Western Activity Day

After going back through old notes and things, I realized that I had been planning this activity day for the children since January!  Then started doing the physical work on it around the beginning of August.  Well, the day finally arrived this past Saturday.  It was for the children in our local church and the community. 

This party was a lot of work because we made just about everything.   As soon as you walked in the door, you entered a western town.  Complete with a bank, hotel, jail, and even a hitching post.

We had games, crafts, activities, a skit, of course we served lunch.

 

Road Sign

We had to have something for our robbers to hide behind.

Supposed to be rocks and bushes. 

My disclaimer, I am not an artist.

Then from there they went into the dining hall.

 Complete with a Chuck Wagon. 

We were going to do a covered wagon but that just wasn't working out.  We did have a wagon seat though!

 

 

Over in the other corner, we had a campsite complete with a campfire.

 

 

Ok, I believe that covers the decorations.

Now onto costumes.  First off, we broke it down into age groups. 

So, ages 5 and under were the little Indians.  When they came in, they made feather headbands to wear and got to play in finger paint.  (Sorry, no pictures)

Ages 6-12 were the cowboys and cowgirls. 

They received a hat, bandanna, and we made vests for them. 

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of our vest.  However here is what they looked like, minus the badge.  This is courtesy of Amanda at Dixie Delights.  She was kind enough to share her pattern with us.  They are made out of felt. 

 

Both groups made horses out of pool noodles.

 

The older children made Faux Leather Journals.

The small children made Indian pouches.

 

For games we had...

A Sack Race

Lasso Betsy

(this consisted of tossing 3 hula hoops over this poor cows head)

 

A Gold Rush

We had sand and gold coins mixed in.  They were each given tin pie pans with little holes punched in them.  Then a scoop of the sand and coins that they sifted through.

 

Cattle Round-Up/Buffalo Round-up

They were broken up into groups.  Riding their horses, they had to round-up their branded cattle (balloons) with paint sticks, and put them in the corral.

 

Horse Race with an Obstacle Course

We ran out of time and didn't actually do this one.

 

Shooting Gallery

When we went out to do this, a storm was blowing in so it was too windy to actually play this one.

 

Our skit was taken from the Bible story, "The Good Samaritan."  We put a western twist on it and made it into "The robbery on Jericho Road."  Everyone performed their parts great.  We had three robbers, Chick Toadrie, Bullfrog Jenson, and Upchuck Dickson.  There was the devil, an angel, a hotel worker.  The victim...Ronald Rodgers, and the three men passing by...Highland Mighty, Miser Lee Heart, and Sam.  Our pastor's wife did an excellent job transforming this Bible story into a western skit for us to use. 

 

Afterwards, the children made Deputy Badges.

 

Once they had them finished, there was a surprise visit by the sheriff requesting their help in rounding up the three robbers who had escaped from jail.  The children had a blast chasing after the adults.  They were even talking about it the next day.

 

The little Indians had fun making a bunch of noise on the drums and other musical instruments that we had.  Of course, we took them outside for that!  We taught them the song

"Jesus Loves the Little Children."

 

For Lunch we had...

Hot Dogs

Individual bags of chips

Brownies

Rice Krispie Treats

Bottled Water

Little Hugs (which was juice served in little barrels)

 

Here is a nifty tip that I came across on pinterest and it really does work!

That's right!  Hotdogs in a crockpot!

You simply stand the hotdogs up and cook on low for 4 hours. 

Do not add any liquid as the hotdogs produce some as they cook.

Next time you need hotdogs for a crowd, try this!

 

Well, that about wraps it up.  Thanks for stopping by, pardner.