Planning Your Farm Party
This is a great party for preschoolers.
Invitations
Creating theme invitations can be fun! (But buying
invitations is fine too!)
Choose paper with a
farm animal theme or border - those cowhide
patterned papers are great (you can get them at a
stationary or office-supply store).
Encourage guests to come in
costume as a farmer or a farm animal.
Decorations
Create a barn
atmosphere with construction paper cornstalks,
pumpkins, apples, and even a scarecrow. You may be
able to find pre-made items at a party supply
store. If you are having the party in a garage or
rec-room, go all out and get a few bales of hay to
scatter around the floor. Straw baskets will add to
the atmosphere and provide a good place to store
presents, goody bags, prizes for the games, napkins,
etc.
Food
How much and what kind of
food you serve will depend on the time and length of
your party. If the party starts at 11:00 a.m. and
ends at 4:00 p.m., you will need to provide a
substantial lunch, but if your party runs from 2:00
- 4:00 p.m. you can get by with just cake and ice
cream.
But you can't go wrong with all or
part of the "Preschoolers' Buffet"
Pigs-in-a-Blanket
Carrot and celery sticks with ranch dip
Cheese cubes
Popcorn or popcorn balls
Crackers (various kinds)
Apple slices (or make caramel apples if you are
feeling ambitious)
To fit your farming theme, you can
explain to the children how each food item comes
from something on a farm (i.e. Cheese comes from
milk, which is made by cows.) Ask them what other
things also come from cows (or wheat, or corn, or
whatever food you are using).
The Cake
Haystack Cake: Very easy! Bake any
flavor cake in a bundt pan. Frost with yellow
frosting and decorate with pretzel sticks to make a
haystack.
Cowhide Cake: Frost any flavor
sheet cake in white. Use black decorating gel to
create a Jersey cow hide.
Activities
Musical pumpkins: Take
construction paper pumpkins, covered in clear
Contact Paper for extra durability, and tape them to
the floor. Play music. When the music stops, kids
must have at least one foot on a pumpkin. Take one
pumpkin away after each round. At the end of the
game, all the kids will be squished around one
pumpkin. It's noncompetitive and silly - what
preschooler could ask for more.
Apple Toss: Kids toss apples (or
red beanbags) into a bushel basket. If you can't
find a bushel basket, cover a small (clean) trashcan
with yellow construction paper and cut a fringe
around the top. There are several variations to this
game. Younger children will just enjoy the throwing.
For older kids, challenge them to throw from certain
distances, or to make a certain number of "baskets".
Corn Shuck: Preschoolers love to
shuck corn. Just toss several fresh ears into a few
wash basins and let them go at it. Don't put more
than three children at each basin, to avoid
crowding. It helps if your family likes
corn-on-the-cob!
Haystack Hunt: Make several dozen
small (about palm size) haystacks from yellow
construction paper. During the gift-opening or
cake-eating portion of the party, have your party
helper hide the haystacks around the room. Give the
children one or two minutes to find as many
haystacks as they can. (*Note: Do this only if you
have a well-childproofed room available)
Sing-A-Long: Of course you must
sing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"! Make it silly by
including lots of animals that wouldn't be on a farm
(snake, monkey, elephant, alligator). Preschoolers
love silliness. If the children are dressed as
particular animals, you can ask them to jump up when
their animal is named.
By Barbara Thomas
Courtesy of www.thefamilycorner.com
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