Farm and Barnyard Theme Party Games

Potato peeling race! Arm each contestant with a large, baking potato and a peeler (visit your local dollar store for the peelers as they are cheap and uniform - everyone will have the same kind.) When you say "Go!" everyone is to peel their potato as fast as they can. Establish ahead of time what constitutes a 'winning potato' (i.e. all the peel off only, the peel PLUS the eyes removed, etc.) This race can also be done in heats if you are shy on peelers (timing the winner of each heat.) Here are some other ideas:
o Arm each person with more than one potato
o Mix the vegetables: Give them carrots instead of potatoes or one of each

Collect a seed from several different types of fruits. Make sure that they have had a chance to dry out completely. Be sure to keep track of which seed came from which fruit as you’ll need to know to play the game. To play, set the seeds out where everyone can see them, placed on a large sheet of paper next to a number. Each guest is to try and guess the fruit that each seed came from. The one who guesses the most correctly wins. Fruit seeds to consider are watermelon, pumpkin, cantelope, cherries, grapes, oranges, apples, avocado, peaches, nectarines, plums, (you get the idea…)

It’s always difficult getting all of those silky threads off the corn cob when your shucking corn. Well, why not make a came out of it. Give each participant one UNSHUCKED corn on the cob. When you say GO, each player is to shuck the corn as thoroughly as they can in 20 seconds. It’s not a lot of time, but it’s just right for this activity - fun and fast!

If you have a long, flat, smooth surface, consider setting up a peanut race…where the participants push the peanut across the floor…with their noses! It’s a lot of fun to watch and participate in. Just be sure that the surface is somewhat smooth for the sakes of the noses of the those playing!

Know anyone who could teach the group some country line dancing? If not, there are entertainment companies that offer individuals/instructors to come and teach it to guests at parties. This is a great activity that adult and child can enjoy together.

Ever try to find a need in a haystack? Well, it can be a great game to set up. You can either use a needle (a KNITTING needle makes for a great substitute) and for younger children you can hide smaller plastic animals to find and keep.

Cut up small cubes of several types of vegetables, the more obscure the better. Small pieces work the best. Place one of each kind in small Dixie sized cups. Have each player take one cup and write down the different vegetables that are represented in the cups. Make sure that they don’t list more vegetables than you have offered them (otherwise they’ll just list every vegetable they know just to be sure.)

Play a few rounds of Farm bingo. This also a great game to play throughout the evening, giving out squares as the party progresses. You can either create your own Farm themed bingo boards or download them from the Internet HERE.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey might be a bit overused in any other party theme…however, it couldn’t be more perfect for a farm theme!

If you have a large area of loose dirt available to you (in your backyard, etc.) hide different misc. vegetables in the loose dirt (lightly buried.) If the ground isn’t soft enough for this, you might need to take a hoe and shovel to it to loosen the dirt enough for this game. The object of the game is to ‘pick’ as many vegetable as you can from the soil in the time allotted. Assign different point values for different kinds of vegetables - the smaller, hard to find vegetables (such as baby carrots) would be worth more than potatoes, etc.

If you know anyone who has a farm or works on one, ask them if you can borrow some of their tools. Farm tools can be very interesting…and VERY mysterious if you don’t know exactly what they are used for. For a fun game, set out the different tools and have each guest offer their own guess as to what each individual tool is used for.

Plan an egg toss! This is great fun and easy to set up. Simply pair up your guests and have them toss a raw egg to each other - each pair throwing at the same time. Any pair who ends up with a broken egg after the toss is out. Once those that are out have removed themselves from the playing area, each pair steps further away (ensuring that everyone backs up an equal amount) and the eggs are thrown again. The winning pair is the one that is able to throw it the furthest without breaking the egg.

Plan a Farm Obstacle Course! Allow each guest to run the obstacle course once. Assign one area of your party space as your ‘General Store’. Then, at other places set up as your pig pen, chicken coop, corn field, apple orchard, etc. Hide different items in each of these sections (i.e. eggs hidden in a pile of hay at the chicken coop, apples hidden in the bushes in the ‘apple orchard’ etc. Assign point values to each of these items depending on how difficult the are to obtain/find. The instructions are simple: The player has exactly 2 minutes to run to the different locations to find the different items taking them to the General Store ONE AT A TIME (if they find two eggs at once, they must leave one behind and come back for it.) At the end of the two minutes, only the items that are in the ‘General Store’ will count as points for them. The player with the most points after everyone has gone through the course is the winner!

Other Resource Articles

Farm and Barnyard Theme Party Food Ideas

Farm and Barnyard Theme Party Decorating Ideas

Farm and Barnyard Theme Party Invitation Ideas