Artist Party -6yr- Refrigerator Magnets

We celebrated our daughters 6th birthday with a most successful artist party. Our daughter Naomi is a budding artist and I thought the idea of an artist would make her happy. She looked worried and said she wants a real party with games, not just crafts. So of to work I went.

Decorations:  Scanned a photo of Naomi and made it into a poster inviting to her exhibition (The talented brilliant etc.). We posted it on the front door and on the door of the porch where the party was to take place. We framed a nice selection from Naomis drawings with huge aluminum foil frames and hung them up outside. We then sealed the glass door to the porch with a huge blue ribbon. Naomi was to cut the ribbon and open her exhibition.

Craft:  We started off with a craft. We made fridge picture frames out of fun-foam (pre-cut to photo size). The kids decorated them with paint, stamps and shapes cut from the left-over (inner pieces) of the fun foam. We then glued a lintel and magnets to hold. We planed to do another craft a mobile of clear lintel & stickers, but ran out of time.

Activities: 
1.While the kids were finishing their craft I announced there would be an auction of a famous painting later on. I prepared a poster with the announcement and a copy of the picture (I chose Bathers At Asnieres by Georges-Pierre Seurat) and explained what an auction was. My husband came in dressed with policeman cap (kids dress up trunk) and told them the picture had been stolen. The kids ran for a scavenger hunt and found not 1 but 8 different copies of the pictures! (B/W printouts from masterpiece link at scribble.bigstep.com printable section, changed slightly with added features - either by copying the same mistake twice periscope in the river etc., or by adding elements from our century airplane, cell phone etc.) We told them we knew some artists were trying to forge the pictures but that we are sure they can spot out the real picture because this picture is one of a kind and has to fit the period. They managed to eliminate all the forged pictures without any help! 

2.Pass the parcel. Since Im not risking over-competitiveness I put all the prizes individually wrapped in the center of the parcel. Instead of the small prizes between each layer of newspaper I inserted a trivia question, about artists & art of course. The kids had to guess most of the answers but this was part of the fun (questions ran from easy who cut his ear, to hard are the flowers in Monet pictures are from his garden or his imagination, etc.) Jelly beans for winners / losers / anybody during each round.

3.Bingo: I make bingo boards from masterpieces found on the net. Played until everyone won.

4.Optical Illusions: I printed out optical illusions (also easy to find on the net) and passed them out. We them took a vote on the funniest, the most surprising etc. The kids loved it.

5.Produced a play: We produced the play The hatter and the monkeys you can use any play that is short, can be read aloud by an adult and the kids already know. We tried to work on the idea that art has many forms other than picture painting, in this case the acting, costume design (hats, hats and more hats) and stage design (we hung background of green sheet for the forest with cutout clouds). I truly cant say the kids cared about the concept but they sure had great time acting. We filmed the play and the kids got to see themselves on video this was an attraction by itself. The activity took approx. 2 hours.

At this point we brought out the cake shaped like a palette, drinks & snacks. It was a fun party to hold and to plan; all you need is a computer, a printer and time. It comes out real cheep too it is based mostly on printables and art supplies such as stamp markers, special erasers etc. for prizes.