Buggy Birthday Party

Craft and Activity ideas

This is a great party theme for both boys and girls. Not only are there some great games and activities but you will also have an opportunity to teach children a little bit about bugs and send them home with educational tools that will spark their interest in bugs. Children of all ages will enjoy these activities.  If you have very young children, 4 and under, you may want to use just butterflies, bees, or ladybugs for your theme and leave out the scarier bugs.

Bug Games

1. Crazy Bug Game and Craft - This is a craft and activity.  Have a contest to see who can make the craziest bug hat. Provide the children with pipecleaners, pompom balls, construction paper, glue, stapler, feathers, beads, markers, and anything else you can think of.  Have the children make bug hats and make up bug name for themselves. Give them all enough time to finish.  When everyone is finish, have a bug fashion show.  Introduce each bug by name and have them walk in front of the other children. You can have the children vote on the best bug or you can decide.

2. Go on a bug hunt - Before the party buy a bag of small bugs and hide them in the grass and trees on in your house. (Save a few in case some children don't find any.) Give each child a bug bag and a short stick. Tell the children that on the word "go" they must try and find as many bugs as they can and get them into their bags without touching them with their hands. The children get to keep the bugs they find. If you are using just one bug for your theme hide only that particular bug.

3. Play a "Duck, Duck, Goose" Game - Instead of saying, "Duck, duck, goose", have the children say, "Buzz, buzz, sting".

4. Cocoon - Divide the children up into teams of two.  Give each team a roll of toilet paper. Have them decide who is going to be the caterpillar and who is going to be the wrapper. On the word go see who can wrap up the caterpillar first using all the toilet paper.

5. Play a "Hot Potato" Game - Instead of using a potato use a big black hairy tarantula and play scary music (get it from the library)

6. Bug in your Shirt - Divide the children into two teams.  Give each teach a ball of yarn with a bug tied to the end. Have the first player on each team put the bug up or down their shirt and pull the string through. The first player than hands the bugs to the second player in line and he does the same thing. They keep passing until the get to the end of the line. You can finish the games here or have them reverse the process and take the bug back out of their shirts. The first team to get the bug all the way back to the first player wins.

7. Spider Relay Race - Divide the children up into teams. Show the children how to get in the spider position. (Sit on the ground with your hands on the ground next to your hips and lift up your bottom so that you can walk on your hands and feet.) The children can walk forward or backward or both. Play the game as you would any relay race.

8. Pin the spider on the web, or pin the ladybug on the leaf, or pin the bee on the hive or flower.  Play just like Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Draw a spider web on a large sheet of poster board.  See which child can get the spider closest to the center of the web. Draw a large leaf and mark a spot on the leaf where the children should try to place the ladybug. Do the same thing with the bee.

9. Caterpillar Race - You will need some old sleeping bags. Divide the children up into teams. Have the children race to the end of the room and back while they are inside a sleeping bag. Tell them they can not touch the floor with their hands or feet, only with the sleeping bag.

10. Bumblebee Bash

With the weather getting warmer, it's time to turn the kids loose outside! This game will give groups, small to large, a way to run off some of that winter energy, and have a fun time 'bashing the bee'. This is also a fun backyard game as part of a birthday party.

What you'll need: 5-9 badminton birdies (shuttlecocks), one pair of women's stockings, or pantyhose per every two players, one wire clothes hanger per player, and duct or electrical tape

How to make rackets:

1. Instruct children to pull their hanger into an oblong shape, then stretch stocking over it to form a springy net. (Stockings/pantyhose should be cut at about the knee, with the upper portion discarded.)

2. Using duct or electrical tape, secure stocking in place on clothes hanger handle.

Preparing the birdie: If you wish to make the birdie look more like a bee, paint it yellow. Paint the top black and paint black strips horizontally around the 'body'.

How to play:

1. Divide group into two teams.

2. The idea is to keep the bumblebee in the air by swatting it upward with the 'nets'.

3. When the bee hits the ground, it goes to the team who hit it last.

4. The team with the fewest bees at the end of the game is the winner.

Nets and bees can be prepared ahead of time, or may be a crafty beginning to the game. Nets may be decorated wth paint or stickers, if desired.

This game was contributed by Chris Molnar, editor of Themeaparty.com. Click here for more fun games, food recipes and ideas for birthday parties. Chris has two daughters, and helped coordinate the Bumblebee Bash as part of an outdoor ladybug theme party, which all the kids loved!

Food

1. You can find bug recipes on the Cooking Craft page.  Buggy Salad with ladybugs, bumble bees, and inch worms There is also a bee made with peanut butter and almonds for the wings.

4. Dirt Cake - at Disney Family.com

5. Another recipe for Dirt Cups on the Krafts website.

6. Insect Themed Food - Ants on a Log, Ant treats, Bee Bread, Fly-in-the-batter desserts, bug blood or bug juice, caterpillar in a cacoon, etc.

Invitations

 Ladybug on a flower invitations - These cute cards fold up to make an envelope.  Unfold them to find the birthday message. Directions and a pattern to make these invitations can be found on The Resource Room. Instead of using a ladybug, you could use any insect you want.

Music

Play "Flight of the Bumble bee.

Decorations

1. Balloons - Draw black dots on red balloons to make ladybugs.  Draw strips on yellow balloons to make bees.  For decorations on how to make the bee at the left go to the Bug and Insect Crafts page.

2. Use black yarn or the spider web stuff you can buy at Halloween time to make spider webs. Tape paper spiders to the webs.

Party Favors and Gifts

Bug Pencil Toppers - You can make these as prizes or use them in the goody bags.  For directions go to the Bug and Insect Page.

Ladybug Candy Holder - Place these cute little ladybugs on each plate on a piece of lettuce. You can find directions for this craft on the Valentine's Day Craft Page

Other gift ideas:

1. Insect stickers
2. Pencils with bugs on them
3. Small notebooks with bugs on them - If you can't notebooks with bugs, buy bug stickers and stick them onto the front of the cover.
4. Magnifying glass
5. Plastic tweasers to pickup bugs
6. Books about bugs
7. Plastic bugs
8. Bug houses or plastic jars with holes in the top.  Include in the jars tips on looking for bugs and safety precautions. I found the bug container at MacFrugels for 99 cents each.  They have a magnifing glass on the top of the lid.
9. Insect tattoos
10. Flower seeds to grow a butterfly garden, ladybug garden, or flowers to attract bees.
11. Butterfly hair clips
12. Plastic fly swatters
13. Real ladybugs - You may be able to buy real ladybugs at your local nursury or go to http://www.ladybuglady.com to order some online.

Crafts

1. Butterfly craft - Precut butterfly wings from poster board.  Use the whole sheet for one child.  As the children arrive have them paint the wings with fast drying child safe paint. When they are dry staple straps on each end of the wings so that the children can hold onto the wings and flap them. Have a butterfly parade.

2. Use any of the crafts on the Bug and Insect Craft Page

3. Have the children make their own Bug Houses. For directions and ordering information go to Making Friends web site.