Curious George Party- Games & Activities

The great part about this theme is that with such a large selection of books, you can make almost any activity tie in!  

We made photo copies of Curious George book covers to go along with the activites we had planned.  

After taping the image to a pinwheel, we stuck them in cleaned (labels removed) Starbuck's Frappaccino bottles to stand up.  

We glued an image of George to the front of the bottle, and stuffed it with blue tissue paper.

Some of the stations were organized activities, others were free play.

Here are the stations we had, along with the signs used (click on the link to see the image)

-Musical Instruments
sign: CG at the Parade or CG Parade Day
Have a basket of musical instruments- enough for each child to get one (tambourines, bells, drums, kazoos, etc.)  March around the yard with the birthday child leading the parade.

-Feeding/petting goats
sign: CG Feeds the Animals
Petting zoo with any animals you may own, or even stuffed animals.  We had goats for the children to pet & feed.

Feeding Goats

-Kite building
sign: CG Flies a Kite
Purchase blank kites and have children use sharpies to make their own design & color them.
A bit of advice- try putting them together ahead of time.  We somehow ended up with two different kinds of assembly, and they were a little bit tricky!

Kite Making

Flying Kites

Making Kites

-Pinata
sign: Curious George Pinata Party

Pinata

Pinata

-Tee Ball
sign: CG at the Baseball Game

Tee Ball

-Curious George Movie on TV 
sign: CG goes to a Movie

-Dress Up area 
sign: CG goes to a Costume Party
Get out all of those old Halloween costumes!
Make sure you have a variety of sizes for the children invited.

-Dinosaurs 
sign: CG Dinosaur Discovery or CG & the Dinosaur
Set up an area with plastic dinosaurs to play with.

Dinosaur Play Area

-Bowling 
sign: CG goes Bowling
You could set up any toy bowling set, but I found this really cute monkey bowling set!

-Train set 
sign: CG takes a Train or CG at the Railroad Station
Create a play area with wooden or plastic train sets.

-Sandbox 
sign: CG goes to the Beach

-Tumbling/climbing Area 
sign: image of CG doing a forward roll
Put out gym mats, crawling tunnels, and any climbing toys/equipment for children to play.

-Monkeying Around game
Use game as a centerpiece on the kids table.  If you have more than one table, other good ones to use would be Tumblin' Monkey game, or Barrel of Monkeys

Monkeying Around game in center of table

-Monkey Mouth game 
sign: CG Goes to the Dentist
I don't know if Discovery Toys still makes this game, but it's a cute concept where you take playdoh & make teeth for the plastic monkey.

-Storytime- Before lunch (pizza) we read "Curious George & the Pizza Parlor"
Other CG books were scattered around for reading.

More CG Books for kids to read

-Pin the Banana on George
Print  up bananas with each child's name.

Pin the Banana on George

-Limbo 

We used Giraffalaff Limbo game.

Below is the flow of our party.  
We were lucky that the weather was nice, so we could do many activities outside.  

As children arrived, they were able to do some of the indoor free play stations.

Dinosaurs
Monkey Mouth
Monkeying Around Game
Dress up

Storytime (CG and the Pizza Parlor)

Lunch

Go outside for activities:

        Kite Building

        Kite flying

        Parade- Musical Instruments

        March to Feed Goats

        Baseball 

Go inside for cake- sing Happy Birthday

Pin the Banana on George

Limbo

Pinata & outside free play

Free Play (outside)

Bowling
Tumbling / Jungle Gym
Sandbox
Trains

Additional game ideas:
Hide & Seek (CG Finds a Friend, CG Hide & Seek)
Seed/Flower Planting (CG plants a Seed or CG plants a tree)
Ride on vehicles/bikes (CG Rides a Bike)
Tent or smores making (CG goes Camping)
Scavenger Hunt (CG Lost & Found)
Elefun (image of CG with butterflies)
Finger Painting (image of CG with paint)
Musical Chairs
Paper bag monkey puppets
Monkey See / Monkey Do (aka Simon Says)
Monkeying Around ring toss
Monkey in the Middle
Hula Hoops
Bananagrams (for older siblings that might attend)
Curious George Bingo - get images of CG show characters and make into bingo cards
      I got pretty far into doing this, but then figured we wouldn't have enough time to play it.
Here's the sample I created...

