Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Bee My Valentine Class party {activities}


The way our school has done class parties in the past are only about an hour long and the kids get divided into groups and then rotate around to different stations were they play a game or make a craft. I figured that I would just stick with what they know and came up with 5 different rotation activities for them to enjoy, all staying with the Bee theme of course :)
I am going to try and keep this post not too long, so some of the descriptions are brief and hope they make sense.
#1 Antenna Assembly - craft
 For this craft the kids are making little antenna headbands to wear as they buzz around the party!
Cut a large piece of cardstock in half (I did yellow for the boys and pink for the girls). Let the kids decorate their papers with crayons, markers, stickers, etc. Measure the kids head and staple the pieces together. Then punch 2 holes in the front side and thread black pipe cleaners through. Glue some colorful pom poms on the ends and done!
 
#2 Pin the Bee on the Hive - game
This one is pretty self explanatory... I enlarged Bird's printable Beehive and cut out some small bees and attached some poster putty on the back to make them stick. 
This game isn't very long, so during this rotation the kids are also going to pass out their valentines to the other classmates boxes.  
#3 Buzzy Bee Valentine - craft
I found this cute little idea via pinterest 
What you need per bee: 2 googly eyes, 1 black pipe cleaner (folded in half), an oval piece of construction paper for the body, 2 matching long strips for the legs, 2 shorter ones for the arms, 3 black strips for the stripes, 2 small red hears, 1 large white heart (cut in half for the wings), glue, crayons or markers to decorate. 
*Have everything pre-cut to save time and make it easier for the kids to assemble. We did yellow for the boys and pink for the girls. 
 #4 Heart Hive Tower Stack - game
For this game you just get a couple of bags of large conversation hearts. Go around the table and each kid stacks one heart on top of each other at a time, trying to build it as high as they can without knocking it over (kind of like Jenga in a way). When it falls over, just start again trying to build your Heart Hive taller each time!
#5 Pollen Pong - game
I also found this game via pinterest and thought that the kids would go wild for it!
For this activity take 2 different colors of paper plates and glue a jumbo Popsicle stick or tongue depressor on the back to make a paddle, decorate with a flower. Then blow up a large balloon and draw a Bumble Bee on it with a marker. 
To play: Hit the Bee with your flower paddle back and forth (collecting pollen) trying not to let it touch the floor before it gets to every flower.
 Well that is it for the activity portion. The class party again is only about an hour long, so each rotation will be about 10 minutes long and then another 10 minutes at the end for treats and refreshments. I hope you all enjoyed these posts and gives you some ideas for your own Bee Mine celebration! Again don't forget to stop by Bird's Party for your set of Bee My Valentine printables today!

Bee Mine Valentine Class Party {treats}

This year I was asked by my son's first grade teacher to organize and put together their Valentine Class Party. This is the first time I have been in charge of one, but have helped out before many times before, so I was ecstatic to do it!
After searching the net for some ideas I can across these absolutely adorable printables from Bird's Party that were perfect for so many reasons!
First off they are free! You can't beat that! They are great for all ages, and not too girly so boys can enjoy them too. Last my son's school mascot is a Bee/Hornet :)
Once I had my theme I started thinking of the treats, that is always my favorite part. For the center of the table I made a cupcake hive (tutorial found here) designed to match Bird's graphics. 
Then I filled the hive with pink pastel iced cupcakes topped with their matching topper printables, just too cute!
Along with cupcakes Pink Lemonade to drink.

I wanted to create a special treat for the teacher as well. So I got a small vase and filled it with pink sixlets and made some lolllipop flowers.
Last for the a cute little take home favor I got some gumball tubes and filled them with alternating layers of pink and black gumballs with a cute little 'Bumble Gum' label.
That is it for the treats for the party, keeping it light since they will also be getting lots of valentines from their classmates :) Be sure to check out the next post for all the activities too!