.
Buy craft sticks.
Write the titles on the craft sticks.
Set aside an empty coffee can for the clues.
Chin-to-Chin Pass
Look, Ma, no hands! In this game, the chin is the thing. Fruit,
rubber balls, or water balloons are passed from chin to chin, down
the line to the last player. The first team to pass the fruit
without dropping it wins.
Ages: 6 and up
Teams consist of 5 to 10 players.
Each team forms a line and is given a piece of fruit, like an apple
or an orange.
The first player places the fruit under his chin and bends his head
to keep the fruit in place.
The second player must use her chin (no hands allowed!) to take the
fruit from the first player.
Players pass the fruit from chin to chin until it reaches the last
player, who holds the fruit in the air to signal the team is done.
You can use a basket of fruit per team to make the game more
challenging.
Plan-Ahead Tip:
Buy fruit, balls, or water balloons to pass.
Humpty-Dumpty Race
All the king's horses, all the king's men, and all of your family
will want to play this spoon race game. Place a plastic egg filled
with water (or a water balloon) on a spoon and see who can make it
to the finish without dumping Humpty.
Ages: 4 and up
Give players a spoon and a plastic egg filled with water, or a small
water balloon.
The player who reaches the finish line without dropping their egg
wins.
Plan-Ahead Tip:
Buy plastic spoons, and plastic eggs or water balloons.
Share-A-Pair Race
Here's a togetherness-promoting variation on a three-legged race.
Instead of tying your leg to your teammate's, a team of two "shares"
a pair of pantyhose or sweatpants. Ideally, partners should be about
the same height, but mismatched pairs make the race more
challenging.
Ages: 6 and up
Every team is given a pair of pantyhose or sweatpants (cut off the
toes of the pantyhose).
Each player places one leg into a leg of the hose or sweatpants so
that the team is "sharing" the garment.
Team members put their arms around each other's shoulders to race.
Plan-Ahead Tips:
Buy pantyhose and cut off the toes.
To use sweatpants, you can start collecting early or go to Goodwill.
Source: BH&G |