Winter Games for Kids Parties

A snowy winter can be a great time to throw kids a party.winter image by Manfred Sutor from Fotolia.com

One of the defining parts of winter is snow. Whether wet, powdery, compacted or iced over, snow is an icon of the season. Winter is a great time for kids' parties because of the many holidays grouped so closely together, add to this the many winter birthdays and you will likely need to entertain children at some point in the season. There are many fun games you can play at children's parties using the snow around you and a few basic items.

Snowball Throwing Contest

Snowballs are fun, free and safe for children. Rather than throwing snowballs at each other, have your kids practice their accuracy on a snowball throwing range. Stomp down and flatten a circular patch of snow so that it is level. Then you take several spray bottles filled with water and different food colorings and spray these in rings radiating out from the center, like a dart board. Assign point values to each ring and have the kids throw the snowballs in order to score.

This is a fun game that emulates snowball throwing indoors, for those who don't have snow or like to stay warm. First fill up several white balloons with air, the more kids playing, the more balloons you're going to need. Stretch a white sheet and fasten it to chairs or floor lamps to construct a wall between two groups of children. This is the mountain. Let the kids enjoy trying to slap the balloons over the top of the sheet to hit each other.

This game is the wintertime equivalent to finding the proverbial "needle in a haystack." All you need is a watch, stick and white cloth. Tie the stick to the cloth and have the children take turns hiding it. You can have one child hiding it while the others stay indoors to deepen the mystery. Let the kids loose, and time how long it takes for the flag to be found. The kid who hid the hardest to find flag wins.