 

More Curious George Book Titles (It might spark an idea for an activity that will work for you!)
CG and the Dog Show
CG at the Zoo
CG Builds a Home
CG Cleans Up
CG Tadpole Trouble
CG Takes a Trip
CG The Boat Show
CG The Donut Delivery
CG to the Rescue
CG and the Birthday Surprise
CG and the Dump Truck
CG and the Firefighters
CG and the Hot Air Balloon
CG and the Puppies
CG at the Aquarium
CG gets a Medal
CG goes to a Chocolate Factory
CG goes to the Hospital
CG in the Big City
CG in the Snow
CG Learns the Alphabet
CG makes Pancakes
CG Takes a Job
CG Visits a Toy Store
CG Visits the Library
CG Visits the Zoo
CG First Day of School


Related Posts:
Curious George Party Invitations & Decorations
Curious George Party Food & Goodies 

Added:  Here is the banana I used for the "Pin the Banana on George" game...

Curious George Party- Invitations & Decorations

DETAILS

This party was for a 3 year old boy.


INVITATIONS

We printed these out on 4x6 folding cards.

I found the gif files of Curious George here,
and incorporated it with a photo of the birthday boy.
He was originally swinging on a tire swing in the picture.



DECORATIONS

Driveway
-We have a signpost out front.  From it we hung a stuffed money holding a sign saying "Enter Here for Monkey Business" along with some yellow balloons.










All Around House
-Bunches of Bananas as balloon weights for blue & yellow balloons

Banana Balloon weights

-Blue & Yellow Streamers
-Yellow table cloths
-Curious George books on tables & window sills.
-Blue & Yellow "Happy Birthday" Banners

Books

Foyer

-Pinwheels in vase
-Monkey party hats
-Made a banana tree out of the newel post at the bottom of the stairs.
-Garland made from print-outs of Curious George book covers.
-Pin the banana on George game hanging on wall

Banana tree
(with two little monkeys sitting under it!)

In Family Room

-"Monkeys at Play" sign hanging in family room doorway.
-Stuffed Curious George in red wagon, holding kite that was strung from the ceiling.  As guests arrived, we placed the gifts in & around the wagon.
- Kid size tables & chairs with yellow table cloths.
-Sombrero hat, spray painted yellow.
-Play stations were marked with signs with related Curious George book covers.  I glued the cover art to a pinwheel stick.  Then took a Starbuck's bottle and stuffed some blue tissue paper in it, and glued an image of George for the label.   I stuck the pinwheel with sign into the bottle, and put one at each station.  (More on the play stations coming soon in my "Games & Activities" post!)  

Sign at the Family Room entrance

Play station signs

More Ideas

-palm fronds or banana tree leaves taped to ceiling fans, with brown streamers hanging down from center to make trees.

-Use yellow paper cups & plates to make "yellow hat" centerpieces.  See example here

Related Links:
Curious George Party Games & Activities
Curious George Party Food & Goodies

Knight Party- Food & Goodies

FOOD

The party was in the middle of the day- we were serving lunch.

The table was set as a Knights' Feast... with "gold" plates and goblets.  All food was served on silver & pewter platters.  Napkins had knights on them.

White Castle Burgers- I thought the "castle" tied in nicely :)  We bought two "Craver Cases" and served them arranged in their castle boxes on a tiered silver tray.

Chicken Wings- because all knights eat with their hands, right?

Fruit Kebobs with vanilla Greek yogurt dip- because knights will also eat anything on a stick!  (This went faster than anything else!)

Cheese & crackers- with sword toothpicks

Dragon Claws (aka Bugle chips)

Cupcakes- with Knight toppers

DRINK

For the kiddos:

Dragon Juice (aka Melon flavored Gatorade... thought any green "juice" would do)- served in a fancy punch bowl.  This was a big hit!

Apple Cider

For the Adults:

Wine- Castle Rock, Hess (has Gryffindor on label), Barbera D'Asti (has knight on label)

Beer- New Castle, Wee Heavy (has castle on label), Blithering Idiot (has jester on label)

Hot Apple Cider

Coffee

Soda

 

GOODY BAGS

 I got the bags from Meri Meri.

