How do I run a building-block activity at a party?

How a building-block activity works at a party

Each table gets a shared bowl of bricks, and you read out a card that says what to build. Prompts include a birthday cake with a hidden surprise, an invented animal or a tower built without talking. Children build until time runs out, show what they made and have it photographed. Then the bricks go back so the next round starts with the same supplies.

These rounds reuse the same bricks and end with photos, not models to keep. If building is the main part of the birthday, guests can take builds home only from a separate activity with bricks bought for them to keep. To plan that, plus the food, see how to plan a building-block birthday party.

The Party Whammy challenge deck has 26 prompts in three piles: 10 easy cards for warming up, 8 timed challenges and 8 team builds. The deck is written for children aged about 4 to 10. You do not need the printed deck to use this structure. You can write your own prompts, as long as you read each one aloud before anyone takes bricks.

If you're writing your own prompts, you can find individual and team building ideas, plus a place to note supplies, helpers and pickup, in our building blocks party ideas.

Most of the preparation is counting and sorting bricks before guests arrive. Once the bowls are filled and the rules are set, the rounds largely run themselves, and you can concentrate on timing, judging and taking photos.

Get the bricks, baseplates and table ready

Put a shared brick bowl at each table and sort the pieces by size. Keep small plates and tiny bricks in the bowl's lid or on a separate tray. Count one baseplate per builder, plus two spares for relay rounds. Put the timer where everyone can see it, with the score sheet next to the host.

Before you fill the bowls, check the age labelling and any small-parts warnings on the packaging of each set you plan to use, and follow them. The challenge cards are aimed at ages 4 and up and suggest large bricks for any builder under 3 at the table, but that suggestion is not a safety rating for your particular bricks. If a younger child will be at a table, leave out any pieces whose packaging says they are not suitable for that age, including the small plates and tiny bricks in the lid or tray.

Some cards need extra items. The bridge challenge needs a paperback and chairs. The letter card needs letters in a bowl. The same-bricks race and copy-the-pattern card need matching sets of ten bricks, plus your own model for the pattern card. Get these ready before you deal the cards.

Example brick count, for illustration only: with a 30-brick allowance, a table of three needs 90 bricks and a table of four needs 120, before extras. Ten builders at tables of three, three and four need 90 + 90 + 120 = 300 bricks, plus spares for trades. Check whether your ten includes the birthday child and any siblings who will build, and add only builders you have not already counted.

• A week before: print the cards (if you are using them) and count baseplates and bricks.
• The day before: cut out the cards, draw simple pictures on the backs of the easy cards and label the piles.
• An hour before: fill the shared bowls and put each table's supplies in place.
• At the start: read the sharing rules, show one example and explain when builds will be photographed and taken apart.
• Write down who will refill the bowls, who will judge and who will take photos.

How to share the bricks fairly

Call the shared bowl the brick bank and put all the party bricks in it before guests arrive, rather than starting with private piles. Read the rules aloud and keep them short enough to repeat when needed. A counted allowance gives everyone a clear starting point. It won't prevent every disagreement, though, so stay near the tables.

Explain any exceptions before you deal the cards. The same-bricks spaceship race uses an identical set of ten bricks per builder instead of 30, so agree beforehand what counts as a finished spaceship. The rainbow card may need a set allowance of a particular colour. The pattern card needs matching pieces.

• Each builder takes 30 bricks per round and counts them once. A pair building together shares 60.
• Each builder may make one silent trade per round: hold up a piece and swap it for a matching-size piece if another builder agrees. Nobody has to trade.
• Leave spare pieces in the bank. Ask the host to refill the bowl rather than taking pieces from someone else's build.
• When the round ends, show the build, have it photographed and return its bricks before taking the next allowance.

Choose the challenges and set up the tables

Choose your cards before the party, or draw one when you are ready. The easy cards give children something familiar to build: a cake, a throne, a giant snack or the first letter of their name. Timed cards include a tower challenge, a bridge that holds a paperback for ten seconds, and copy-the-pattern. For copy-the-pattern, build a ten-brick model behind a book and give each builder a matching set of pieces. Keep the model hidden until you are ready, then show it to everyone. Explain beforehand whether builders may look at it again during the round.

