25 Best Birthday Party Activities for Children

I’ve been sharing children/s birthday party ideas for over a decade, and I’ve come across tons of fun birthday party activities for kids. So if you’re planning your child’s birthday party, come along… I’ve got just the activity for you!

A word on selecting the best party activity for your child’s birthday party. You know your child best. And you want your child’s birthday party to be fun. But here are a few things to remember when picking out a game or activity for the party.

• Age of the Children – Keep in mind the ages of the party guests and select an activity suited for that age group. Younger children (2-4) will need parental help for arts and crafts activities. Older children (6+) have a lot of energy to burn off so stick to activities like backyard tag and anything that lets them run!
• Weather – You can’t predict the weather but try to always keep it in mind and prepare a rain plan!
• Your Child’s Interests – You might envision the perfect birthday party activity but try to choose a game or activity that you know your birthday girl or birthday boy will love!
• Helping Hands – Some activities are naturally more messy than others. Arts and crafts? Consider having a few extra parents on hand to help along and perhaps having smocks or large t-shirts to avoid messy clothes.

Now let’s get to the fun part! All the best birthday activities for children! Some of these kids’ birthday party ideas are naturally geared towards boys and some more towards girls but many of these are perfect for mixed gender parties with boys and girls!

Kids Birthday Party Ideas: Activities

Gardening: Planting a Mini Garden Activity

Kids love to get their hands dirty (with cute gardening gloves from the dollar store, of course) so why not let them each create their own little garden to take home?

I love kid’s birthday party activities that double as a take-home favor too! Just buy a few different flats of flowers and let each child select a handful and plant them in soil. They can learn all about caring for their garden too!

Build a Fairy Garden

Take the garden one step further and let each child create their own enchanted fairy garden! Visit the dollar store for gems, pebbles, mini bird houses to use as “fairy houses”, and paint for them to decorate their house.

See more of this Enchanted Fairy Garden Party here! I go into more detail all about how we created this cute birthday party activity!

Decorating Cakes

If you have little ones that LOVE to help in the kitchen and love arts and crafts, let them “paint cakes” with edible food-safe paints. You can pick a few different colors, grab some sponges and paint brushes and let them paint!

Read more about how to paint cakes!

Princess Academy

I absolutely LOVE this party activity for girls! A princess party is one of the most popular birthday party themes, so read on if you’re hosting a princess party!

I had my mom act as the “fairy godmother” to my daughter and her friends at her Princess Party. She read all the little girls a princess book, taught them how to sit like a princess, tea party table etiquette, wave and walk like a princess and a princess curtsy!

Each little girl had a ball earning her very own certificate of completion from princess academy!

For boys, you could do something similar where they all earn a superhero certificate, cowboy certificate, pirate certificate, the possibilities are endless! This is a great birthday party activity if it is rainy outside.

Decorate “Unicorn Horns”

Unicorn birthday parties are all the rage, so pick a birthday party activity to keep the little unicorn lovers busy! I adore how DarlingDarleen.com set up this party craft with ice cream cones and colored frosting! See more on her site here!

Sports Theme: Putt-Putt and Golf Lessons

You can find very inexpensive kids’ golf sets (I got these at Walmart) and they make the BEST birthday party activity for golf-themed parties (or any party for that matter).

Thankfully, my husband was a golf pro at the time so I made him “teach lessons” to my daughter and her friends at her golf birthday party. Set up a “putting green” in your backyard!

Decorate Cupcakes

Similar to the cake painting, one year we had my daughter and her friends all decorate cupcakes for her “Sprinkle Themed Birthday Party”. I used art palettes from the dollar store filled with various sprinkles. You can customize the sprinkles to fit your party theme.

This is a great idea for younger children because they don’t have to use a frosting tube or anything. It’s simply sprinkle on the cupcakes! These were a huge hit!

Sports Themed: Baseball

Batter’s Up! Sports themed birthday parties naturally have a built-in party activity with that sport, if you can host it on a field or turn your backyard into the right set-up for that sport. This baseball themed party is one of my favorites!

