Silly String New Year's Eve Countdown Activity

By Julie Pirkle

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...Happy New Year! Welcome the New Year with a preschool activity that's not only a barrel of laughs and loads of silly fun, but will challenge preschoolers to perfect their counting skills. All you need are a few cans of Silly String, a half dozen adventurous preschoolers and a wide, open space to pull off the activity of the year. The Silly String New Year's Eve countdown activity requires preschoolers to perfectly recite numbers one through 10 backwards in order to spray one of their fellow preschoolers with a good-hearted heaping of Silly String. Preschoolers will revel in delight no matter what end of the Silly String they're on.

What You Will Need

Silly String (One can for each preschooler participating)

Masking Tape

An open area outdoors to play

A Minimum of Six Preschoolers is reccomended

What to Do

Step 1:

Create a medium to large circle on the ground using the masking tape.

Note: Base the size of your masking tape circle on the number of preschoolers participating. You will want preschoolers to be able to comfortably form a complete circle by standing along the masking tape markings.

Step 2:

Evenly position preschoolers along the masking tape to form a complete circle.

Step 3:

Arm each preschooler with a can of Silly String.

Step 4:

Randomly choose a preschooler to stand in the center of the circle.

Step 5:

Tell preschoolers it's time to count down to the New Year!

Step 6:

Randomly choose a preschooler to shout out the New Year's countdown: "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Happy New Year!"

Step 7:

If the preschooler can countdown to New Year's correctly, then he/she gets to "spray" the preschooler in the middle of the circle with Silly String. If not, play moves on to the next preschooler and so on until the countdown is correctly completed.

Step 8:

Once the chosen preschooler is able to correctly countdown to New Year's correctly, he/she can choose a new preschooler to take the spot in the center of the circle.

Step 9:

Repeat the New Year's Eve countdown activity until each preschooler has had a turn to participate.

Step 10:

Now it's your turn! Have any adults present stand in the center of the circle. Instruct EVERYONE to countdown to New Year's. At the end of the countdown, let all the preschoolers go crazy with their cans of Silly String and spary the adults in the center of the circle.

Happy New Year!

---

Like this article? Get more like it in your inbox. Subscribe today to our free weekly newsletter.