You can jump and play games on your jumping castle

You’ve got the jumping castle up and ready to go, now what? Believe it or not, 99.9% of children can happily entertain themselves for ages on a jumping castle without adult intervention. The sheer joy of bouncing, the feeling of weightlessness and being able to knock down your mates without fear of being told off is pretty hard to beat.

However, the last thing you want at your party is your guests going completely bonkers, so a little bit of order and boundaries in the form of a party game is absolutely a good thing. For starters, you may want to invest in a whistle to help get the kiddies attention (unless you are one of those lucky people who can whistle loudly).

Simon Says

Start with the basics to get them in the mood to listen to you. Try a game of “Simon (or mum) Says” or maybe a game of musical statues with their favourite song cranked up! You may need some parent helpers to assist you with spotting the “movers”.

Once the kids are a little calmer and ready to listen to instructions, you may want to try a game of “musical cushions” (obviously chairs on the castle are not really going to work). The kids love this game and can play for ages. While you have the cushions out, you can have a go at duck-duck-goose. The kids think its hilarious running on the jumping castle, and it looks funny too! You can get them into a circle by getting them to sing “ring a ring a rosies” or if they are older, start in the middle together and then walk out till only their fingers are touching.

If you want to be PC you can have a round of pass the parcel, where everyone gets a prize. Then offer another prize for the person who collects the most discarded wrapping paper (this is a nifty way to get your jumping area to be nice and clean for the next game).

Blind Man’s Bluff

Another popular game is “Blind Man’s Bluff”. To prevent injuries and to stop kids falling off the castle, this is a crawling game. Tie a scarf over a volunteer child’s eyes and set him loose to find his mates. To make it fair, everyone has to be crawling in this game. This game can easily be changed to “marco-polo” if they are having difficulty catching anyone.

To get everyone back in the swing of things, throw in a couple of balloons and set a challenge of having to keep them up in the air for 2 minutes – it’s harder than it looks! If you have any balloons left that haven’t popped, you can get the kids into teams and play a game of “over-under” or “tunnel-ball” – you won’t believe how difficult it is to balance on the castle whilst other people are moving. It won’t be long before they are in fits of laughter.

Your Portable Playground

These are only a very small taster of the multitude of games and challenges you can enjoy on your jumping castle. It is a flexible, portable playground, designed for safety and fun. So get creative! The castle is in itself a game so nothing you come up with will ever be a flop I promise you, as long as you end with a “now bounce as high as you can”!

So get ready to enjoy yourself, grab your camera and your best “big voice”. Consider emailing / texting action shots of children to parents as part of their “party bag” (it will save you writing thank you letters later). Apart from some very minimal supplies, the only cost involved may be your sanity and that can be sorted with a very large cup of tea afterwards (or maybe something a little stronger).

Happy jumping, your friends at Grasshopper Jumping Castles.