Party games for kids: musical statues

Draw your attention

Before starting this or any other game, it is important to get the attention of all children. Please see my previous article “The Numbers Game” for a great way to do this.

The rules (for your reference):

The idea of ​​this game is simple. When you play the music, the children dance. As soon as the music stops, the children should remain as still as possible.

Traditionally, this is a “knock out” game. In this case, the child who is the last to stop is effectively “eliminated” from the game. While this is fine for older children (8+) as they generally understand the competitive nature of the game, I have found this to be less ideal for those under the age of 7.

For those under 7 years old, I have found that a much simpler method is to simply give an award to the most stylish boy / best dancer in each round.

How to explain this to children in a fun way:

“Okay, now we’re going to play a game called musical statues.”

“Who has touched musical statues before?”

At this point, most children will enthusiastically raise their hands.

“Now when I play the music, you guys have to dance to the best of your ability. When the music stops, I want to know who is the calmest person in the whole room.”

If you have prizes to hand out, it’s a good idea to mention it now, too. If you are playing the knockout version, say that it will be for the winner of the game, and if you are playing the non elimination version, you can say that it will be for the best dancer / stylist.

“Ok guys, upstairs. Now who’s the best dancer here?”

At this point, you should play some music. After a few seconds of music playback, just stop the music.

You can add an interesting twist to the game by intentionally distracting some children by making funny noises when the music has stopped. Another fun alternative to this game is to add a theme to it, although I would only recommend it for larger groups (8+).

For example, you could have “Wonderful Musical Poses,” where instead of just sitting still, the idea is for the children to strike their most wonderful pose when the music stops. Or what about Musical Gruesome Faces? Be careful, you may need a camera for that!

Have fun and thanks for reading!