King of the Jungle - Animal Hunt

King of the Jungle  My middle son LOVES animals!!!! He has never had a birthday party that did not include some sort of animal... We did the Dalmatian Party, the Zoo Party, the Wildlife Rescue Party, the Under the Sea Party, and Lion King Party. Well, this year was not any different, but good fortune has come our way. The Discovery Channels Animal Plant has a new "reality TV" show called the King of the Jungle. What luck for us!!! Something new to base this years party theme. Yeah!!!! For those of you who do not know, the show is basically about 12 adults trying out to become the next animal show host Survivor Style. We made some modification since we did not want to exclude anyone These kids were only 6.   I first logged onto their web siteà Don't waste your time, nothing of use there. So we began talking about what he wanted to do for this party.  First, we had a casting call. It is a tv show. How else do you get people to audition.

We made invitations that looked like clapboard.  At the top it read: (Your last name) Studios Production: King of the Jungle Director: (your child's name) Take: (the age of your child)  In the three little boxes at the bottom Date: (the date of your party) Scene: (your home address) Time: (the time of your party)  At the very bottom and in smaller print I added the RSVP. The invite took a little work to get right, but well worth the effort.  As for decorations we had some fun.  

Outside: On the front door we hung a simple, but crooked sign that read Auditions-King of the Jungle.  Inside: (I mainly used friends netting that covers the beds for the tents. It worked great, it gave the tent feeling but did not take away from the ability to see what was going on inside. LOTS of Green Balloons hanging from anything I could hang them from and animals cut from dollar store calendars decorated the walls. 

We had a tent marked Security Tent this is where the presents went and each child received a coin purse with some plastic coins to spend.  Another area that we made into a store labeled Supply Tent. In here we made a little store with Safari hats, binoculars, pencils, pens, pencil cases, notepads, prepackaged fruit bars, peanuts, etc. My mother happily took the kids money as they loaded up.  We had the entry into the kitchen labeled Mess Tent.  In the center of the living room we set up our EZ-Up tent and labeled it Base Camp. The Base Camp was used for all the times in between completions. We went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of vines. We wrapped the vines around the posts and added lots of balloons.  I had made very simple paper compasses (bought the stamp at Michael's) and cut them out and tied a piece of string around them. These would be how the children would be awarded through out the Competition. 

First, we introduced everyone. The child had to say their name and name an animal (and act like the animal) that began with the same letter of child's name. Example: My name is Bobby and I like Bobcats. growl The children received their first compass.  Next, I had a container filled with 1 size animals. The kids had to guess how many were in there. The kids that were closest received a compass.  We would use these animals later. 

Next, we divided into 4 teams. We played a version of Musical Chairs but with ômud puddles.  I placed stickers on craft paper mud puddle cut outs. There were 4 different animals. I spread the puddles out and turned on the music. I had the kids dance. When the music stopped each child had to get on a mud puddle. Everyone turned over his or her puddle and suddenly we had the ôtiger team, lion team, rhino team and the elephant team.  I ran two sets of games at the same time. It took less time and two teams would receive compasses instead of just one.  

Team Competition 1: We had to get ready for the trip to the jungle. So I had two backpacks with a pair of my husbands shorts, a shirt, a hat and a pair of shoes in each backpack. The kids had to run about 20 feet put on all the clothes, run back, take off the clothes and put them back in the pack before the next child could go. First team to have all their members back won. 

Team Competition 2: Feeding the elephants. I had two tables about 20 feet apart. One table had a bowl full of peanuts and the other table had an elephant mug. They had to take a spoon and scoop up the peanuts and run to the elephant and put the peanuts into the cup. The first filled cup won.  Went to Base Camp and awarded compasses. 

Team Competition 3: Animal Rescue. I bought some inflatable animals that were almost as big as the kids and placed them on a blanket in the middle of the yard. Then I gave each team some boards, planks, etc. to use to help them reach the animal. Only one problem. There was not enough of these items to easily make it to the animals. They had to get creative and work together to reach the animals and bring them back to Base Camp. 

Team Competition 4: Crossing the swamp. We pretended that our yard was a swamp and they had to cross it or get ready to battle the Croc. It was basically an obstacle course. Anything that we could use, we usedà Jump ropes, hula-hoops, playhut, etc. All the members of the team had to go across and back.  Went to Base Camp and awarded compasses.  The kids were pretty tired. It took about an hour for the first 4 games. Interestingly enough all the teams were even. We had a snack and drink.  For the individual games we kept the same teams, but rotated each team through each game. Kept all the kids busy with very little down time. 

Individual Competition 1: Animal Ring Toss. Every animal that was rung would earn a compass. 

Individual Competition 2: Bean Bag Toss. Every toss that went into the hole would earn a compass. 

Individual Competition 3: Pin the monkey in the palm tree. The closest monkey per rotation would earn a compass. 

Individual Competition 4: Pineapple Bowling. Using plastic pineapple sports cups and 2 real coconuts. I set up a bowling alley. Every child that was able to get all the pineapples down would earn a compass. 

Individual Competition 5: Animal Hunt. Using the small plastic animals that they guessed earlier, I spread them across the yard. They were actually harder to find in the grass than I thought they would be. You know one of the things you must do, as an animal host is to actually find the animals. So the kids ran around finding all the animals. The child with the most of each animal earned a "compass."  Mess Tent Time Time for some food, drink, cake and ice cream.

For food we had Animal Cookies, Trail Mix, Chex Mix, a Fruit Platter, a Vegetable Platter, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches in the shape of elephants, and tortia roll ups.   The cake was quite simple, but turned out great. I made a sheet chocolate cake with light brown frosting. I then sprinkled it with Sugar in the Raw and bought some candy rocks. Using my faithful playmobil stash, I then added a watering hole with some zebras, giraffes, lions and some trees. It looked like a real safari scene. Instead of scooping ice cream, I gave the kids Ice cream sandwiches.  

After Cake we went back to the Casting Tent and had all the kids get their presents. On the bench with my son was the person who was giving him the gift. This is a great way to get a photo of the child who actually gave that favorite present. I have my best friend to thank for getting me started doing the gifts this way. 

Next it was time for the awards..  All the kids received a certificate I made about their participation, and gave them a little something. I gave away all of the props that we used (elephant mugs, pineapple sports bottles, etc). I knew that we would not be using them again and it gave each child a little something. The child with the most compasses was able to choose one of the inflatable animals.  It was now time for the pinata, which was a monkey. VERY CUTE!  

Now where did I get everythinga.  Www.orientaltrading.com Almost everything for the individual games came from here.  Www.ustoy.com Everything for the supply tent came from here.  Www.birthdayexpress.com They have the best partyware called zoology absolutely perfect. They also had the monkey pinata which is a must have.  It might sound like a lot, but with borrowing a few things, the party was only a few hundred dollars. A total shock for 24 kids. The kids that came went home with a huge bag full of goodies and huge grins!