Construction site party

What it is

A building site for little builders. Children dig with toy diggers, build with boxes, and knock things down. It’s cheap, very hands-on and perfect for vehicle-mad toddlers and preschoolers.

Plan ahead

• Two weeks before: collect cardboard boxes of all sizes. Buy hard hats, vests, cones and caution tape.
• The day before: fill a sandpit or paddling pool with play sand and bury gold-painted stones or chocolate coins in foil.

Set the scene

Caution tape around the garden, cones marking “work zones”, and signs like “Hard Hat Area” and “Site Canteen”. Yellow, black and orange balloons.

Activities

Dig zone

Toy diggers, dump trucks and buckets in the sand. Children dig for “gold nuggets” and load them into trucks.

Box building

Big boxes, tape and markers. Help them build a tower, a tunnel or a garage for the trucks.

Wrecking ball

Stack boxes into a tower and let children knock it down with a soft ball. Rebuild and repeat.

Food and drink

• Lunch boxes with sandwiches, crisps and fruit
• “Rocks and gravel”: chocolate crispies and popcorn
• Dump truck cake: a toy truck tipping chocolate “dirt” (crushed biscuits)

Tips

• Keep a box of spare hard hats - they’re the main attraction.
• Put a tarp down; sand travels.