We stuffed them with:
Knight Paper Dolls- (see the "How To" below!)
Knight figurines
Dragon Gliders
Gold Coins

The kids also got to take home their costume, shield and balloon sword.

 How To: Knight Paper Dolls

I found this Knight Paper Doll Book when we were on vacation in Mystic, CT.

Buying one book for each kid seemed excessive, so we decided to give each child one knight, 2 outfits, 1 shield, and 4 weapons.

The book only came with 2 knights, so I photocopied the couple extra I needed on card stock.

Since the kids were ages 3-5, cutting them out would have been really frustrating (heck- it was frustrating for me!!!)

So I did the cutting ahead of time, but needed a way to keep them nicely together.
I created these little "bags" to package them in, using this tutorial for guidance.

I used the cover of the book on the front (so parents would know where to get more if they wished!)



My hubby was impressed- he thought the little packages were store bought!  hee hee!

PLAYLIST

Songs to consider for background music...

The Grand Olde Duke of York- 50 All-time Children's Favorites, vol. 1

Puff the Magic Dragon- Peter, Paul & Mary

We're Knights- The Backyardigans, Born to Play

The Ballad of the Brave Pink Knight- Backyardigans Groove to the Music

Dragon Mountain- The Backyardigans, Born to Play

A Challenge- The Backyardigans, Born to Play

I Just Can't Wait to be King- Lion King Soundtrack

Medieval Dances- Medieval & Renaissance Music

Sticks & Stone- How to Train your Dragon Soundtrack

December 1963 (Oh What a Night)- The Four Seasons

Rain King- Counting Crows

It's Good to be King- Tom Petty

OTHER IDEAS 

Things I've found after-the-fact, that I would have liked to use!
(isn't that always the way?)

Fairy Tale Finger Puppets

Medieval Rubber Duckies
Knight Garland

Knight Party- Games & Activities

GAMES & ACTIVITIES

-Shield making- we assembled the shields ahead of time, so the children were able to get to work decorating them with markers, stickers, gluing cut out pictures (printed some from this website), and stick-on gems.

Shield Making Supplies

Completed shields

-Get dressed in armor Tunic, helmet, and choosing their balloon sword.

Knight Costume

Going to storm the "castle" (playset)

Selection of Balloon Swords

-Pony rides- hired local pony to give children rides for an hour.  We took photos of each child in their Knight Costume riding the pony.

-Knight Tattoos- as children were waiting for their pony ride, they could chose a temporary tattoo.  We set up a kid-size chair and table as the tattoo station, and had goblets with water & sponges for applying the tattoos.

Tattoo station

-Storm the Castle- While waiting for their pony ride, the children could also play on the playset that we decorated as a castle.

-Dragon Tail Tag- Children stood in line with hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them.  The first child in the line had a dragon hat on, the last child had a green flag tucked into their back pocket or waistband of their pants.  The dragon head had to try to catch the dragon tail.

-Knight's Challenge- We set up two teams.  Each knight took a turn getting on the stick pony, grabbing their joust (a pool noodle cut in half, and white tape used to make spiral design) and running across the field, jumping over a paper moat (complete with fake alligators), to slay a toy dragon that was sitting on top of a wash basket.  Then the Knight had to rescue the princess doll that was trapped under the basket & return to the starting line.
We set this up with each team being across the field from the other, so that as one team returned with the princess, we had an adult assigned to stick it back under the other team's wash basket so it would be set up for the next brave knight to arrive!

Knight's Challenge supplies (x2)

Placed teams across from each other for ease of
the "reset" for the next knight.

-Story time- we read The Knight and The Dragon as the children ate their lunch.  There were other books on hand for the kids to browse if they finished lunch earlier than the rest.

-Pin the Sword/Shield on the Knight

-Find the Chalice- Split children into two teams. Played like capture the flag, but with silver goblets instead (the same ones used for holding the tattoo water/sponges earlier).  Each team hides their chalice and then they try to find the chalice of the other team.

-Slay the Dragon Pinata- we used a wooden sword (painted gold) to hit the pinata.


Additional game ideas:
Pin the tail on the Dragon
Sword in the Stone- place some cut out swords inside gray balloons and then inflate.  Kids get to pop the balloons and get a reward if they find a sword.

Related Posts:
Knight Party- Invitations & Decorations
How to Make Armor Tunics
Knight Party- Food & Goodies