Back to School Animal Party with Boden

Oh my goodness, the summer has FLOWN by! I cannot believe my kids are headed back to school today! I spent a good portion of last week feeling depressed about it, since I love having my big kids around, but now I am excited to bring on the new year!

My daughter is headed to kindergarten this year! I love to make a big deal about it and when my kids go into kindergarten I like to host a fun back to school party for them and a few friends. My son's party had a "Kindergarten will be a BLAST!" rocket theme. 

Since my daughter loves animals, our party themed last week was "We're WILD about KINDERGARTEN." We incorporated all sorts of wild animals into our party theme and it was a hit! 

Today I'm going to share a few fun details about the We're WILD about KINDERGARTEN party with you AND I also have a special Back to School giveaway with Boden to tell you about as well! Make sure you scroll down to check it out! 

ANIMAL PARTY DECORATIONS

One of the most important parts of any party (besides the activities) is the decor. Fun decorations can liven up a party and help you get even more excited about the theme. My daughter and I searched Pinterest and found some adorable ideas that we adapted for our party. You can find several of my favorite party ideas on my Party Ideas Pinterest board.

The first place we decorated was the front door. She loved this animal safari sign idea from Kara's Party Ideas so we created some simple signs and bought a cheap piece of wood from the hardware store for $1.00 and we were set!

You can download my animal direction signs to use on your own wood stick below:

DOWNLOAD ANIMAL SIGNS HERE

DOWNLOAD ANIMAL IMAGES HERE AND HERE

In order to make our vines we just cut some rolls of brown paper and some small green leaves and stuck them around the house and door with painters tape.

We also decorated our snack spot and hydration station with some simple signs stuck onto animal print scrapbook paper. 

DOWNLOAD MY OTHER SIGNS BELOW:
SNACK SPOT
HYDRATION STATION
MAKE A MASK SIGN
FOOD LABELS

ANIMAL PARTY ACTIVITIES

When planning parties for toddlers, preschoolers, and school aged kids, I always like to have way too many activities planned. I'd rather have too many ideas and not enough time for them... versus a room full of bored kids that are bouncing off the walls. 

Here are five of the animal party activities we used at our party:

1. Making masks

We started off by coloring animal masks and then cutting them out and gluing them onto paper plates. The kids liked this activity way more than I was expecting. They needed a little help with cutting, but other than that it was awesome.

2. Frozen animal science

For our frozen animal science we put some plastic animals in small tupperware containers filled with water. Then we closed the containers and froze them overnight in the freezer.

Once they were frozen we popped the ice hunks out and put them in a pan for each child. Then we gave each child a turkey baster, cup of water, spoon, fork, and small cup of salt. Kids were encouraged to use their tools to extract the WILD animals from their ice. 

We had so much fun with our frozen animal science that we did it several more times over the weekend with my other kids (that didn't get invited to the kindergarten party). My son HAD to be properly dressed for our frozen animal excavations in his Dig it Up dog shirt and animal themed socks!

Once the kids got all of their animals excavated I gave them a little baggie with their name on it so they could take their animals home. They loved playing with them!

3. Giant TIC TAC TOE game

To create a giant tic tac toe game I used a white sheet and some animal print duct tape. I made the tic tac toe game board on the sheet by just sticking on the duct tape so that we had nine spots on the board. Then I printed out animal pictures and we stuck them to the back of paper plates. Each child got a set of five plates to use against their opponent.  

4. What time is it Mr. Fox? and other group games

What Time is it Mr. Fox? and games like freeze dance, etc. are perfect for parties because they are simple and require no preparation. Group games are also great fillers when you are trying to clean up or fill some time... or just get the wiggles out!  

5. Cupcake decorating

Snacktivities are always fun. For this part of the party I taught the kids how to make an owl or a monkey using a few basic cupcake supplies. Then the kids decorated their own cupcakes and either made one of the animals I suggested or created their own. It was so fun to see their creative juices working!

We also had a cheetah relay race, animal scavenger hunt, and animal BINGO planned, but we never got around to them!

After our activities the kids had snack time! Our safari snack area was filled with animal themed snacks and we also had a watering hole for when the kids got thirsty!

The party was a huge success! The kids had so much fun and they also loved wearing their new Boden Back to School clothes for their Back to School Party!

YOU CAN SHOP OUR BODEN FAVORITES BELOW:

Girls Mid Vintage Overall Dress

This dress is so cozy and my daughter can easily snap it on and off herself. I love that it is durable and cute at the same time!

Girls Navy Retro Stripe T-Shirt

My daughter loves the bright colors in this soft and comfortable t-shirt. 

Boys Dig it Up T-shirt (in Quail Egg)

My son loves anything with dogs on it, especially relaxed t-shirts. The material is flexible and soft and he could easily put the shirt on himself which was awesome!

Boys Straight Jeans

These jeans have an adjustable waist and are the perfect fit. I love the color and how sturdy they are as well! 

Owl Lunch Bag

My daughter is so excited to take her owl lunch bag to her first day of school today! It is brightly colored and easy for her to throw over her shoulder or pop in her tote bag. The owl went along perfectly with our WILD about KINDERGARTEN theme and we are sure her first day at school is going to be "OWL"-some! 🙂

7 Pack Sock Box (Creatures/Stars)

I need some of these socks for me! They are so funny that my son has to put on a new pair every few minutes. His favorites are any of the socks with teeth!

BODEN GIVEAWAY & COUPON CODE

We hope you take some time to browse the awesome Back to School collection from Boden.

For our readers, we are excited to share a coupon code: 7P6R that will give you 15% off.

We are also super excited to kick off a HUGE giveaway from Boden where one lucky winner will receive a $750 Boden gift credit! All you have to do is enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of the post. We're excited to host this giveaway with 7 other awesome blogs! Be sure to visit their sites to see the great Mini Boden Back to School outfits they put together for their children. By visiting all of the blogs, you'll have a chance to see over 20 ways to style the adorable clothes Boden has this season.

Back to School With Boden Blogs: The Chirping Moms, Fancy Ashley, Southern Mama Guide, Seven Graces, Your Modern Family, I Love You More Than Carrots, Toddler Approved and The Girl in the Red Shoes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received our outfits for free from Boden as part of this Back to School with Boden giveaway. All opinions shared in the post are mine.