Harvest Festival Ideas

Coreen Hart
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 153 Feedbacks

September 15, 20100 found this helpful

I do this each October for our church. This year we have 15 games planned. The most popular with the small children is the fish pond. They have a "fishing pole" ( a branch with a string on it and a clothes pin) that they throw over a curtain, and we pin a prize on it. We give it a little yank so they feel like they've caught a fish. Some children go through this 20 times! Then there's the maze we did one year. We blindfolded them and lead them by the hands through a maze, explaining all the while about the importance of following Jesus and trusting Him when you can't see where He is leading. For a prize we gave glow-in-the-dark necklace (Jesus is the Light).

There is always a cupcake walk, face painting and a crafts table. One lady always runs a dart board with balloons on it. A man painted a 4x6' stand-up board with a dragon and hung a small basketball hoop on it so they could take turns throwing the ball. This year we are adding a Spin and Win from Oriental Trading and a ring toss (rope rings over a cardboard saguaro cactus since our them is the Wild West). A fun game is to have two children sit facing each other on the floor armed with two spoons each. Put a ping pong ball between them and have them try to push the ball into the other's legs. If it touches you, you lose. We will probably do multiple teams at the same time. Everyone else can cheer for their hero of choice. We always have a meal with it, too. This year we'll probably do beef stew and biscuits so they can be cowboys, and we'll offer a prize for everyone who wears a western outfit. Hope this helps.

Shay

October 11, 20104 found this helpful

Here are several ideas:

-David, the Giant Killer's Target Practice - Shoot ping pall balls at giant's mouth with sling shot (giant made out of cardboard box).

Rebecca Ruth P.

September 17, 20131 found this helpful

I am planning to have a fall harvest party and here are some of the things I plan to do.

Games:
Pumpkin patch ring toss - Either use pumpkins and have kids throw rings at the stems and whoever gets the ring around the stem wins or you could cut out a bunch of pumpkin shapes from orange cardstock and put them on sticks that you put in the ground, then have the kids toss rings at them to hook over the pumpkins and get a prize.

Pumpkin been bag toss: Depending on the age of the kids you can either have a large box which you cut out 2 large pumpkins from cardstock or colored paper and glue to cardboard or a posterboard and cut out, then glue those to the front/back sides of the box. The kids throw bean bags into the box to get a prize. If there's older kids you can cut out a large pumpkin from heavy cardboard and cut several holes in it, then mark numbers on it and the kids throw the bean bags in the holes to get a prize that goes with that number.

Duck pond: You can use a large plastic bowl (like you would put candy in for halloween), which I found one with regular pumpkins on it (not jack-o-lanterns) and use regular rubber ducks (got several together for $1 at Dollar General) and write numbers on each one, fill the bowl w/ water and you're all set.

You can have the bobbing for apples game. You would only need a large container (you can get small plastic ones at the Dollar General to put the apples in) and a bag or few bags of apples.

You can also have a face painting booth, which you would only need the face paint, and candy apples booth where you just get some apples, caramel, and some candy like chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc. to put on them. They can be $.50 or $1.00 each and the money can go toward the church.

If you can get a large thick cardboard or piece of plywood you could trace a picture of a scarecrow and some pumpkins and/or corn stocks onto it and cut out the scare crow's face, then use a piece of board to hold it up and the kids can stand behind it with their face where the hole is for taking pictures.

You can make little scarecrow favor bags out of brown sandwhich bags. These are the ones I made last year: www.orientaltrading.com/foam-scarecrow-paper-gift-bag-craft... I just saved the picture onto my computer, opened it and enlarged it, then traced the pices for the hat, scarf, etc. I cut those out of foam that I got at Dollar General that was already sticky on that back and just stuck them onto the paper bag. I filled the bags with a few pieces of candy (I got the dollar 6 packs of little candy bars at Dollar General) and a little toy (for $1-2 from the Dollar General). You could even make them and sell them at a booth.

For game prizes:
I went to the Dollar General and got $1-2 items from the toy section and also went to Party City and got some game prizes (they have lots of things like cazoos, slinkys, stuffed animals, coloring banners and markers, yoyos, etc. for $.50-2.00).

Decorations: I made most of the decorations myself. I just Google searched scarecrow pictures, pumpkin pictures, leave pictures, and other fall pictures and traced them and colored them in (if there are a lot of kids at the church they could color the pictures and you could hang them up for decoration around the church or wherever the festival is held). I even used fall and harvest coloring pages I found online. I printed some, colored them with markers, and got $1 frames from the Dollar General and hung them up as decoration. I traced and cut out leaves from construction paper and will hang them around the rooms for decoration as well, and I am making a sign that says "Happy fall y'all" (either with cut out leaves on the sides of the 'banner' or by putting one letter on a seperate leaf). I just use Word on the computer and type out the words "Happy fall y'all" and print it. I then trace the letters onto the leaves so it looks neater than my handwriting.

Invitations:
I just google searched harvest party invitations, found one with a scarecrow I liked, saved it to the computer, printed it in the size I wanted, and then traced it and added my own information for the party. If you needs lots of them, just make one then scan it and print as many as you need. You can either leave them on just the paper or print them onto cardstock so they are thicker.

For food: I just have hot dogs, smores, and some candy (which is usually a bag of the hollween candy mix you can get, again, at the Dollar General)... and the candy apples this year as well. We usually have a bonfire, so we roast hot dogs and marshmellows for the smores.

