Dora's Adventurous Amigos -3yr-Audio Adventure

GUEST LIST  9 including birthday girl & sister and two cousins

INVITATIONS  Printed out map template from Nickjr.com. Put clip art of cake with 3 candles in first box and Nicole is turning 3! Under it. Clip art of a calendar (one with one page for each day) and added a text box with the month, day & time of the party.  Underneath Dora’s house I put our address and phone number. I printed out a very small picture of the birthday girl to put at the door of the house. Under map I wrote alternate words to the map song. If there’s a place you want to go, I’ve got what you need to know, I’m the map, I’m the map, I’m the map. Someone’s turning three, for details turn to me, I’m the map, I’m the map, I’m the map Birthday girl’s older sister helped to add color to the border and birthday girl added some green to the trees. I printed maps face on the other side and rolled it up like map and taped it on the side.

OUTSIDE DECORATION  Happy Birthday Nicole sign on door (used Adventurous Amigos Frame and put 3 years old! Happy Birthday Nicole! Inside). Balloons at 2 light fixtures on sides of front door. 3 colorful pinwheel flowers and 3 colorful plush smiling flowers from dollar store along walkway. Balloons on sticks (replaced regular balloons with happy birthday balloons) around as well maybe some in planter? Also setup numbers bridge, bear & tape player & little stars.

ADULT HELPERS  Video & still pictures Scott & Amy DORA I decided to be Dora. I had a pink/purple T-shirt, orange skort (was going to look for orange shorts, but someone said Fashion Bug had shorts 50% off and they thought there was orange. So, I checked it out and I didn’t find any orange shorts (only coral), but I found an orange skort in my size. Not bright orange like Dora, but still orange and this is something that I will be able to wear after the party is over!), yellow socks, white sneakers Dora wig (Brown hair Elura wig from my niece that I trimmed to shorter Dora length and gave more bangs). Dora bracelet like kids will be making I used the blue flower since that is most Dora-like. Carried Talking backpack toy with a Boots doll and me.

DINING ROOM DECORATION Dora plastic tablecloth. Some tissue paper flowers and butterflies on walls. Printed out various Dora friends as well (Dora & Diego from NickJr’s paper dolls; isa, tico & swiper from web clip art. Couldn’t find benny, so I printed out postcard from NickJr, scanned it and made cutout with photo editing software. And for little stars, I tried to scan the star pocket project to get the little stars from the border, but they were not clear enough, so I cutout the faces of two of the explorer stars and cut out the star pocket front. Then imported them into a sheet, sized everything appropriately and printed 5 stars per 8.5X11 sheet I used construction paper, so I had to trim it to fit the printer.). 4 small colorful plush flowers and 12 small translucent colored pinwheels in a vase in center of table. 3-sided happy birthday Nicole sign (printed out birthday invitation from NickJr and cut out the dancing Dora & Boots with balloons, the present & balloons from the back, and that same picture from the back of the card except I painted over the present and then cut out the balloons and streamer. I also flipped the cutouts so I could use the multiple times without it appearing too obvious. I used wordart from excel to create the Happy Birthday Nicole part and I chose the selection to have the letters go up in the middle. I printed this 3 times onto cardstock paper. Then I taped the ends together on the inside with double-sticky tape. Then I cut a section of wrapping paper tube and taped the middle of all 3 sheets to the tube. This way each sheet is curved when you look at it.) hung from chandelier.  Multi- colored streamers hung from ceiling. Dora balloon at Nicole’s chair. The stuff attached to the walls with safety tape looked great and a couple of weeks later, when we took down the decorations, we put them up in the birthday girls room added bonus!

INTRO - Guests are greeted by Dora & Nicole. Latin guitar music is playing from Armik CD. They can make a Dora bracelet (using yellow pony beads and a flower loop button (couldn’t find a flower bead and these were in a 10-pk for $2 the flower then kind of sits on top of the beads) for the center. Also have other color beads in case the kids don’t want yellow). They can decorate a sun visor with foam Dora stickers and foam star stickers. These 2 activities are set up at the kitchen table. They can choose up to 2 Dora tattoos as well this service is provided at a station (a stool in front of sink) found that a memory card holder works well to hold the tattoos and separate them by design. They also can color Dora coloring pages at the coffee table in the living room.  (I made each guests a booklet of coloring pages with their name on it that way we can put the books in their bags later for them to take home). Eating time is now as well. I decided to just use purple plates, napkins & silverware from the dollar store & krazy kritter Dixie cups for the kids since the tablecloth had Dora & friends all over it which I liked since other tablecloths sometimes only have the design along the skirting and you hardly even see it. Had other purple plastic cups for adults. To simplify, I purchased Mexican finger food from the frozen section of the grocery store  (miniquesadillas & taquitos) Also had tortilla chips & dip.

