COOLEST Explorer Adventure Theme Birthday Party Ideas
Hello there! I’m Zoe, and I’m really happy that you’ve found my page. I want to share all my tips and idea for an unforgettable adventure explorer party! We also have a specific section for Dora the Explorer Parties below- be sure to check these out if your kids love these characters.
I’ve got everything you need, including games, activities, music, decorations, and delicious treats. With my experience in party planning and my love for creativity, I’m here to make things simpler for you and ensure your child has a super fun day full of special memories.
I’ve included free printables in this blog post to make things easier for you. Let’s plan this party, to make it as simple as possible for you!
Top 5 Tips for the Ultimate Explorer Party
Here are the top tips for an ultimate explorer party:
- Get children to act out a real-life adventure
- Use animal print balloons and wall hangings to create an adventurous atmosphere
- DIY binocular craft activity will give them the best new prop and toy
- Use physical adventure games to use up excess energy
- Use explorer-themed music to make the atmosphere magical
And here’s the best part: you don’t need to spend a fortune to create an atmosphere of imagination and adventure for your little ones’ special day!
Game Ideas for an Explorer Party
1. Time to explore
In this game, the facilitator shouts out the actions below and children must follow the instructions for each action. The last ones to follow the actions are out and the game continues!
- Into the forest – Run to one side of the room
- Into the River – Run to the other side of the room
- Discovery time – Drop to the floor and pretend to look at something through a close-up magnifying glass
- Through the long grass – make swishy back and forth movements with arms, mimicking long grass
- Out at sea – pretend to search for land through binoculars
This is a fun, high concentration and physical game- you can always take out one of two of these actions to simplify it for younger children, or reward the fastest child to avoid having to send people ‘out’.
Pro tip: If you don’t want to upset children by sending them ‘out’ you can send them over to jump into the massive imaginary pile of jello! Squelch!!! Children will enjoy making a big squelching sound and dramatic jump- it makes everyone else laugh too.
2. Hunt Hunt Treasure!
This game is similar to duck duck goose but with a theme. It’s a great one to play as children arrive (or as children might get tired of lunchtime at different rates) as new players can easily join and it’s fun and familiar to them. Children sit in a circle facing inwards.
Child A walks around the outside of the circle and gently taps the group one by one on the head as they pass saying hunt, hunt, …..then, they choose one child (child B) to say treasure.
Child B jumps up and chases Child A around the circle. Child A has to run around the whole group and sit back in Child B’s space. If they manage, Child B becomes Child A in the next round. Otherwise, Child A has to play again until they succeed.
3. Explorer statues
This game is like musical statues- children dance to music and when the music stops they have to freeze!
Encourage them to do the craziest dancing they can manage- this is also a good strategy to get them burning as much energy as possible. You can either reward the most frozen statues or call out the funniest frozen positions.
4. Monsters’ footsteps
Explorers line up along one side of the room and at the other one child is designated monster. (The game is like Grandmother’s Footsteps). This monster faces the wall- not looking at the Explorers.
While the monster is turned away, the explorers tiptoe forwards and as soon as the monster turns around they have to freeze. If the monster catches anyone moving, they can be sent out or back to the start line. The child who manages to tap the shoulder of the monster wins.
We also have an epic Jungle Explorer Party and an Epic Dinosaur Party post.
Best Activity Ideas for an Explorer Party
1. Explorer Story
We have written an explorer story, especially for the party! It is about a group of explorers who set out on an adventure and end up on a quest for hidden treasure!
The story is attached as a free PDF download below.
You can read this aloud and even encourage the children to act it out at the party. This is a really fun activity- children will use their imaginations and feel like they’ve entered into an adventure-land! This is a nice recoup activity to refocus the children after any active game or after snack time.
Pro tip: use the story to act out a real-life adventure with the children; pretend to pack their explorer bags: what else might we need? suncream? snacks?…. Mime climbing over trees and wading through streams in the forest. Mime huddling together to shelter from the rain storm. Mime hiking through the savannah and then calibrating finding the treasure map in the bottle.
Mime them working together to climb over the rocks- maybe have them grab hands and jump up. When they get to the treasure you can have the children huddle around the birthday child who gets to open it and have the children jump about and cheer at the discovery!
2. Explorer Craft Activity
DIY binoculars!
These DIY, self-decorated binoculars will be such a fun prop for the rest of the party! Kitchen or toilet rolls can be cut in half or thirds to increase supplies for more children.
This is an awesome craft activity for kids! Setting up a craft activity can be a really great thing at the start of a party so that kids can get immediately stuck into a fun task as soon as they arrive. It is a great way to welcome kids who might be a bit shy at first.
