Birthday Party Tip: What is Age-Appropriate for a 6, 7 or 8 year old Birthday Party?
Early elementary school kids ages 6, 7 and even 8 are beginning readers and still not very good at following directions or staying focused. To keep them involved in your party rather than veering off in their own direction, your games must be simple and straightforward and relatively short.
You need to plan a variety of short games, each with simple rules of play. One task at a time, and wrap it up before moving on to the next activity. But just because they’re not yet good readers doesn’t mean they can’t think or solve problems! Provide simple challenges that they can meet, and the fun level will rise accordingly.
At this age and developmental level, your party invitation takes on extra importance. A standard invite to what appears to the child to be a standard birthday party will create very little curiosity about what they’re going to be doing.
The young child’s natural curiosity is a factor you want to use to your advantage. Structure your invitation to create curiosity and excitement about the unknown, and the kids will immediately be drawn into your activities- just to find out what it’s all about. Once engaged, good games will keep them that way and avoid problems for you.
Stay away from games that require any one child to ‘perform’ solo, such as charades. Some kids this age love being in the spotlight, but there’s usually one or two that start shaking the minute they realize what’s expected of them. That anxiety can cause the behavior to head south, create other behavioral problems in it’s wake, and then you have to step in as the bad guy. No Fun. Stick to all group activities.
Many parents believe the answer to those short attention spans and possible behavior problems is to spend a bunch and take the kids somewhere to do something. This party option is not only very expensive; it doesn’t really solve the problem. These places usually provide one activity over the duration of the party and these young kids have difficulty staying focused on that one activity for so long.
To see how best to structure a birthday party for this age group, take a look at the Survivor Party Games at the Birthday Party Games Lady website. Short, simple, silly games strung around a theme the kids find interesting and exciting. Team activities that incorporate simple challenges and keeps all the activities in a group framework.
I’ll be posting soon about the age factors you need to consider in planning birthday party games for older kids, so stay tuned. Or, check out the birthday party games for older kids.
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