Either a jungle birthday party or a safari theme party are terrific kids birthday party themes. And when it comes to animal, nothing beats National Geographic. And they’ve now provided you with both a craft and the props for a game at your next animals party.
On the linked page above, you’ll find almost 50 different animal outlines for your party guests to color. Print off as many as you’ll need and provide the crayons. Any birthday party craft like coloring makes a good activity for the kids while you’re waiting for everyone to arrive, or when you need a ‘settle them down’ break from the more active parts of your birthday party.
Here’s another way you can use these free animal printables for an actual birthday party game. Print off 2 each of 12 of the animals National Geographic offers on heavy paper like white card stock. Have your party guests color them in- one of each in the actual animals colors and the 2nd of each pair in crazy colors- like a red elephant with yellow polka dots or a purple and orange striped tiger. Those doing actual colors are Team 1 and the crazy color group is Team 2. For that matter, have them make all the animals in wacky colors since that’s probably more fun and just divide them into 2 teams.
Now you’ve got the game pieces for ‘Concentration’- to be played out on the floor. Arrange the pictures in a 6 x 4 grid, obviously with pairs separated, upside down on the floor. Taking turns, a member of each team will choose 2 cards from the grid to turn over- if the animals match they stay turned over, if they don’t match, turn them back over so the pictures aren’t visible. Continue until all the pairs have been matched up. Keep score for the teams if you want ( or not) and award a small team prize (or not).
This is the simplest of kids party crafts that also becomes a party game. Simple often works best with preschoolers and boys of even more advanced age. And all it costs you is a little ink and maybe a big box of crayons that you’ll then get to keep.