Music & Soundtrack Ideas for an Explorer Party
Luckily, the Jungle Book has got to be one of the best Disney soundtracks of all time, so this is an easy one for out. Check out the traditional Jungle Book playlist on Spotify or we also recommend this jungle book reimagined playlist for some jazzy, fun covers of the great original songs!
If you don’t have paid Spotify you can also look for playlists on youtube or just pay for a trial subscription of Spotify on their birthday party day.
Explorer Party Decoration Ideas
Jungle-themed balloons! We think these animal print jungle balloons will be perfect for any explorer party. Create big bunches of these multicoloured, animal print balloons to tie around the room and hang all over a central party table! Check out this Amazon link for a suggestion of the vision we have in mind!
Food tables are also a great part of the decoration- if this is in the same room as the games, having it set up with a tablecloth and themed cups and plates adds to the atmosphere and it is also very functional. For example: This explorer animal set is just one very cute option!
It is inexpensive to get bespoke banners printed and this would make the decoration really special and personalized! You can even use it as a backdrop for taking photos of the guests with the birthday child as a special memento.
Music! It sounds weird but music really creates an atmosphere and adds to the feeling of the space. Movie scores can be great to have on in the background.
Explorer Theme Food & Snack Ideas
The best tip for food ideas is to keep it simple and keep it to snacks that children will love. To get the most out of the food experience, here are our ideas for adding some sparkle and creativity to the snack table!
Ultimate Explorer juice jugs
Make jugs of your child’s favourite juice but put on fun labels like ‘explorer strength potion’, or ‘night-vision potion’, or ‘puzzle-solving serum’!
Green and yellow explorer platters
This is a really fun way to make a food table loop spectacular! For an explorer theme, we suggest a green/yellow colour theme. For example cucumber and celery sticks in hummus or guacamole, Fruits: kiwi and green grapes and slices of pear, cheese and crackers, mango and pineapple.
Jungle Jello
A really fun thing to do for a party is making a huge bowl of jello and fill it with animal themes sweets! for example, you could use these frog gummies or these snake gummies, or find similar sweets locally!
You can also get little plastic figures online and put one of two inside the jelly – just be sure not to accidentally serve up on the day!
Popcorn lucky dip
Popcorn is a really fun party food that children love and can be easily customised to fit a theme. You can make a popcorn lucky dip (a total hit with all my nieces and nephews at parties) where you mix popcorn with party-themed sweets like jelly animals (for example these frog gummies or these snake gummies)!
Ultimate Ideas for a Dora the Explorer Party
Dora the Explorer is the ultimate children’s explorer character and we absolutely love her! A few years ago I ran a Dora the Explorer party! You can use any of the ideas from the blog post above for games, decorations, food and snacks with these special Dora-themed modifications!
Dora the Explorer Game Ideas
Time to explore: In this game, the facilitator shouts out the actions below and children must follow the instructions for each action. The last ones to follow the actions are out and the game continues!
- Into the forest – Run to one side of the room
- Over to the footbridge – Run to the other side of the room
- Purple backpack – Pretend to hike on a heavy backpack
- Swiper’s about – kids chant ‘swiper no swiper’
- Clue in the grass – kids crouch down and pretend to search with a magnifying glass
This is a fun, high concentration and physical game- you can always take out one of two of these actions to simplify it for younger children.
Grumpy Old Troll’s footsteps: Explorers line up along one side of the room and at the other one child is designated Troll. (The game is like Grandmother’s Footsteps). This Troll faces the wall- not looking at the Explorers.
While the Troll is turned away, the explorers tiptoe forwards and as soon as the Troll turns around they have to freeze. If the villain catches anyone moving, they can be sent out or back to the start line. The child who manages to tap the shoulder of the Troll wins.
Dora the Explorer Party Activities
A Dora-themed Spanish treasure hunt! around the room, hide 5 pictures of animals! Have a big chart with the Spanish words on it (or for younger kids- a picture of the animal_ and the children have to search until they match the animal cards that are hidden to each section of the chart!
Once they’ve succeeded play the Dora theme song ‘we did it!’
Dora Birthday Riddles Challenge
Here the children have to solve 3 riddles- this is a cute idea for the children to have to try and win before they get their snacks- as though the snacks are the reward!
Depending on the age and concentration of your kids- you might like to pick the riddles- but we suggest this ‘Fatherly’ site for cute ideas that aren’t too bewildering!
Good Luck!
Get ready for an awesome time with these budget-friendly explorer party ideas! Capture the adventurous atmosphere with loads of photos and videos for lasting memories. Let’s make your child’s explorer party dream come true!
