Homemade Birthday Train Games

Friday, February 21, 2014

Homemade Birthday Train Games

Create homemade

games for a train birthday party.

If a train-themed birthday is on the agenda for your child this year, don't break the bank with expensive, store-bought activity kits and games. With some scrounging around for supplies and a bit of artistic talent, you can create homemade train games. Put a personal touch on party games for your youngster's big day. You will create lasting memories for yourself and the birthday child.

Box Train Toss

Use a stash of empty shoe boxes for train cars in a homemade birthday train game. Paint five boxes, each in a different color. If one box is larger than the rest, designate it as the engine. If all of the boxes are the same size, paint the engine box with extra flair, adding stripes and decorative touches to set it apart from the rest. Paint an empty paper towel tube black, for a smoke-stack. Glue it to the front of the engine-box. Paint numbers 1 through 5 on the sides of the engine and the train cars. Let party guests take turns tossing five bean-bags each into the boxes. Assign points to each box, according to its printed number. Add up the points each party guest accumulates by landing a beanbag in a box. Give prizes for the highest scores.

Matching Trains Game

Cut simple train-engine-shapes from 12-by-18-inch sheets of construction paper to use in a game during the birthday festivities. Cut two train-engine-shapes from each sheet of paper so each train has a match. Hide the paper trains in your party room. To play, ask party guests to hunt for matching pairs of engines. Let the guests hunt for sets of engines for five to 10 minutes. When time is up, the child who found the most matches is the winner.

Coal Bucket Game

Put two buckets to use in a homemade train game that transforms birthday party guests into railroad workers, hauling coal. Before the party, wad pieces of aluminium foil into balls to be the coal. Make 100 to 200 pieces of coal. Divide party guests into two teams. Each team forms a line. Place equal halves of the coal pieces at the front of each teams' line. Provide a plastic spoon for each player. Position each team's bucket three or four yards in front of its pile of coal. Players place a piece of coal on the plastic spoon, hurry to the bucket to deposit it inside, then return to the line. If a player drops his coal, he must start over. Play continues until one team has filled its bucket with coal.

Train Course

Create a homemade obstacle course for a train birthday game. In a room, place objects to jump over, walk around and crawl through. Stack pillows to climb over. Throw a blanket over a table to make a railroad tunnel. Borrow a CD from the library containing train sounds, or songs about trains, to play as each child goes through the course. Cover the windows in the room with blankets if it is a daytime party and turn on a lamp or two, but keep the room mostly dim, to add to the atmosphere. Give players a mini-flashlight to light the way. Buy a train-conductor's hat where toys are sold, for guests to wear while navigating the course. Time each player with a stopwatch as he maneuvers through the obstacles as the train conductor. The guest with the shortest time wins.

19th century paint colors

Friday, February 21, 2014