I always make everything by hand myself when I have a party because I can't afford to buy everything already made. I also enjoy making things and it adds more of a personal touch to the party and shows everyone you took the time to make the things for the party you are having for them.

Kim

September 12, 20080 found this helpful

You can have you hubby or someone make a big pumpkin out of wood paint it cut the eyes and nose and mouth out and buy lil mini pumpkins. Number them with a black magic marker and that would be the number points do lil prizes or trinkets for a certain score bob for apples. Do pumpkin cookie decorating have frosting and colored black and orange sprinkles mand ms and such. Make foam pic frames dollar stores have foam and the lil sticky Halloween themed ones to stick on!

Fill jars with candy corns. Do a guessing game paint pumpkins - lil mini ones are so cheap, sometimes like 5 for a buck or if you have a large group event you might get a better price! Make black and orange beaded bracelets or necklaces.
I could go on and on. I teach preschool so I always have ideas!

Kim

September 12, 20080 found this helpful

I forgot to add pumpkin bowling is fun too!

Julie
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 149 Feedbacks

September 13, 20080 found this helpful

my 4yr grandsons school had a carnival the other day at his preschool and the events were for pre up to like 4 th grade. maybe these game ideas idea they had will help.
* they had like 6 plastic sticks in the ground side 2 side in sets of 2 each lined up beside each other in vertical lines each one had a flag paper taped to it with a number for points like 5/10/15/20 etc and then each child got to throw 3 hoops onto the sticks seeing which points the could ring.
* teams of 2 kids tossed back and forth tiny cheap thin ballons filled with very little water back and forth to eachother, as long as no balloon busted they remain in the game but if one busted then that team loooses.
* bean bag toss" they had frames about 16X20 and had about 6 holes in it the size of an orange each hole had points and they tossed tiny bean bags inside. they each got 3 bags to try
* game called green light red light( the kids line up horizontally and an adult is the light with his hand held up and when he says green the kids continue to go at a fast pace walk when he says red they are to stop, the first person the Hi-% his hand is the winner to the light.
* duck duck goose (i'm sure you know that one)
* also sack races (they just took white old pillow cases and decorated with markers USE YOUR FALL THEME and draw on leaves pumpkins etc. Have about 4-6 kids race at the call of GO! First person across the paper streamer line wins!
They did this in groups of ages and each event was spaced out so far apart. When all events were done each child got a little gift toy approipriate to there age wheter they won or not.
** And face painting is always a big hit too! Just sit up 2 chairs facing eachother for the painter and the reciever use simple non toxic acyrlic paints (in walmart 44cent each) just put out a little dollip of each color into an empty egg carton and add a dot of water to each use a simple liner brush (walnart pack is $1 or less) print you off like 6-8 basic shapes from your art program or get from a coloring book things like butterfly, lady bug, pumpkin, leaf, smilie face etc. and keep that paper near you so you look at it and then draw it onto there upper cheek and then just fill in the color. Let them pick which design they want.
*** fish pond > in a corner some where hang up an old sheet behind it put a shallow box of little toys that hang well and are light in weight. Adult sits back there and the kids on the front side with a long slim wooden dowel rod (walmart 60 cent) tie a string to it and when they hang it over give it a tug then use a clothes pin to attach the toy say you got something then tug it so they can bring it back over
***candy walk> just like musical chairs but you start with about 6 chairs 7 people each time the person left standing is out remove a chair until your are down to 1 chair 2 people the person left sitting wins something big like a cupcake or toy the others get a small treat or just do it for fun no give outs. You can make your own ribbon to for this game 1st place 2bd place 3rd place by making them from contruction paper. The last 3 down to one get ribbons the last one sitting gets the blue ribbon

I was a church minister at one time for family life and hosted a Halloween like festival. I have to tell you, one of the most popular events was a Nerf challenge! I bought two harmless nerf guns and every kid in the place wanted a chance to challenge the best nerf shot. Two kids had to sit in a rolling office chair and the first one to shoot the other was the winner of that challenge. This was some years back when every kid played innocently with their six shooters.

The best cowboy or cowgirl won a great prize and bragging rights. Believe me, every kid there is going to want to play this LIVE gaming situation. Now they even sell the set with a battery operated target that goes off when hit. Which ever way you do it, they love to challenge each other. Lots of fun!

Holly
Silver Post Medal for All Time! 364 Posts

September 21, 20070 found this helpful

Stay away from bobbing for apples - too germy!

Good luck with your party!

Put a sticker on each persons back with the name of a vegetable or fruit that can be harvested. Don`t let them see it. They can ask other people questions that can be answered with a yes or no to try to guess what it is. This can be done in a group milling around. Take the sticker off when they do guess it. This is a good ice breaker and can be used at showers with a name of a famous person or movie star etc. Even Disney characters. No need to give a prize.

Mary Lou

September 21, 20070 found this helpful

Try a pumpkin roll. four teams, two on each end of a long fairly smooth stretch of ground. First person rolls the pumpkin(you can make it harder by making them use their head or their feet) to their counterpart in the team at the other end of the field. Once they reach them, they "hand off" the pumpkin and go to the back of the line. First team to finish wins. OR you could try a pumpkin stacking race. Each person stacks as many pumpkins as possible one on top of the other as fast as possible. You may want to time them. This could also be a corn stooking race, where you make a stook as fast as possible(stack corn stalks in a teepee like shape (it must stay up without ties or other support) And there is always boiled corn eating contest or jackolantern carving race.