THE ADVENTURE - When kids are done eating and doing activities (15-30 min), stop CD and switch to Video 2. From portable DVD player, play theme song to tell everyone it’s time to start the show remove coloring supplies from coffee table and gather kids in living room. (You could buy a CD with this on, but I didn’t want to do that and my computer records tv, so I recorded a dora show and clipped out the songs and made a VideoCD with just the songs on it that I played in our portable DVD player sitting on a speaker attached to the VCR (this way the entertainment center can be closed, yet we can still get sound through the speakers) Hi! I’m Dora & this is Boots. Welcome to Nicole Fisher’s Birthday Party. I’m so glad she invited me to What’s that Boots? There’s a phone call for me? But I’m kind of in the middle of a birthday party. [pause] Oh, it’s Diego, and he says it’s urgent? OK! I’d better take that phone call! [Takes phone toy cell phone] Yes Diego? The baby animals have escaped from the rescue center where you take care of them? And now they are lost in the jungle? And you’re away visiting your cousin and won’t be back until tomorrow night? [Thinks out loud] Oh no! The baby animals are too little to spend a night alone in the jungle! [Back on the phone] Yes, I’m still here, Diego. You know it’s a big job, but can Boots & I rescue them for you? [looks at the kids] Wow, that is a big job! [looks at Boots] What’s that Boots? You think Nicole and her friends would like to help too? [Looks at the kids] Would you like to help us rescue the baby animals? [Kids respond, Yes!] You would? Great! I know we can do it together! [Turns back to the phone] No problem Diego! Boots & I have some friends here who will help us. [Pause] And don’t forget to get the extra key from Mr. Bear who lives at Numbers Bridge? Got it! [Pause] Don’t worry Diego! Everything is under control. [Puts away phone]

OK, we’d better get going right away to save those baby animals! And if you’re going to help with this adventure, then you’re going to need these! [Hands out backpacks oriental trading drawstring backpacks decorated with backpack face (adding color with fabric paint) and their names Mark plays backpack song during this]  MAP But how do we get to the animal rescue center from here? Hmmm. Who do we ask for help when we don’t know which way to go? [Kids say Map!] Map, right! Say, Map! [Map!] Louder [map!!] [Mark plays map song as Dora pulls out map (cardboard tube attached to side of backpack toy with Velcro holds map map template with clip art of tunnel, bridge & rescue center (building with rescue center printed above it) while map song plays. OK, the map tells us we need to go [1] through avalanche tunnel; [2] then over numbers bridge; [3] and that’s how we’ll get to the animal rescue center! Tunnel, Bridge, Rescue Center. Say it with me! Tunnel, Bridge, Rescue Center; Tunnel, Bridge, Rescue Center; Tunnel, Bridge, Rescue Center. Now where do we go first? Tunnel, right! [Puts away map] But how do we find the tunnel? Do we have anything in our backpacks that will help us see the tunnel even if it’s very dark? [Kids say “flashlights!] Flashlights, right! Flashlights (from oriental trading) will help us see in the dark. Now let’s see if we can find that tunnel [Lead kids to the basement as vamanos song plays - Mark turns down volume for vamanos song after where are we going - answer to where are we going? = Rescue Center] [Then Mark places berries, tiger& rescue center sign]

ADVENTURE NOTE: If I had to do it over again, I would have had a helper to gather the kids at each location and have them wait for Dora and her instructions. With the number of kids there, the kids sometimes started doing their own thing before I got a chance to continue the story. 

AVALANCHE TUNNEL  [Waits for one of the kids to spy the tunnel] There it is! Avalanche Tunnel! Oh, no! We’ve found the tunnel, but a big pile of rocks block the entrance to the tunnel. They must have fallen during the last avalanche. [Pauses and looks at Boots] Good idea Boots! If everyone works together to pick up the rocks, we can clear the entrance to the tunnel! Come on everybody! [Kids pick up rocks (cardboard bricks-set aside when picked up used 10 rocks as Dora moved the first rock, showing the kids what to do)] Great job everybody! I couldn’t have done it without you! Now we can go through the tunnel! [kids crawl through the tunnel] OK, now where do we go next? [pull out map and pause as kids answer] Right! We went through avalanche tunnel, so now we have to cross Numbers Bridge! But how will we find the bridge? Do we have anything in our backpacks that will help us see the bridge even if it’s very far away? [Kids say binoculars] Binoculars, right, binoculars (from oriental trading) will help us see far away.  Now let’s find that bridge! [Lead kids to the deck as vamanos song plays - Mark turns down volume for vamanos song after where are we going - answer to where are we going? = Rescue Center

