Who would have known that Roosevelt's compassion would have developed into a booming business? If this sounds unfamiliar to you, here is some stuffed animals trivia.

Theodor Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was commonly called by the public "Teddy." In one of his hunting trips in Mississippi, "Teddy" was given the chance to shoot a black bear that was captured by his hunting crew. President Roosevelt refused to kill a strapped animal, as he did not consider it to be proper hunting. At the time, this became a popular act which was translated in many newspaper drawings and caricatures of the great president refusing to kill the strapped black bear. According to Wikipedia, the story inspired a toy maker who designed a new toy, a little cute plush bear, which he named "Teddy's Bear." Needless to say that the name and the toy, caught on very fast and developed into a craze. Although we take the name for granted, this is how teddy bears got their English name. Even in many other languages, they are still called the same.

Now just imagine what a great story this would make at a kid's party. It would be both informative and fun. To make it even more fun, you could have the kids start drawing the scene of the president refusing to shoot the bear and create their own newspaper page. While telling the story, you could get a toy soldier and a naturally looking teddy bear so that you can create a better image for them. All you would need for the fun craft would be some coloring paper, pencils, colored crayons and some letter stickers. Have them draw the scene, then place it on a big piece of paper and then let them create a catchy title that they can put as the front page news. Then cut some paragraphs from newspapers to give the page some consistency and there you have it. They created their own newspaper page. As a reward you could give each of them a little black teddy bear. Although the newspaper page is sure to feel as a great reward by itself.

Another fun game for a party is again by using stuffed animals. How about you create a miniature version of a boardwalk for kids? You only need a few stations. One of them could be a basketball station. Simply get one of those little wall hoops that you can stick anywhere. Assign the number of tries, the distance from where they can throw and the prize they would get with each winning throw. Do not make it too hard, but hard enough to be challenging. You can make the big prize to be plush animal such as a big stuffed tiger, stuffed lion or even a teddy bear. This will make the game even more fun.

Another station could be your own version of the fishbowl game. Get different sized containers and arrange them relatively close to one another. Give each kid three chances to through a small soft ball and get it inside the containers. The smaller the opening of the container (it can be as big as a cereal bowl and as small as a water bottle) the bigger the prize. You can start with smaller prizes such as crayons and build up to the grand prize of a teddy bear or any other stuffed animals.

To get some teamwork going, you can create a place for a little bowling arena. Have the kids split into two teams. The team who knocks down the most pins after let's say ten tries is the winning team. Have the winning team get a small plush toy such as a stuffed tiger and the other team get the second prize which would be a pack of crayons. This way everyone is a winner. Some trivia, some boardwalk games and some fun stuffed animals and you will surely have a great party that the children will love and that you will have fun planning. So go ahead! Look for all the boardwalk games, crafts and of course all those great stuffed animals and have an amazing time!