Wyatt had a STAR WARS party!
This has been a Star Wars year for us. We introduced the movies to the kids almost a year ago. Since then, we had a Star Wars Thanksgiving, played with Scott's old Star Wars toys when we visited Papa and Gram in Austin and we celebrated May The Fourth. What better way to continue our Star Wars year than for Wyatt to have a Star Wars 5th Birthday!
Wyatt's best buddy at school also has a June birthday, so his mom and I decided to join the party and invite the whole class. We had about 30 kids (mostly 4 and 5 year-olds). We divided them up into groups and sent then through Jedi Training.
All padawan's first received their gear. Each needed a light saber and a costume. Padawans wear a white shirt and brown belt when they are young. After every body had what they needed, we started our light saber exercises. Everyone lined up and the Jedi Dads lead the kids in some beginner sword moves followed by a balloon exercise. The kids needed to try to keep their balloon off the ground using only the force and their light saber.
Next, broke the kids up into their teams and sent them through the 5 training stations.
Battle for Naboo - The planet Naboo is in danger! The blockade (aka Scott) is holding it prisoner. The Padawans need to battle the blockade and rescue Naboo (aka the Pilates ball).
Take Out the Storm Troopers! - Here, we set up a grid of helium balloons locked into the deck. All Padawans got to go through the field of balloons (representing the storm troopers) and hit them with their swords. I think this station worked better in my mind than in practice. We had a lot of trouble with the balloons escaping. Also, when the kids were going through it, they got tripped up by all of the balloon strings. It ended up being more just hit the balloons. I think the kids liked it anyway.
Free Han Solo - Han Solo has been frozen in carbonite and we need the padawans to help free him! Unfortunately, the electronics have broken down and we need to just break open the ice to release the Han Solo trapped inside. The padawans were given spoons to help them in this task.
Pod Racing - Next up, all the padawans got to try pod racing! I borrowed a skate board and we have a long stretch of sidewalk that has a gentle slope down. The kids each wore a helmet and rode the skateboard to the bottom.
Build The Rebel Fleet - In our final station, the padawans had to build paper airplanes to represent the rebel fleet. Once they had a suitable ship to fly, we had put up a series of 3 hula hoops for the kids to fly the airplanes through, using the force of course!
After all the hard work in the training rotations, the kids had a lunch bag packed for them with delicious treats.
No Star Wars party is complete without a chance to destroy a Death Star!
Wyatt's buddy Billy did the most damage to the Death Star, but it was his sister Zara that actually took it down. Awesome!
Here are the boys as we sang them Happy Birthday! Rebecca made beautiful cupcakes lined out to be 2 intersecting light sabers.
Happy Birthday Big Boy!