MR. BEAR/NUMBERS BRIDGE  [Kids use binoculars to look around until they find the bridge near side of house] There’s the bridge! Oh, no! Mr. Bear is asleep on the bridge! We have to wake him up so we can get his key (toy key clipped to Bear) and then cross the bridge! Do we have anything in our backpacks that will make a loud noise to wake up the bear? [Kids say whistles!] Whistles, right! Whistles (party favors from dollar store) can make loud noises. Let’s blow our whistles to wake up this bear! [Bear wakes up Dora sits the bear upright in front of tape player and pushes play (tape has period of silence to allow for Dora’s speaking first) Sorry we had to wake you, Mr. Bear, but there’s an emergency at the animal rescue center and we need your key! And we need to cross the bridge to get to the rescue center to save the baby animals that escaped. [bear speaks from tape player?] Oh! I’m sorry! You may have my key. And I was going to try and fix this bridge but I realized that can’t do it all by myself. I guess I fell asleep while I was waiting for someone to help me.  Look at all the holes in it. I know that there are just enough pieces here to fix the bridge, but I don’t know which pieces go into which hole! [Dora speaks] Wow! There are a lot of holes. Thanks for the key! [Pushes stop while getting key] [Looks at kids] Do you think we can help Mr. Bear fix the bridge? Great! Now to fix the bridge, we’ll need to count the number of items on the piece and match it with the number by the hole. Like this, how many balloons are on  this piece? 3, right! Like Nicole just turned 3! Now, which hole does this go into? Here, right. That’s how to do it! Now, if you have a younger brother or sister, the two of you should work together. I’ll work with you,

Dawson. What’s that Boots? You think we better watch out for Swiper the fox because he would love to swipe some of our pieces and then we wouldn’t have enough to fix the bridge? Yes, that sneaky fox is always trying to swipe our stuff! OK, kids, Do you know what to do if you see Swiper? Right! Yell Swiper, no swiping! [Swiper the fox AKA Mark in Swiper mask (drew out mask and then cut pieces from foam) with blue gloves makes swiper sound and tries to swipe some pieces, but kids yell, so he says Oh, man!]Nicole and her sister can go first. Pick 3 pieces and find their holes then someone else can try. [The teams were supposed to take turns but everybody just started picking up pieces and doing it together] Great job everybody! I couldn’t have done it without you! Now that we have the key and the bridge is fixed, we can cross the bridge! [everyone crosses the bridge and Dora leads them to front corner of the house]  STARS Oh, no! Some little stars (small glow stars purchased on Ebay from Disney deals) have fallen from the sky and landed in the grass. We need to rescue them.  But they are so tiny, how will we find them? Do we have anything in our backpack that will help us see the very tiny stars? [kids say magnifying glasses!] Magnifying glasses, right! Magnifying glasses (from oriental trading) will help make small things look larger so we can see them.  [After getting out magnifying glass, put key on top of backpack and set aside] When you have found 2 stars, put them in my special star pocket, so they will be safe.  [while kids are looking for stars, swiper swipes the key kids try to stop, but swiper says too late!] Oh, no! Swiper swiped the key! [Swiper hides the key in the

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIGN (a duplicate key is already hidden behind the letter C) in the yard and says You’ll never find it now!] This is terrible! We need to find the key right away! I need your help to find that key! I know that the key is behind one of the letters of the birthday girl’s name on this sign. Which letter do you think it is? What’s that Boots? You think that the key is behind the letter N? OK, let’s look behind the letter N. No, it’s not behind the letter N. Who else thinks they know where the key is hidden? [Kids keep guessing until they find where the key is hidden][While kids are finding the key, Mark (minus the Swiper costume) quickly moves the tape player into the garage, grabs garage door remote and then hides behind bush to move tiger] Now that we have our key back, where is the Rescue Center? [Kids find Animal Rescue Center sign on garage door printed out animal rescue center in Arial font with 3 pt line colored with fire colors blending diagonal up. I then found jpeg of wild animal stickers that I printed out, cut out and glued around border] There it is! 

TIGER [Growling noises start and tiger starts to move (inflatable tiger basket is attached to butterfly net (net covered with cardboard and a snap-together tent support pole stuck into the bamboo stick to make it longer) which Mark moves back and forth and growls loudly as he is hiding behind the bush)] Oh, no! A hungry tiger is blocking the way to the rescue center! What are we going to do? [Looks at Boots] Good idea, Boots! We’ll call Diego. He’ll know what to do with a hungry tiger. [Pull out phone and dial] Diego, we’ve reached the rescue center, but there’s a hungry tiger blocking our way. What should we do? [Pause for answer] Rainbow berries, yes, I see them. [Pause] And music will calm him down.  OK, thanks Diego! [Looks at kids] Diego says that the tiger really likes rainbow berries (ball pit balls). If we fill him up with some rainbow berries, he will calm down and go away. And if he’s too upset to let us feed him, some music usually helps to calm him down a little. The rainbow berries grow on this bush over here. But the tiger is pacing back and forth so much that we can’t feed him. How did Diego say that we could calm him down? [Kids answer music!] Music, right. Do we have any musical instruments in our backpacks? [Kids answer maracas/harmonicas!] Right! Maracas & harmonicas (party favors from dollar store) are musical instruments.  Let’s make some music with our instruments! [Tiger slowly stops moving back and forth but continues to growl, this time a little softer] OK, now we can pick the berries. Each of you can pick 3 berries to feed the tiger. [When the tiger is filled with berries, he goes back to his spot between the bushes.] Great job everybody! I couldn’t have done it without you! Now we can get to the Rescue Center!

