7 Ways to Make the Super Bowl Fun for the Kids
By Danielle Alexander
Super Bowl Sunday is upon us, and although we’d all love to kick back with a cold one and watch the game, this just isn’t a reality for those of us with little ones around. Here are some suggestions, though, on how to keep the kids both busy and entertained during the big game this year.
Football Field Party Table
Whether this ends up being where the kids eat their Super Bowl snacks or complete their football-themed arts and crafts, this fun football field party table from anightowlblog.com will surely keep them sitting for a while. With green felt, white duct tape, white vinyl and pre-cut numbers, you and/or the kids attending can easily create this look for your own get together.
Super Bowl-Themed Snacks
Kids are seemingly always hungry but seem to be hungriest when their parents have just sat down. With that said, stock up on easily accessible, kid-friendly munchies like the following, so you can watch at least some of the game:
Pigskins in a Blanket
A delicious option is Pigskins in a Blanket by Pillsbury. These crescent dog footballs require two, 8 oz. cans of Pillsbury™ refrigerated crescent rolls and 48 cocktail-size smoked link sausages or hot dogs. Don’t forget the mustard, so that you (or the kids!) can draw on the stitching!
Fruit-Filled Football Helmet
To encourage healthier eating on what is usually more of a junk food-filled evening, check out this Football Helmet Fruit Salad. Buy a full watermelon at the store, cut it into a helmet shape and hollow it out, saving the watermelon for one of many additions to the finished fruit salad. To prevent choking, be sure to spend time dicing the fruit (especially grapes!) into smaller-sized pieces just in case a little one helps themselves without anyone seeing!
Nutter Butter Referees
Whether your favorite team wins or loses, a celebratory dessert is a must for kids (and adults!) on the Super Bowl. Check out these basketball referees, which can easily become football ones! You’ll need four ingredients: 20 Nutter Butter cookies, 4 oz. of vanilla candy coating, black frosting and edible candy eyes. After melting the candy coating, dip half of the Nutter Butter into the coating and place on wax paper to set. Once hardened, draw four black vertical lines down the vanilla candy coating and create their faces. Don’t forget to stick on the eyes! Note: keep a watchful eye of these snack as some guests and/or kids may have allergies to nuts!
Football Bingo
With playpartyplan.com’s printable football bingo cards, you’ll just need scissors, markers of some sort (Goldfish, pretzels, etc. would work!) and prizes to play. Each card includes a number of things you’d see football players do, as well as a variety of football-related items that are sure to come up throughout the Super Bowl game. During the game, have the kids join you on the couch, and when they notice an action or item from their bingo card occur on TV, they’ll use their markers to cover each box until they get a bingo. Football-related prizes may be fun; however, you know your crowd best!
Commercial Bingo
The bingo game does not have to stop when the commercials come on. Instead, switch out the kids’ playing cards to thesassysouthern.com’s Big Game Commercial Bingo one. Encouraging a blackout card may even keep them engaged (and therefore sitting) longer!
Homemade Football
This Super Bowl-themed craft from selectionsbysisters.com would be fun for most children, but it is definitely a good one for the younger-aged kids as it is not messy and can be completed in only a few minutes. You’ll need brown construction paper, shredded newspaper, white yarn, scissors, a single-hole punch and glue. Depending on the ages of the children, you can either allow them to follow the steps to create their own football or you can prepare the materials in advance, prior to guests arriving.
Football Coloring Pages
Coloring may seem like a cop-out when it comes to party planning, but it can really go a long way, especially when there are multiple page options and plenty of copies to go around. Twistynoodle.com has a handful of fun, football-themed coloring choices for children of all ages.
Football Word Search
Kids, even starting as young as four, can participate in not just finding words in a football word search like this but discovering as many as they can during one of the commercial breaks. Whoever finds the most words during the time frame wins a prize!
Freelance writer Danielle Alexander is the managing editor for Detroit Mom and editorial coordinator for West Bloomfield Lifestyle and Birmingham Life magazines. She wishes everyone a fun Super Bowl and Happy Valentine’s Day.