Activity ideas
Piñata – sweet whacking fun!
Having a piñata at your Big Summer DO is a great way to provide decoration and entertainment
all in one. There’s no need to go out and buy a piñata though - follow these simple steps and
you can build your own. You may find that children have as much fun helping to make them as
they do trying to break them!
What you’ll need:
- Balloon (bigger the better).
- Lots of newspaper, cut into strips.
- PVA glue.
- Wrapped sweets to fill the piñata.
-Paint.
- Tissue paper and other decorations.
-String/ribbon.
- Rolled up newspaper or long cardboard roll.
-Blindfold.
1 Blow up a balloon (different size/shape
balloons could work well).
2Using the strips of newspaper and PVA glue,
coat the balloon.
3Leave to dry and add another layer of
newspaper strips. Repeat this 3 or 4 times,
allowing each layer to dry before adding
another.
4Once completely dry, you can decorate the
piñata using paint, strips of tissue paper and
anything else you can get your hands on –
from sequins to pom-poms.
7To hang the piñata, punch two small holes
around the main hole at the top. Tie a string
or ribbon through the holes to create a loop.
8Cover the main hole by gluing down some
paper on top, or use masking tape.
9You’re now ready to hang the piñata on a
tree or somewhere else suitable outside.
10Take it in turns to be blindfolded and use the
rolled up newspaper to hit the piñata to try
to release all the goodies!
5 Once completely dry and set, pop
the balloon.
6At the top of the piñata/balloon, make a
small hole and put the sweets inside –
you can also put streamers and any other
surprises in too!
Charity Registration No. 221124
Photograph © Shutterstock
A better childhood. For every child.
www.childrenssociety.org.uk
The best obstacle course ever!
Crawling through tunnels, jumping through hoops, weaving between trees – can you remember
what obstacles you created when you were younger?
Get everyone involved in coming up with 4 or 5 obstacles that can be set-up. Have lots of fun
competing against each other to see who can overcome all the obstacles in the quickest time.
Obstacle ideas:
-Fill up a cup of water from a bucket and balance the full cup on
a plate whilst walking/running to the next obstacle. If your cup
spills over, you have to go back to the bucket and start again!
-Find a broom handle which people have to place their head on
and run round 10 times – anyone dizzy yet?!
- Layout an old blanket or bed sheet and crawl underneath it.
-Get everyone to put their shoes in a big heap and then race
to find your shoes and put them on, before moving on to the
next obstacle.
-Set up a tin can alley using old food cans and a tennis ball –
only once you’ve knocked them all down can you move on.
-Add a space hopper race in there or if you don’t have a space
hopper, hop on one foot whilst balancing something on
your head.
-Hide small sweets in a bowl of flour and you have to pick up
a sweet just using your mouth – no hands allowed!
-Why not make the final obstacle a bit interesting by having
to pop a water balloon over your head!
Charity Registration No. 221124
Photograph © Shutterstock
A better childhood. For every child.
www.childrenssociety.org.uk
Campfire fun
There’s nothing quite like sitting around a campfire with your loved
ones – the smells, the crackles, the dancing flames and of course
the singing!
Here are some suggestions for a Big Summer DO campfire to remember:
Food
Songs
- Slide a hotdog on a clean stick and cook over
the flames.
- If you’re happy and you know it.
-Roast marshmallows on skewers then squash
between two biscuits before eating – yum!
- Going on a lion hunt.
-Make a pineapple and banana kebab and roast
over the flames for a lovely smoky taste.
- Three little angels.
Ask for donations to roast the foods over the
open fire.
- Alice the camel.
- There’s a hole in my bucket.
- You’ll never go to heaven.
- This little light of mine.
- Kum ba yah.
Games
Mrs Mumbles – one person starts by turning to the person on their right and saying “hello, I’m
looking for Mrs Mumbles, can you tell me where Mrs Mumbles is?” This person responds by
turning to the person on their right and repeating this question. However, they mustn’t laugh
nor show their teeth whilst they say this, if they do, they are out!
Story writers – create your own story as a group. One person starts by saying just one word, the
person to their right adds to this sentence by saying another word and it continues around the
circle until a sentence is made. You can say ‘full stop’ to start a new sentence and continue until
you’ve created a master piece!
Linking game – Someone starts by saying a word such as ‘dog’ then the person next to them has
to say a word associated with this which hasn’t previously been used e.g ‘bone’. This continues
around the circle and you are ‘out’ when you take more than a few seconds to say a word, if the
word has already been said, or if others agree the word has no association!
Song words- someone has to pick a word then everyone else has to think of a song with that
word in and sing it. For example, someone might pick the word ‘rock’ and someone might then
start singing “we will, we will, rock you!”
You could make these games interesting by asking people to make a donation when they make
a mistake! You could also introduce ‘banned words’ which if someone says during the event,
they have to donate. These words could perhaps be guests’ names.
Charity Registration No. 221124
Photograph © Shutterstock
A better childhood. For every child.
www.childrenssociety.org.uk
Make giant bubbles
What you’ll need:
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2 long sticks e.g bamboo sticks.
String (thick).
Large bucket or small paddling pool.
250ml washing up liquid.
250ml glycerol or glycerine (can be purchased from pharmacies).
4 litres of water.
1Make the bubble wand by cutting a long
piece of string around 1 metre and tying
each end to the top of each stick.
It takes quite a few times to get the hang of it,
but once you figure it out, there are hours of
fun to be had!
2Cut a slightly shorter piece of string and tie
each end to the 2 ends of the longer piece.
You may have to tweak the bubble solution and
the lengths of the string to get it just right.
3Make the bubble solution by mixing the
water, washing up liquid and glycerol.
Why not ask for a £1 donation for 10 minutes
of giant bubble fun?
4Create huge bubbles: Take your bucket
outside, put the end of the sticks in the
bucket so the string is submerged. Slowly
bring the sticks out of the bucket and then
separate the sticks so the string makes a
triangle. Step backward quickly so that the
air goes through the bubble solution
between the dowels and makes a bubble.
Charity Registration No. 221124
Photograph © Shutterstock
A better childhood. For every child.
www.childrenssociety.org.uk
Scavenger hunt
Scavenger hunts are very popular games for children and will make
a great addition to any Big Summer DO. Why not get the adults out
scavenging too!
Just create a list of things they need to find. This can be done in
groups, pairs or individually.
You could charge £1 per person to take part and have a prize
such as a cinema voucher.
Set a time limit and the team or individual who has found the most
number of things on that list within that time wins.
Here’s some suggestions:
- Chewing gum.
-Dandelion.
-Feather.
- A 2p piece from the year 2000.
- Leaf larger than a playing card.
- Something purple.
- Piece of bark.
- Something alive.
- Twig shaped like a ‘Y’.
- Something a bird would eat.
- Something beginning with ‘Q’.
Be as creative as you like!
Maybe throw a super hard one in there which warrants a special prize e.g 4 leaf clover,
stone shaped like a heart or perhaps an object from the year they were born.
Charity Registration No. 221124
Photograph © The Children’s Society
A better childhood. For every child.
www.childrenssociety.org.uk