Hand Squeeze Race

At the Party:

1. Divide your guests into two equal teams.


2. Have the teams sit on the floor in two opposing, single-file lines.


3. At the back of the two lines, place an object (such as a sauce spoon or a chef hat) within reach of the last player in each line.


4. Sit an adult between the players at the front of the lines.


5. Ask all of the children to close their eyes, except for the first and last child on each team.


6. Have each team hold hands from the front of the line to the back.


7. The adult at the front of the lines flips a coin. The two children at the front watch to see if it lands heads or tails. If the coin lands tails-up, nothing happens, and the adult flips the coin again.


8. When the coin lands heads-up, the first player on each team squeezes the hand of the second player, who then squeezes the hand of the third, and so on.


9. When the last player's hand is squeezed, he or she reaches for the object that was placed at the end of the lines.


10. The team that gets to the object first wins.


11. If desired, you can play several rounds and keep a running score for both teams.


12. If a team successfully gets the object, that team gets a point.


13. If the first player accidentally starts the squeeze chain when the coin lands on tails, that team loses a point.


14. Play continuously for 5 minutes, and see which team gets the most points in the allotted time; or, play until one team reaches a set score limit (e.g. first team to 5 points wins).