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If you have a young child that enjoys animals and knows how to have a wild time than you could give them a jungle themed birthday party! This party Works best with a small group of approximately 6-8 children and is ideal for kids ages 2-6.
INVITATIONS
Type up your invitations and slide them into an un-opened box of animal crackers. Deliver the treat as your invitation!
GUESS THE ANIMAL
For our jungle party, I purchased inexpensive blow up jungle animals that were about 2-4 feet high. You could also use stuffed animals but the kids might require more help with furry shapes. Don't let the children see the animals ahead of time. Take turns blindfolding each child and let them feel the animal and try to guess what kind of animal it is.
MAKE MASKS
The kids will love making their own jungle animal masks. You will need the following items:
Crafting Foam in Various Colors
Elastic
Scissors
Single Hole Punch
Using craft foam have all of the shapes cut out that the children would need to make a certain animal. Most masks will only require two and sometimes three colors of foam. You will want your masks to be approximately 8 inches wide by 5 1/2 inches high to fit most children. Your elastic will need to be cut 10 1/2 inches long and any width elastic will work.
There is a wide variety of animal masks you can make. To make a lion mask, use a bright golden yellow for the face and cut the mane out of brown foam. Cut a small oval nose to attach above the cut out nose in the mask.
All masks will need two oval shaped holes for eyes will need to be spaced 1 1/2 inches apart.
To make a tiger mask, use orange crafting foam to cut out the shape of the mask. Use a permanent black magic marker to draw on the stripes. The ears and nose can also be cut from black foam.
Cut an elephant mask out of gray foam. The shape of your mask should include a four inch long elephant nose and smaller crescent shaped tusks. Attach white foam tusks to the basic tusk shape already cut from the gray foam. The nose can also be highlighted using another cut of pink or brown foam glued over the gray shape.
A low temperature hot glue gun can be used by an adult to help the children put together the masks. Use a hole punch to create a hole for the elastic. Punch the hole approximately 1/2 - 1" inside the mask.
Once the masks are complete you can play guessing games with them. Have the same number of children leave the room that you have different masks for. Have the kids enter the room walking and sounding like their animal and see if the rest of the group can guess which child is wearing the mask.
ANIMAL SPONGES
You can cut animal shapes out of ordinary kitchen cleaning sponges. Older kids will enjoy cutting out their own sponges if you have a few animal patterns available for them to trace on the sponge prior to cutting them out. For younger children, parents will want to already have them cut out and just let the kids stamp them into washable paint to create pictures or they can take the sponges home as a fun bath toy.
SNACKS AND TREATS
Use cookie cutters to make animal shaped finger sandwiches. Animal cookies are also a popular treat and can be made using any sugar cookie dough recipe and animal cookie cutters. The kids will have fun decorating their own cookies at the party too.
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