In Need of a Craft and Game Idea for 3Rd Grade Winter Classroom Party

Hi K.,

Here's a game idea that I have done in the past, go to Hobby Lobby or Michaels and buy white styrofoam balls, they can either be softball size or smaller. Then buy some plastic spoons and have a snowball race. See if they can carry their snowball across the room without dropping it. You can divide them into teams and have a relay race. I bought a ball for each child so they could take them home with them but you don't have to do that, you can just buy two. I don't have a craft idea but you can get plenty of ideas from orientaltradingcompany.com or just google school parties and you will find several ideas that way.---Good Luck and Happy Holidays :) J. C

This is a cute little bird they can make for and ornament
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&...

And here are some games...
http://holidays.kaboose.com/xmas-party.html

I'm in charge for my son kindergarten party...so I have googled these already...lol

I've been the class parent for two years now with two different kids...we typically order a very inexpensive craft kit from Oriental Trading Company (www.orientaltrading.com) for the class to assemble. Or, one year we did a treat bag project that looked like a reindeer. All you need are brown paper sacks (lunch size) and precut all the things like the eyes, antlers, nose, etc. The kids assembled them and once they were dry, that's what they used their treats to take home in at the end of the party. Just google "child craft projects" and you should have about a million ideas available. Best of luck!

Well whatever you do for the craft, I would have as much prep work done ahead of time so that the kids are merely putting it together. My experience is that in those instances glue takes a REALLY long time to dry.

My class game is something my family does every year. Get a bunch of the styrofoam craft balls and have an indoor snowball fight. Tons of fun and will take up a good portion of time for the party. Did it for my sons class party last year and everyone is STILL talking about it. Best of all, you can recycle the game for the next year.

A fun game...Puzzle Race
buy 2 10 piece puzzles (maybe from Walmart or $store)

Ahead of time, break up each separate puzzle into piles about 5 feet apart. The kids line up into two lines some distance from the piles--boys against girls is exciting. When you say go, a boy and a girl each race to their piles of puzzle pieces, take one, and race back and place it down near where they are in line. As soon as the puzzle piece is down, the next person goes. The winning team is the one whose puzzle is put back together first. My 8 year old daughter's class did this for their halloween party (using a cut out skeleton pieces) and it was a big hit!
A.

Hi, K. M. I used to make these with kids at a Summer camp in PA and with my neices. We called them Alien Blood Bottles because of the food coloring we used, but if you use no food coloring or just a little blue or a little red to make them pink it would look pretty. Anyway..... you take a 20 oz soda bottle and put Softsoap (it must have Glycolstearate in it or it won't work!) Put probably about 1/4 cup in each bottle. then a dab of food coloring or none at all. Maybe some glitter or plastic snowflakes and then fill it with the rest of the way with water. You must fill it all the way full so no bubble get in. When you shake it around the Softsoap creates wonderful swirls.

We glued the lids on the ones for my neices so they wouldn't make messes later. Hint hint.

Good luck and have fun!

Melanie in Swansea, IL

I just received an e-mail from Oriental Trading - they have free shipping for the next four days - no minimum purchase. If you decide to get a kit from there, I would do this. Their products are reasonably priced, but they get you with their shipping costs.

The good thing about OT is that they come as a kit so that you don't waste time handing out supplies.

On another note, my kids have decorated cookies more than once and have loved it every time. Check the dollar area in Target for theme sprinkles, buy cans of frosting and divide everything up in muffin pans. Put the kids in groups of four or five and let them have at it. You can also have them decorate containers to take their cookies home in. Oriental Trading has plain boxes (or US Toy, etc) and they can use self stick foamies to decorate.

Good luck and have fun!

Ornaments are a fun and easy craft to do! It also helps in learning how to follow directions but still allows space for creativity. I realize you only have 10 minutes, and I agree you should be prepared but having everything pre-cut exactly the same is a bit much for a third grader. I suggest doing something that allows a bit more creativity. You can google ornament crafts and there are a ton of cute ones! You could also use styrofoam balls and decoupage tissue paper to it or there is a VERY easy recipe for non-edible "gingerbread" that is basically a combo of Elmer's white glue and a whole lot of cinnnamon. It smells good and the kids get to roll it out like dough and use cookie cutters to shape. They do have to dry for a few hours, but they're really cute, plus you can use a toothpick or bent paperclip to decorate them and scrape their name and year on the back for a memory.