Games and Activities
Face Painting. When the kids arrive to the party, paint jaguar faces onto each party guest. Paint whiskers, noses, ears, and spots on their faces to get them into the mood of the party.
Paper Snake Twist. While the kids wait for all of the guests to arrive, have them create one large paper snake. Have pre-cut pieces of green heavy cardstock available for the kids to decorate using craft materials. When all guests have arrived and completed their part of the snake, use glue or staple the paper snake together to make one long slithering snake. Once completed, take a jungle tour with the paper snake throughout the party area. Have the birthday child lead the group. The paper snake is a wonderful memento from the party ─ make sure all of the party guests sign the snake and give him a name!
Rescue Pack Charades. Before the party, with your birthday child, think of all of the different animals that could be rescued by Diego. Using a backpack, place slips of paper with the names of the animals on them into the bag for the kids to draw. Each guest must draw an animal name from the Rescue Pack and act out for the rest of the guests to guess.
Musical Rescue Pack. Stuff a small backpack full of Diego’s observation tools, e.g. a small magnifying glass, small notebook, pencils, binoculars, etc. Have the kids sit in a circle and pass the Rescue Pack to music. When the music stops, the person holding the pack is out. The last person in the circle wins the Rescue Pack!
Centipede Relay Race. Divide the kids into two teams and have them place their arms around the team member in front of them. Set up a small obstacle course, or simple points around the party area, and have the teams move through the course without removing their arms from around each other. First team done wins. If a team breaks apart, the team must begin again.
Other Animal Relay Races. Keep the same two teams, and have the kids race from one end of the room and back to the line doing a crab walk, a bear walk, and a snake crawl.
Act Out the Animal. Find or create pictures of animals (elephant, chimp, gorilla, jaguar, etc.) and pass out the pictures to each of your guests. Make sure at least three kids have the same animal pictures. Tell the children not to show anyone else what animal they have and each person acts out what animal he or she is. As they act out, the kids should watch to see who is acting similarly. The kids that have the same animal should find each other. First group to figure out who all their team members are – wins.
Spanish Name Game. Choose several different animals and write their names in Spanish on small slips of paper. Have enough slips to match the number of kids attending your party. Each person chooses an animal, reads the Spanish name, and then acts out the animal, and the rest of the kids must guess the animal. You can play this as a team or individually. Whoever guesses the most Spanish names correctly, wins!
A Diego Rescue Mission. Send the kids on an Adventure Mission! Gather up your stuffed and plastic animals around your home and place them into dangerous spots that the kids must rescue them from. As an example, place an alligator stuck behind a rock in a small pool of water, hang a stuffed bear by one paw from the ceiling about to drop, a snake may be slithering through the kitchen into the cookie jar, etc. The kids must take turns rescuing all of the animals as they find them around their home. You can provide the rescuers with a few tools to help their mission, e.g. magnifying glass, binoculars, rope, child-friendly scissors, etc. This mission can have as many stops as you like for your guests.