Team cards include a description game, where one child describes what to build while the other looks only at the bricks. In the relay tower, partners take turns of ten seconds each. In the swap card, builds move one seat to the right after four minutes, and the new builder has the last two minutes to finish.

Run the rounds: an example 45-minute session

This example has five rounds: a warm-up with two easy cards, three timed rounds and one team round. It assumes five-minute cards for rounds 2 to 4. If you use the four-minute animal card, spend the spare minute letting children show off their animals.

The building itself takes 29 minutes. Instructions, judging, photos, resets, titles and the cleanup race add 16 minutes, making 45 minutes in total. The timings are an example to adjust, not a promise that every group will keep to them. Allow more time for judging or photos if you need it. For a larger group, give each helper a table rather than asking one adult to judge every build in two minutes.

These 45 minutes are only part of the party. Add your arrival, food, cake and pickup times, then compare the total with your invitation. See the party-day timeline.

Adjust for younger children, mixed ages and bigger groups

For children who can't read yet, draw a simple picture on the back of each easy card and read every card aloud. On team cards, pair readers with non-readers and tell each partner what their job is. During judging, a child can point at their build while their partner helps explain it.

If some children want a different pace, give each partner a clear job, explain both jobs, let them choose who starts and offer a swap partway through. See the party plan for a mix of high-energy and quiet kids.

The challenge cards are aimed at ages 4 and up. If a younger sibling or guest will sit at a building table, the cards suggest large bricks for any builder under 3. Check that the bricks you give them are labelled as suitable for their age, keep pieces that aren't out of that table's bowls, lids and trays, and have an adult sit with them.

If you don't have bricks suitable for a preschool guest, another table activity such as picture bingo may suit them better. Check that its materials fit the child's age and still arrange adult support as needed. See our preschool party games. These aren't automatically right for every child under three.

For more guests, add tables rather than making each table bigger, and give each table its own bowl and a helper. If children lose interest, switch to a backup game instead of adding more building rounds just to fill time.

Score the builds and give every child a title

Use the same four categories in every scored round. Round 1 isn't scored. Rounds 2 to 4 are scored for each builder, and round 5 gets one score per team. Each build can earn up to six points.

If a builder gets upset over a score, offer a short break and make it easy to rejoin the next round. Keep the scoring categories the same; if you change anything, make it a separate unscored build. See how to handle a child who is upset about losing.

The speed-animal card has an optional bonus for sound effects. If you use it, announce it first and write it down separately, which makes seven points possible on that card. Leave it out if you want every round to use the same six-point maximum. A race winner can get a title without extra points.

Finish the activity and send memories home

Tell children before the first round that the bricks will be used again and builds will be taken apart. The photo is the record of each build, and a paper or ribbon title is the souvenir. That way nobody expects to take a model home and is disappointed.

Photographing a build is different from posting it online. You could print favorites with a date and caption for a small album, or send them privately to families. See how to preserve birthday memories without posting children online.

The two-minute cleanup race is just how long the race lasts. It won't guarantee everything is put away, so finish the adult check before you start another activity.

• Photograph each build before its bricks go back.
• Set a two-minute timer for teams to return the bricks sorted by colour.
• Keep small plates and tiny bricks in the lid or on a tray.
• Have an adult check the floor and building area for loose pieces.
• Count the bowls back onto the shelf and look for missing bricks before cake.
• Keep food on a separate table so builders don't have to move their bowls to make room for plates.

If you'd like food that fits the theme, plan the snack break as its own step. Label dishes, and keep any food set aside for a guest with an allergy separate, with its own utensil, after confirming it with their family. See our building blocks party food ideas.

Building-block activity checklist

• Know your builder count, including whether it covers the birthday child and siblings.
• Bricks are checked so pieces in each bowl connect, sorted by size, with enough for 30 per builder plus extras.
• Age labels and small-parts warnings on each set are checked, with suitable bricks ready for any younger builders.
• There is one baseplate per builder, plus two spares.
• Cards are chosen and grouped into easy, timed and team piles, with pictures on the backs of easy cards for non-readers.
• Extra items are ready: a paperback, matching ten-brick sets and your pattern model.
• The timer and score sheet are in place, and helpers know their jobs.
• Sharing rules and card exceptions are ready to read aloud.
• There is a plan for photos, titles and cleanup, plus a backup game.

Sources and further reading

• Building-block challenge cards for a party

Related questions

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