Noah's Ark Birthday Party Theme

Noah's Ark is a fun birthday party theme for any birthday, especially second birthday's (two x two), twins and sibling birthday's. 

Noah's Ark Decorations
Outside:
Hang balloons and yellow and black "Animal Crossing" signs on the mailbox.
Scatter hay along the sidewalk and walkway to the front door (or party area).
Place a few hay bales outside in the front yard.
Draw or stencil sets of different animal prints on the sidewalk or walkway to the house.
Place a large "Animal Crossing" sign on the front door.
Decorate the front door to look like a wooden entrance into a ship.  Make a construction paper "plank" that looks like wood that guests will step across to enter into the "Ark".
Inside:
Decorate the party table like an ark with brown table cloth and yellow balloons.
Or decorate the party table with a blue table cloth and rainbow colored helium balloons.
Cut out silhouettes of  animals and hang them from the ceiling and/or place them on the back of the party table chairs.
Make a large rainbow with balloons or paint one on butcher paper to hang in the party room.
If your party table will be outside place hay bales around it for the children to sit on.

Noah's Ark Icebreakers
Animal Sounds - Before the party copy and print out sets of animal pictures.  Make sure there are only 2 of each animal.  Cut them out and fold so no one can see what the picture is - then place in a jar or container.  When guests arrive they pull a picture from the container and have to make the sound of that animal.  They must find their match by only using the sound of the animal.  When they find their match they can stop making the sound.

Noah's Ark Party Activities
Petting Zoo - Hire a petting zoo to come to the party and let the children pet different types of animals.

Bounce House - Rent a bounce house that looks somewhat like an Ark.  If you can't find one that looks like a house or boat don't worry ... kids have great imaginations.  

Make an Ark out of a refrigerator / appliance box or cover a Little Tykes playhouse with brown butcher paper to make an Ark for the children to play in.

Rainbow Piñata - A piñata is always fun at a birthday party.  See our Pinata page for tips on how to set it up.

Face Painting - Paint the party guests faces like different animals on the Ark.

Noah's Ark Party Games
Follow the Leader - Fun classic game that children love.  Have an adult lead the children instructing them to do everything the leader does.   Skip, hop, walk like a duck, turn in circles, etc. 

3 legged Race - Divide party guests into teams of two.   Set a cone or object at the other side of the play area for them to run around and then back to the start.  Tie the teams together with rope or just have them lock arms for the race.  The first team around the cone and back wins!  Play several rounds.

Catch the Elephants Tail - This is a fun tag game for when you are outside or have plenty of space to run.  Guests will line up and hold hands.  They can not let go of each other's hands for any reason.  The first person in line (the head) tries to tag the last person in line (the Elephant's tail).  When the first person has tagged the "elephant's tail" then the "tail" comes to the front of the line and becomes the "tagger".  Continue until everyone has had a chance to catch the elephant's tail.

Elephant, Elephant, Giraffe - Children sit in a circle on the floor. The birthday child (patter) starts by walking around the outside of the circle and patting the head of each child. Every time they pat a head they call out "elephant". Then they choose one person to be the giraffe and yell "GIRAFFE!" when they pat their head.   The “patter” then runs clockwise around the circle and tries to sit down in the place of the giraffe before they are tagged. If the giraffe tags the patter then the giraffe sits back down and the patter starts again. If the giraffe doesn’t tag the patter then the giraffe becomes the patter and the game starts again.

Rainbow Tag - If it's pretty outside and you've got the room to play - this is a fun game!  
Object of the Game: To avoid being caught by the rainbow catcher.
First: Choose a “rainbow catcher”. They will stand in the middle of a large play area. Next assign all the remaining players different colors of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. (Don’t let the rainbow catcher hear what colors each person is assigned.)
Play: The rainbow catcher then calls out a color. All the players that have been assigned that color try and run past the catcher to the other side of the play area. The rainbow catcher tries to tag as many of children as they can before they reach the other side. The kids who are tagged become rainbow catchers and stand in the middle to help tag other players on the next round. Sometimes the rainbow catcher can yell “Rainbow!!” and all the players must try and reach the other side. The last person caught becomes the new rainbow catcher.

Animal Roundup - You will need 2 balloons and 1 broom for each team.  Before the party decorate balloons to look like Noah's ark animals.  Example: Giraffe's - orange balloons with eyes and noses drawn on with permanent marker and a piece of brown curling ribbon tied to the tied off end of the balloon for a tail.  Elephants - Grey balloons with black tails.  Divide party guests into 2 teams.   At one end of the playing area line the teams up one behind the other and at the other end of the playing field place 2 cones or objects that the children will have to run around before they can come back to their line.   Give each team 1 broom and 2 matching balloons.  One by one they must "herd" the balloons with the broom to the cone and back.  First team with all their players done wins.   Make extra balloons just in case some of them pop on the course.

Noah's Animals Scavenger Hunt - Buy plastic animals in pairs - you will need many different types of animals so that no pair is alike.  Before the party hide the animals separately in the party room, backyard or park.  Tell the children that they are to go out and bring back the animals in pairs - two by two.   When the children find an animal they can take it and look for another animal that matches it.  They can only have one animal in their hand at a time until they find the match to the animal they have.  When they find the match they bring it to a prize table and get to pick a prize.  Then send them out to look for another pair.
Variation:  Hide Dove eggs (Easter eggs) and let the children find them. 

Water in the Ark -  This is a fun relay and kids love it ... careful, they can get wet! You will need Two large tubs filled with water and two smaller containers that are equal in size.  The idea is to get water from the larger containers, run across an area (more then 20 feet) and put the water into the smaller containers.  The team that fills their container first wins.  There are several ways to do this - you can transfer the water using spoons, sponges or, our personal favorite, plastic cups with a few holes punched in the bottom.  Divide the guests into two teams and have them line up behind one another.  One by one they take their "water carrier" and dip it into the big bucket - run across the play area and then put the water into the smaller container.  Then they run back and hand off to the next player on their team.  This continues until one team has filled their water container to the top - or to a pre-determined mark.  

Noah's Ark Party Food Ideas
Cotton Candy (clouds)
Rainbow fruit tray or Rainbow Fruit kabobs - alternate fruit on a plate or a kabob to look like a rainbow - strawberries (red), oranges (orange), pineapple pieces (yellow), kiwi slices (green), blueberries (blue) , grapes (purple)
Kool-aid or Sprite (with a little food coloring) in the primary colors of red, yellow and blue in 3 separate pitchers.  With these colors you can mix drinks for party guests in any color of the rainbow.  Green = yellow + blue, Orange = red + yellow, Purple = blue + red.

Rainbow colored Pepperidge Farm fish crackers
Rainbow sherbet
Set up a rainbow colored ice cream bar with separate dishes to hold different colored candies to top their ice cream. 
Let guests decorate their own cupcakes - set out separate dishes of frosting in the rainbow colors.  Let them decorate with rainbow sprinkles or other candies.
Gatorade
Pigs in a blanket
Chicken Tenders
Animal Crackers
 

Noah's Ark Party Favors
Beanie Baby animals
Animal Noses (see Oriental Trading party favors)
Large suckers
Rainbow colored pinwheels
Skittles
Crayons or paint sets
Plastic sets of animals
Bagged cotton candy (clouds)
Boxes of animal crackers
Fruit snacks in animal shapes

Noah's Ark Party Goody / Loot Bag ideas
Solid color bags in all the colors of the rainbow - tie a pretty rainbow ribbon on the top.
Tie party favors up in solid or rainbow colored bandanas or squares of fabric.
Animal shaped containers.