Everybody's Birthday Party

The class prepares an imaginary birthday party for everyone using their bodies: blowing up invisible balloons, baking the cake, blowing out candles and dancing. It builds celebrating together, shared joy and body expression.

How to play

1. The teacher announces: “Today is the whole class's birthday!” Blow up pretend balloons by puffing and opening our arms, then hang them up stretching on tiptoes (3 min).
2. Make the giant cake: stir with the whole body, hop to add ingredients and crouch down to put it in the oven (3 min).
3. Sit in a circle around a hoop (the cake) and blow out the candles all together: one, two and three times (2 min).
4. Sing a birthday song the class made up, with claps, and each child gets a round of applause with their name (3 min).
5. Dance time! With scarves and music, dance happily; when the music stops, group hug or high five whoever is nearby (3 min).
6. Pass out pretend slices of cake and thank a friend for coming to the party (1 min).

Rules

• At this party, everyone is the birthday kid.
• I dance without pushing.
• If someone is alone, I invite them to dance.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: do the cooking and balloon gestures with arms and upper body; dance around the wheelchair.
• Autism: preview the party with picture cards and allow their name song without loud clapping.
• Hearing loss: mark changes with big gestures and flick the lights when the music stops.

Learning goals

• Feel the joy of celebrating as a group.
• Act out actions with the body in pretend play.
• Include every classmate in the party.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Hoops: 1
• Colored scarves: 25
• Music

Teacher tip

Be mindful of real birthdays: this game works precisely because it belongs to everyone, so nobody feels left out. Make up the song in class the day before so you don't need a copyrighted one.

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