Are you Clowns doing Kid's Birthday parties? Do you need some ideas for games and fun?

        SKITS for a young Audience  Food Ideas PAPER MACHE

Activities For Party Clowns

• Finger Painting

• Play Dough

• Paper Mache

• Games

• Hat making Paper, Plates and tidbits of ribbon etc

• Paper Airplanes

• Magic Show

• Skits

• Dancing

• Balloon Animals

• Kite making and flying

• Puppet making and show

• Treasure Hunt

• Scavenger Hunt

• Dress up

• Ceramic painting (check your local retailer)

Game Ideas

• Pin The Tail on the Donkey

• Drop the clothes bin in the bottle

• Race the Orange on the spoon

• Dress Up Relay

• Pinatas (filled with candy, make a paper Mache one)

• wheel barrel races

• MUSICAL CHAIRS

• HOT potato

• Simon Says

• duck duck goose

• Mother may I

• Statues

• Farmer in the Dell

• Follow the Leader

• Pass the Hat

Finger Paint

Recipe:

1 part tempera color (art supplies or department store)

1 part Liquid Laundry Starch

*If you do not have tempera color use food coloring

*If you do not have laundry starch use cornstarch (cooked and cooled)

Mix until creamy.

Let the kids use their hands or sponges, cut potatoes, stamps, forks, gadgets, etc.Kids can splash their paint on then blow the paint with a straw.

IDEA** get a roll of newsprint from your local newspaper and roll outside. put fingerpaint or tempera paint in pans and let the kids step in with their feet. Put some music on and have them dance on the paper. Clean up with the hose. Have them sign their name on their feet.

Play Dough

(keep in plastic or covered)

Recipe:

2 Part Flour

1 Part salt

Food coloring

water

Mix flour and salt

Mix water and food coloring

Pour water mixture into the flour a little at a time and knead thoroughly

*add only enough water for a clay consistency

Store in closed container in the fridge.

Paper Mache (masks, dolls, figurines, puppets, props etc)

Paper mache projects can be adapted for any age child and fits in well with the clown theme if you make puppets or masks. There a lots of ways to make Paper mache which can be very cheap. You may have to experiment with trial and error for your own preference. Paper mache is easy to work with, especially for kids and can be quite durable. You can paint and lacquer your finished product. You can make simple masks or very large props.

• You may prefer to buy pre-mixed paper 'pulp' from an art supply store. The pulp is similar to a clay. This of course can be costly but is usually fool proof but does not lend itself to really big projects. Easily dried in the oven at 150 degrees Fahrenheit.(65 Celsius)

• You may make a paper 'pulp' by spending the time to strip newspaper into tiny pieces to make your pulp..follow instructions bellow

• You may leave your paper larger and use glue (not a true paper mache method, but it works) alternatively, paper, then glue, then paper etc. over a balloon or other molding prop

• You may make very large projects using chicken wire for your frame and cover it with large pieces of newspaper and glue, then finish it off with the pulp for detail. Let it dry as you go along.

METHOD ONE - covering a large area

• Use one of the three pastes bellow and 'dip' your paper  strips into the paste then place over your balloon or frame (boxes, bottles, margarine containers etc) You may also use straight white glue.

• Keep layering until you have 4-5 layers, or more if you wish. You may have to let them dry as you go along.

• use chicken wire, or lighter gauge wire from a farm supply store for your frame for large projects. If need be make a wood frame, use hangers, plastic sheets or anything you can to make a frame to cover.

• Use the pulp below like clay to cover your project if you want further detail

Making your own Pulp - STEP ONE

• Tear old newspapers into tiny pieces about 1 inch. Fill your bucket. dampen with warm water and leave over night.

• Squeeze out excess water. ADD paper mache PASTE

• There are many different 'Paper Mache recipes' for the 'paste' that you can use to make your pulp. Make one of these pastes and add to your strips of paper. Here 3 different ones you can try.

1 part

Wallpaper paste

2 parts

White Glue

•  Squish out excess water and add your paste, working it into the paper till it feels like a clay. You may have to add more paper to get the consistency just right. Really work it well. Use your hands and squish it to a clay consistency. FINISHED. Keep in plastic until you use it.
• Apply your paper mache pulp (glue and paper mixed) to your project. If it becomes dry use a spray bottle to moisten. When dry you can soften edges using a file or sand paper.
• Paint your finished project, You can use water colors but the best paint to use is acrylics. They dry quickly but you can dilute with water. Also you can use water for cleaning brushes etc. You can also cover the dry painted project with a coating
• NOTE: you can use the paper mache 'clay' to make all kinds of figurines etc without use frames or molds. If you like, you use pipe cleaners, straws, twisted paper, toilet paper rolls, buttons, bottles, cans for frames for very small projects. You can have the kids put the clay over the 'frames' and add wool for hair, macaroni, cloth, etc for finishing touches. Use plastid cutlery, chopsticks, toothpicks etc for molding tools. Dry your figure or sculpture in the oven at 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Then paint.

Food Ideas

Tortillas are a great way to personalize and suite every child's taste. You can even satisfy the vegetarian and the fussy.

• Set out bowls of 'toppings' - jam, bananas, ham, pineapple,  tomato sauce, cold cuts, apple sauce, sprinkle cinnamon, sprinkle candy, lettuce, diced tomatoes grated cheese etc. be creative.

• brown one side, then turn and while the other side is browning have the child (supervised) choose his toppings and spread on one half of the tortilla.

• Flip the tortilla in half

• for fun, if you have a good fry pan, sprinkle grated cheese on the pan BEFORE you place the tortilla in the pan. delicious!

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Tacos is another fun food idea. You can include a variety of toppings, place on the table and let each child make their own.