For the "Oympics events" portion of Adley's birthday party, we divided the kids into two groups, an easy boy/girl division. Jason stuck with the group outside, and I did the indoor events. The first outdoor event was ski jump. Jason had the kids jump off our basketball hoop base and even challenged them to do fancy moves or twists on latter jumps.
Jason then led slalom skiing, which he creatively modified to a plasma car weaving-through-the-cones event. It was perfect!
The last outdoor event was hockey. Jason had the kids use a hockey stick to hit a ball through two cones. The kids had a great time with this.
Inside, we started with the biathlon. The kids began the event by "skating" with washcloths across our floor.
Then, Cody helped the kids shoot a Nerf gun at two targets, attempting to knock both targets off the bench.
Next up was curling. The kids slid bean bags onto a floor target and tried to rack up points by getting their bean bag close to the center.
The last indoor event was a popular one-- bobsledding! We made sure the kids knew not to try this one at home without adult supervision! ;)
Once both groups had done all of these events, we combined the boys and girls again for a pairs figure skating activity. We let the kids join up with a partner and do an improv dancing/skating routine to their choice of fast or slow music. This was so cute to watch!
Then, I read the story Olympig to the kids. The book has a great lesson about perseverance and maintaining a good attitude, even when athletics don't go the way you expect.
Our last group activity involved rolling two dice-- one which had images of various Olypmic events and the other which said "fast, slow, or medium." The kids took turns rolling the dice, and we all acted out each event at whichever speed was rolled. Not surprisingly, the kids especially loved moving in "super fast" mode!
We ended our Olympic games with a closing ceremony, announcing the kids' names and awarding them a gold medal for an event in which we thought they did particularly well.
After all of the events, these kids worked up an appetite! We served them a dinner of pizza, fruit, and veggies.
Adley's sweet friend Katherine was a little shy during most of the party and didn't participate in many of the events. At least we captured a photo of her enjoying her pizza! :)
Big brothers Cody and Jaden were awesome helpers throughout the party, so they got some well-deserved pizza too!
We closed out the party with cake, ice cream, and presents for the birthday girl!
Happy Birthday, dear Adley! We sure love you!