RESCUE CENTER  [When the key is inserted in lock, the lock unlocks garage door opens (Mark pushes garage door opener.] OK, now the center is open. [Dora picks up pack of cards Mark hides 9 baby animals quickly (pretty much know in advance where to hide them) as kids are in garage getting their cards]  Here is the record off all the baby animals that were being cared for at the center. I will give you each a card and then you can find the baby animal on your card. That way we will know that we’ve found them all! When you’ve found your baby animal, bring it back here to the center. They are just babies, so they couldn’t have gone too far.  Where do you think they could be? [Crying noises (Mark) come from front yard where 8 baby animals (mini zoo animal bean bags from oriental trading) are hidden] [Kids find animals and bring them back to the center] [When all the kids are done and back, pull out cell phone] Hi Diego! Just wanted to let you know that we rescued the baby animals! [Pause] You’re welcome! I couldn’t have done it without the help of my friends! [Pause] See you soon! [Turns to kids] You guys did a great job today! It wasn’t easy making our way to the rescue center and saving the baby animals, but we worked together and we did it! [We did it music (recorded we did it song, but turned down for scripted parts and made up my own words) plays from tape player] [Scripted parts We followed the map to the center today; We saved the baby animals that ran away; We helped our friend Diego, who had gone away; Our backpacks had everything we needed today. Let’s take a picture! [Group picture is taken.] [Mark takes card with the group picture & puts in other card. Mark then takes the card, downloads the pictures to the computer, finds the group picture crops it, and prints 3 pages of 4 3.5X5 pictures for guests.]

CAKE & GIFTS OK, let’s get back to the party! [Dora leads kids into house through the garage door. Dora birthday cake is out. [13X9 cake with icing and decorated with some icing flowers and green piping with leaves, #3 candle and Dora, Boots & Swiper and TUNNEL (wide fruit roll up I found the kind with tongue tattoos were nice and wide and I just used a wet paper towel to wash off the blue tattoo part wrapped around a rolling pin playdoh tool that looks like a tunnel and is red like the fruit roll up), BRIDGE (thin pretzel sticks) & RESCUE CENTER (sugar wafer building with some wild animal toys around)] Everyone puts their backpacks on the dry sink and then sings Happy Birthday then cake is cut while Nicole opens presents. If time remains, put in a Dora video. 

EXTRA GOODIES [Mark adds these items as Nicole is opening presents] Bag of goodies - strip of large Dora stickers, single sheet of smaller Dora stickers, 3 packs smarties, 5 fruit rolls), Little Star coloring story book (printed out book from NickJr. And made copies), Coloring Page Book from intro activity, Adventurous Amigos frame with group picture in it, Swiper masks (used smaller version from Mark’s mask, added color and printed on cardstock, punched holes and added elastic). They can choose a small pinwheel from centerpiece when they leave, 

THANK YOU Made Video CD with party video and pictures on it for guests. On DVD cover: front top was Dora show title picture from clip of recorded show & bottom said Nicole Fisher’s 3rd Birthday, A Dora Party, July 16, 2005; Spine Nicole’s 3rd Birthday A Dora Party!; Back top was You Did It! Certificate with guests name(s) on line. (You Did It! Certificate from NickJr that I colored, scanned, added Nicole’s picture to) & bottom said, I’m so glad you could come to my party! Thanks for helping rescue the baby animals! Dora & I couldn’t have done it without you!! And thanks for the great present too. I’m so glad you’re my friend! Love, Nicole. Also gave them group and individual picture photos printed on photo paper to fit Adventurous Amigos frame.

INSIDE PLAN Avalanche tunnel in basement; deck -> kitchen; side of house -> inside front door; grass -> living room carpet; tiger -> entrance to dining room; bush -> fichus tree; rescue center sign at doorway to kitchen. We were spared moving the party indoors  it began to really rain just as we were done rescuing the baby animals perfect timing! COULDN'T HAVE MADE THIS PARTY WITHOUT THE GREAT IDEAS FROM THIS WEBSITE! IF I CAN HELP YOU MAKE A GREAT DORA PARTY FOR YOUR CHILD, I WOULD BE HAPPY TO SHARE ANY OF MY TEMPLATES, ETC. FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AT PENMARKF@VERIZON.NET