More Birthday Party Activities for Children

Set up an Arts & Crafts Station

This is a great one if you’re unsure of weather! Set up a small table with paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils, paints and print off free coloring sheets to match the theme of your party! If you’re hosting the party at a local restaurant, take these items with you (not the paint! Stick to crayons!) to keep the little ones busy while waiting for pizza or cake.

Host a Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are a great way to keep the kids busy and let them run around! You can host a scavenger hunt indoors or outside (or a combination!). There’s nothing more exciting to kids than running around for the next clue in a birthday scavenger hunt! See more of this idea and TONS of birthday scavenger hunt tips at House of Mahalo!

Host a Treasure Hunt

This is PERFECT for a pirate party. Fill a treasure chest with gold chocolate coins and little toys. X marks the spot! Give the kids a map to the treasure and let them go hunting for their prizes!

Spa Party: Manicures and Pedicures

Spa parties are so fun for little girls and what better activity than a nail station set up for manicures and pedicures! Let each little girl go home with a nail polish as a coordinating favor!

You can take it one step further and break the guests into small groups and have little spa stations they can rotate like facials, manicures, pedicures, hair, etc.

Set up a Relay Race

Set up competitive games like a relay race with different stations! Here are a few ideas to get you started. Based on the number of kids you have, you can divide them into teams or let everyone compete 1:1.

• Sack Race
• Three-Legged Race
• Egg Race – see who can walk with an egg on their spoon without it breaking the fastest!

Set up an Obstacle Course

This is a great one if you have a larger backyard or host the party at a local park. Jac of All Things has the BEST blog post for how to create an obstacle course party! Let them play games after their obstacle course!

Play Musical Chairs

This classic game is always fun at a kids birthday party, especially for younger kids! Set up chairs in a circle, remove one chair so you have one less chair than participants. Turn on the music and when someone cuts the music off, everyone must find a seat on a chair. Whoever is left without a chair is out! Remove a chair and repeat! The last one sitting in a chair wins.

Petting Zoo

A petting zoo is a great idea for young children. Kids LOVE animals so set up a petting zoo if you have a company locally that can bring a variety of animals to your party. Or sometimes you can have a horse brought in for pony rides. See more from this petting zoo party on Kara’s Party Ideas!

Dance Party

This birthday party activity is great for kids of all ages. Everyone loves a dance party! Grab a colorful disco globe and turn your living room into a festive dance party! Create a Spotify playlist prior to the party so you have your jams ready to go.

A dance party is also a great party idea that doesn’t add any additional cost!

Ballet Lessons

A ballerina party is always a classic party theme for little girls and what better activity than a little ballet lesson for all the little girls? Encourage each girl to wear a tutu (or pass them out as favors) and watch the little ballerinas shine! This is best held at a ballet studio or dance studio, but could also be done at home with a parent willing to step in and teach!

Bounce House

If you want an easy birthday party activity you KNOW all the kids will love, get a bounce house! Just make sure you have a large open space in your backyard or host it at a park.

Farm Party Activities

Farm parties are just so cute! Set up different little games and activity stations like a county fair, such as moo ring toss, ride a pony (can be a toy pony on a stick style), etc. See more from the farm party above from Kara’s Party Ideas!

Pizza Making

Kids love to cook so why not host a birthday party where they can all make their own pizzas? I love how Jen of HWTM combined a Super Mario Brothers theme with pizza making, how perfect? Video game parties can be tricky as far as finding an activity (other than just playing video games) so I love how she incorporated a cooking activity!

Fossil Dig

If your child wants a dinosaur party, then a fossil dig is a great backyard party activity that’s easy to set-up and SO fun for the kids! Learn how to make dinosaur fossils here. Hide them and other plastic fossils down in sand as shown by So Festive!

Pool Party

This birthday party idea is seasonally dependent (unless you find an indoor pool location) but hosting a pool party has a built-in party activity! Break out the pool noodles, fun floats, water balloons and sprinklers for extra pool party fun!

Laser Tag

Laser tag is always a popular party activity because kids love it! Here are some tips for styling a laser tag party!

Bonus Holiday Birthday Party Activity

Decorating Gingerbread Houses

My birthday is in late November so growing up I had many birthday parties where my friends and I decorated gingerbread houses! Each guest got to take home her gingerbread house and they used them as decoration for Christmas! I have a full how to make a gingerbread house tutorial you can check out!