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Good for an indoor or outdoor party is "painting" with water. Fill small spray bottles full of water and food coloring and hang a large piece of paper on the wall or lay it out on the floor. Kids will have a great time spraying the colored water and afterwards there will be a unique keepsake for the birthday child.
Play dough lets children create with relatively little mess involved. Give each child his own pile of play dough to use and keep. Simple kitchen gadgets and utensils can be used to mold and manipulate the clay (rolling pins, measuring spoons or cookie cutters are good choices).
Set up a cereal station for making different crafts. With some yarn, glue, paper and different cereal shapes the party guests can make necklaces or their own collage (and if they get hungry they can have a snack at the same time).
Get Very Messy
Kids love pretending to cook and bake, so why not let them get messy by making their own mud pies? Fill up a small wading pool with water and dirt and provide aluminum pie plates of different sizes for their culinary creations. This low-maintenance activity is sure to occupy little ones for some time.
Different painting activities let children be creative and can also double as a take away for the children when the party is done. Buy a small T-shirt or apron for each party guest and let them decorate it with their handprints.
Instead of using paint, let the children draw with chocolate pudding. Because it is edible it won't be a problem if the younger ones want to eat the "paint."
For an outdoor summer party let the children getcreative with body paint or colored body soaps before they run through the sprinklers to wash it off.
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