A number of years ago Arrow chose “John Deere” as the theme for his birthday party. That didn’t surprise us in the least. Arrow has been drawn to all things mechanical. The cake was supposed to look like a farm field with all the tractors. I placed plastic wrap on the top, where the tractors were placed to keep the wheels free of frosting. These vehicles were part of Arrow’s gift. He loved to play with his farm sets!
I decorate the table where we eat lunch & cake and where the gifts are placed. The only things I purchased were the John Deere colored balloons and John Deere place mats (they had games on the back, more educational activities… shh, don’t tell!) and small items for game prizes.
John Deere fleece made a great tablecloth for the gifts. There is also time for other games and if the weather permits, time to play outside to burn off all that extra energy!!
Standard for every birthday in the younger years (at least above the age of 3) is a number of games. These are some of the games I used to play at all my birthday parties. All these games and fun are some of my fondest childhood memories! We love ‘The Clothespin Game’ and ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey’. Both of these also have the additional benefit of being educational.
‘Pin the Tail’ is good for spacial and body awareness.
I used a large display board I already had as the background. The tractor is made from John Deere green paper. One large rectangle and on medium sized square with a John Deere yellow stripe along the top of the large rectangle. The wheels are cut from black paper with yellow centers. Each child had their name written in the yellow wheel center. I used a bandana to cover their eyes and we really spin them around before setting them loose! I’ve learned to not allow them to feel around on the paper to figure out where they are. 😉 Those sneaky kids! I used a piece of tape made into a loop, sticky side out for application to the board.
holding the clothespin properly
holding clothespin too low
added difficulty holding above the chair back
‘The Clothespin Game’ is excellent for hand-eye coordination. Generally each person gets 5 clothes pins to drop. The person with the most clothes pins in the bottle wins! Ties require a ‘drop off’! I use 5-gallon water bottles, because that is what I have. When I was a little girl we used half-gallon glass milk bottles and that was hard!
We even get the Dad’s to participate!! At least in this game anyway… 🙂
We had a great day!
Blessings, ~Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R)
Other posts of interest:
Homeschool Curriculum – What I Don’t Like & Why
Homeschool Curriculum – What I Like & Why
This post also linked here:The Better Mom, What Joy Is Mine, Raising Arrows, Homestead Revival, Finding Heaven, Far Above Rubies, Time Warp Wife, Growing Home, A Pause on the Path, Raising Homemakers, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, We Are THAT Family, Deep Roots at Home, A Mother’s Heritage, Women Living Well, Intentional Me, Raising Mighty Arrows, Our Simple Country Life, MOB Society, At the Picket Fence, Best Post of the Week, Serenity Now, Comfy in the Kitchen, Finding Beauty,
.gif)
Honey From Flinty Rocks 