A Mexican themed party with some great Mexican party games is great fun for little kids. So - uno, dos, tres - gather your guests together and let's start playing.
Count the nachos Take a large glass spaghetti jar or similar. Carefully fill it with nachos. Keep count as you add them, and try not to break any!
The aim of this Mexican party game is for each child to guess how many nachos are in the jar. You can get the kids to write their name on a piece of paper along with their guess if you go round and help. You can steer them in the right direction if necessary! Or have a list ready to write down their guesses yourself.
Prepare a special envelope with the answer inside and pin it up on the wall. The kids love this! One of your guests can open the envelope when everyone is ready.
The child guessing the nearest amount gets to open the jar and pass them round for everyone to share!
Pin the tail on the Mexican donkey Our Mexican party games wouldn't be the same without the "burro" or donkey! The kids can wear a bandana as a blindfold - and a sombrero if you have one! A large illustration of a donkey is needed - and you don't have to be too artistic! Make a tail and add a pin or use sticky tack. Write the child's name on the spot where they pin the tail to see who wins.
Pull the Piñata Mexican party games usually include a boisterous bash at the piñata! However, "pull piñatas" are ideal for little kids' parties. Instead of hitting the piñata, there are ribbons to pull. The children take turns - but who will choose the lucky ribbon?
Follow the leader - Mexican style! Prepare a Mexican dress-up box and let the kids choose an item:
bandit moustaches
a trumpet
some maracas or shakers
kid-sized ponchos (use large sheets of decorated paper with a space for the head)
tambourine
sombreros or decorated hats
sunglasses, bead necklaces or fans
Now play some fun Mexican music, and off you go! You'll need some space for this. It's best if an adult starts off, showing the kids the "route", and making various movements - reaching high, bending low, crawling, rolling over and so on.
You can change the leader frequently to let everyone have a go. And spice things up a couple of times by letting everybody swap their items with the person behind them.
Don't stop yet! Because now it's time for...
...A Mexican hat dance! You can use any lively Mexican music for this - or indeed the actual Mexican Hat Dance music.
The idea is to dance around a sombrero, clapping as you go. Get the kids to occasionally step on the edge of the sombrero as they dance. You could prepare a decorated "sombrero" out of card or construction paper beforehand.
La Lotería Play a simple version of this traditional Mexican party game. It's very easy to prepare and suits younger or older kids.
You need two identical sets of cards using different pictures. (So, two trees, two fish, two balls etc.) If you have eight kids, you need eight different cards for them - and the same eight cards for yourself.
For beginners:
Deal out the children's cards - they only get one card each. They can look at their card.
Shuffle your cards. Lay them out upside down. You are going to choose a card. One child will have the same card. But who will it be? The kids can try and guess the winner.
Pick one of your cards. The child with the matching card is the winner!
Give the game a twist for the older ones:
As above, but before they see your card, any children who think it will match their card must raise their hand and keep it up.
If a child wins by matching your card and raising their hand - they get a point - or a bean! They guessed correctly. The children who don't have their hands up are also correct - it wasn't their card - so they also get a point. None of the other children get a point this time.
You can play several rounds of this - but make sure that you announce the last round as it begins so everyone knows it's nearly the end. You could call this game Lucky Lotería - to remind the kids that it is a pure game of chance!
