by Brie The excitement of our kids getting older is often tempered by the horror of having to plan another birthday party. Themes? Games? Activities? What to do.

Here's an idea.

We went to a great birthday party at the Canada Agricultural Museum this past summer. I was so impressed with the entire party. The kids had a great time and were kept busy from the moment they arrived. It would be a great location for birthday parties in the colder months, thanks to the larger indoor party room.

Want to know what we did? Since we were the first guests to arrive the kids ran around the party room and played some of the games set up, like this one where you throw the bean bag through the animals mouths.

While we waited for the other kids to arrive, my two coloured and decorated their party hats. These hats were a big hit and the girl was still wearing hers when we left the party and headed home.

With the guests all there the party leader taught the kids how to make ice cream and let them help by stirring and pouring the ingredients. When all the ingredients were mixed together the ice cream maker was turned on and we headed off for a guided tour of the farm.

The first stop was the cow barn. This picture may not look like much but it was proceeded by some very exciting back-end activity from the cows. There was the expected pointing and yelling from intrigued 3 and 4 year olds.

The tour of the barn took some time what with the kids saying hi by name to every cow we passed. A real highlight of the tour was that the kids all got to take turns brushing and petting a calf. The calf was very good natured about it all.

And just in case the kids ever need to know how to milk a cow, they had a chance to practice on this display.

After we left the cows we toured the rest of the farm, making sure to say hi to all the animals. The kids were pretty tired by the time we made it back to the party room, but they quickly perked up with cake and yummy homemade ice cream.

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.