Games and Activities

When the guests enter, greet them with the sounds of the forest from the soundtrack to one of the Pooh movies, or play any one of the many Pooh albums.

Have a jar of yellow and black jellybeans next to a piece of paper and pencil. Have each child sign his or her name and guess how many “bees” are in the jar. (If the children have yet to learn how to sign their name, have them make a mark with a crayon.) The child with the closest guess gets to take the jar of jellybeans home at the end of the party.

While the kids wait for everyone to arrive, have them make a few thematic crafts to take home with them:

Decorate a Bear. Cut out bear shapes from construction paper, felt, or foam. Set up the crayons, stickers and other decorating items on a table with the bear shapes. As guests arrive, have them sit around the table and decorate their very own bears. For an add-on: attach magnets to the back of each decorated bear to make refrigerator magnets.

Pooh Bear Clay. Use 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup powdered milk, and 1 tablespoon honey (optional). Mix ingredients together in a bowl and add more powdered milk to make dough stiffer. Give each guest some dough to play with by sculpting, squishing, and squashing. If you have a bear cookie cutter available, that will add to the fun. Since this clay is edible, there are no worries if the children stick some of it in their mouths. Make sure none of the party guests have nut allergies.

Pin the Tail on Tigger. A classic pin-the-tail game, just with a Tigger twist. You will need: a Tigger poster or picture, orange felt, scissors, tape or spray glue, and a blindfold. Cut the orange felt with scissors into tail shapes. Place tape, or spray glue on the tails so they stick. (If using spray glue, let them dry sticky side up.)

Piglet, Piglet, Eeyore! This is a variation on the classic duck, duck, goose game. Have everyone sit in a circle. The birthday child begins by walking around the circle tapping each guest’s head lightly while saying, “Piglet.” When the birthday child says, “Eeyore” the child whose head has just been tapped must jump up and chase the birthday child around the circle. If the birthday child gets all the way around and sits in the empty space without being tagged, then the “Eeyore” becomes “it.”

Story Time with Pooh. Have all the children sit together and listen as you read to them a popular Pooh story. For added entertainment, have another party host pantomime some of the story as you are reading. Consider turning one of the easy stories into a puppet show. Go behind a couch and use different Pooh characters to tell the story. Finger puppets are easy to create by gluing or stapling colored pieces of felt.

Tigger’s Bouncing Parade. Have everyone line up and hand out musical instruments like tambourines, tom-toms, bells, and anything else in the house that makes music. Turn on some music for “inspiration,” so the children can play along with the music. Have the leader start bouncing around the room, with everyone else following. The leader could be the birthday child, or the host of the party. When the music is turned off, the parade is complete.

Pooh Bubble Contest. Have everyone sit in a circle and have one party host armed with a ruler. Everyone must start making bubbles with a bubble mix. The host then runs around measuring the bubbles to find the largest.