Super Bowl Activities for the Kids

Kids and football don't always mix well. You with me on this one? The adults want to watch the game; the kids don't want to let the adults watch the game. I'm about to share some ideas for activities to keep the little ones occupied during the big game. So listen up.

Super Bowl will be here before we know it, and party planning is underway in many of your homes, I'm sure. We are lucky enough to be going elsewhere for the game, so no cleanup for me...yay!

I don't much care who wins this game. I'm a Carolina Panthers fan, and I'm also a Baltimore Ravens fan. So I don't have a dog in this fight. However, that does NOT mean I'm not going to enjoy the game.

                                                      The rest of y'all can stay in the kitchen!

Are you a fan? Or do you stay in the kitchen? I know, I know, real women are needed in the kitchen too. It's just that this real woman would rather be watching the big game.

The New England Patriots, with Tom Brady at the helm....

OR

The New York Giants, with cutie pie Eli Manning?

Who will you be pulling for?

While some of us will be screaming and hollering at the flat screen with the men, there will be likely be some kids in the kitchen who need something to do. Face it: if you don't give them something to do, they'll come in to bug you while you're trying to figure out if that guy stepped out of bounds before he made it to the end zone. They're only going to show the replay 47 times while the review is underway, and you need to see all 47 of them so that you can decide whether or not the ref is doing his job. You certainly don't have time to turn on your nice mommy voice and cater to whatever whim your child may have at the moment. You spend your life doing that. Today is yours! 

If you're smart, you'll hire a sitter for the kids. Even if the party is at your house. You can have a party for the kids in the kitchen while you grown-ups are having your own party in the family room! Then you can tell all your friends to bring their kids, and you can all chip in to pay the sitter!

                              Pay your sitter well. She's working her butt off to entertain your kids!!

Your sitter, whether it be the girl down the street that you use every Friday night or one of your girlfriends who can't stand football because of "all the violence," she's gonna need a plan to entertain the masses. The plan is up to YOU, and I'm here to help. There are all kinds of activities for kids, and none of them will break the bank. You probably have most of the supplies for these activities already, since I don't know many kids who go through life without a scissors, glue, and crayons. So here's a quick lineup of stuff to keep those little guys and gals busy so you can review all the plays you want.

DLTKids has tons of ideas for every theme imaginable, one of which is FOOTBALL.

Here's a few of there coloring pages. You can copy and paste them to print out, or you can visit their site and print from there.

There are other sites out there too. Just google "football coloring pages" for tons more options.

This site has coloring pages for all the NFL helmets.

And there's more than just coloring for the kiddos. Here's a wordsearch I made using Puzzlemaker.

You can copy and paste this one, or you can go to Puzzlemaker and create one of your own!

Here's a cute football wreath that gets all the kids involved:

Just have your sitter help them trace their handprints onto construction paper and cut them out. The handprints can be glued onto a cardboard form that the sitter has created while the kids were coloring. A football template can be made from the football coloring page earlier in this post.

Use this template (blow it up to whatever size you want) to cut out team pennants and decorate them.

If your sitter is feeling a bit more adventurous, purchase a plain white tee shirt (large enough to fit like a jersey) for each child. You could also ask the moms and dads to provide these for their kids. Get some fabric paint, spread some newspaper (a tarp may be more appropriate), and let the kids create a team jersey!

Here's a little cut 'n paste football player made from a TP roll. (I know you upcycle your empty rolls, so now you have a project for them!)

 

You can find the info for him at DLTKids too.

 

So there you have it, a brief roundup of ideas for the tykes and kiddos on football day. If the ages of the children vary widely, you may want to consider two sitters. Of course this may require two separate spaces in your home, so go clean the playroom!