Ahhh…the old days when I used to perform at children’s birthday parties!
Fond, faded memories of good times gone by!
Even though you can’t book Boca Beth for your child’s next special celebration of life, you can get so close to the next best thing by using the following party sheet I used to send out ahead of time:
Fiesta Time with Boca Beth
www.bocabeth.com
· FOOD
Based on the age of children in attendance Boca Beth recommends the following:
Salsa and chips.
Big Fritos with sour cream, chili & cheese and/or guacamole for dipping.
Make your own taco station complete with meats (chicken or beef), tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, taco sauce and shells.
Flan, dulce de leche ice cream, Tres Leches cake (available in many flaors these days) or galletas/cookies from a local Spanish grocery store.
· CRAFTS
Have the children make their own Mexican ponchos out of large brown grocery bags with paints, sequins, beads, feathers, foam shapes, etc to decorate.
Maracas can easily be made with two paper plates stapled together (adult supervision required), popsicle stick as the handle and rice, pasta or beans as the noise filler – children decorate the outside of the plates prior to assembly.
· MUSIC & GAMES
Guessing Cup Game (PreK – elementary) This can be played with three non-see-through cups placed upside down over three individual objects (a blue, a red and a green plastic fruit from the kids’ play kitchen at home for example). Play the color song from “My First Songs in Spanish” Boca Beth CD first to have fun playing and learning about Spanish words for colors. Use props from the Dollar Store for interactive fun that show the seven (7) colors. This makes the song even more interesting if you can match the color with the animal name and elaborate on it a little more during the music. Allow the children to hold the props as they say the color word correctly in both Spanish and English without shouting (guide them in saying “Please, don’t shout/Por favor, no grita”). The children begin to get competitive during this song in order to be one of the chosen ones to hold a prop, but if you stick to your rule of no shouting – they will catch on that you mean it and will stop the unnecessary noise. After the song draw their attention to the cups and have the children sit nicely around the game area so that all children can see the cups as you mix them around for a few seconds quickly asking them to keep their eye on red (or blue or green) – trying to trick the kids. Then ask for a volunteer to raise their hand to pick where red is. Play again and again!
Where Are Ricardo’s Fruits? A fun game for children ages 2-8 using a puppet named “Ricardo” who you tell the children loves to eat fruits! Using plastic fruits from the children’s play kitchen area have a bowl of fruits for this game. Ask the children to look at the fruit and name the color in Spanish and English. Have them chant with you “Rojo is red! Rojo is red! Rojo is red!” Then pretend to start Ricardo’s engine like a car and say “Vroom – Vroom … ¡Mira! Watch!” and have Ricardo pretend to eat the yellow banana or red strawberry or purple grapes and chant “Ricardo eats rojo! Ricardo eats red!” laughing and being so amazed by it. Then have a child take the red fruit and hide it so Ricardo cannot see it. Do this again and again for many fruits so that many children have a chance to hide a fruit from Ricardo. Then ask at the end of the game “Where is Ricardo’s red strawberry? ¿Donde está la fresa roja?” (or if you don’t speak a lot of Spanish just ask where is Ricardo’s rojo? Just a little reinforcement will work just fine!) The children love telling on each other as far as who is hiding what where! A great game for Spanish word repetition and just plain fun!
Happy Educating! ¡Sea feliz educando!
Boca Beth
P.S. (Tomorrow we will share with you the Cup Game and the Ricardo Fruit Game via YouTube videos you can watch again & again & again & again…………………….)
Tags: bilingual birthday party fun, birthday party ideas, boca beth birthday party, spanish for kids
