Whether you’re throwing a ballerina-themed party or just looking for ways to entertain students between ballet classes, these fun games will keep young ballerinas on their toes!

Ballerina Says

This game is played just like the old favorite, Simon Says. The person who is it will give commands that include things related to ballet, such as “Ballerina says stand on one foot” or “Ballerina says twirl.”  Anytime the Ballerina issues a command without prefacing it with “Ballerina says,” players who go ahead and perform the task anyway are asked to sit out of the game.

Play continues until only one player remains. That player then gets a turn to be the ballerina in charge.

Ballerina Queen Relay

In this game most of the players are ballerina princesses who are trying to get their queen ready for the royal ballerina ball. Divide the party guests into two teams. Ask them each to choose one player to be the Ballet Queen. Have the queens and their princesses gather behind a starting line. At the other end of the play area, place two sets of ballerina queen costume items, such as tutus, leotards, ballet slippers, play jewelry and tiaras. Make sure you have as many items as you have players per each team.

The princesses must line up and one at a time, race to the spot where the queen’s costume is, pick out one item and bring it back to the starting place.  When all of the items have been retrieved, it is time to dress the queen. The first team’s queen to be dressed in all of her ballet attire wins.

Ballerina Freeze Tag

This game is played just like the old favorite game of freeze tag, but on tip toes – with a magic wand.

To play ballerina freeze tag, you will need a magic freezing wand for the ice princess ballerina (the player who is “it”). Instead of merely tagging the other players with her hand, she will lightly tap them with her magic wand, instantly freezing them in place. The players must run on their tiptoes as much as possible during the game.

Lucky Slipper

To play this game you will need several ballet slippers of one color and a single ballet slipper of a different color from the rest. You will also need enough trinkets so that each ballerina can win a prize. Place all of the ballet slippers into a box or bag (a frilly or satin pillowcase works well) and shake them up. One at a time, have the party guests draw a slipper from the bag. If a player draws the odd colored slipper, she wins a prize. If she draws a common colored slipper, she places it back in the bag and goes back to the end of the line. Play until everyone has drawn the lucky slipper and won a prize.  Place a bunch of slippers in a bag with one different color. If the game starts running too long, you can start removing some of the ballet slippers from the bag to increase the odds of a player picking out the lucky one.

Ballerina Freeze Dance

Put on your favorite ballet music and ask them to ballet dance as the music plays. Stop the music at random intervals. Each time the music stops, have the girls freeze in place, remaining in whatever pose in which they were caught. Keep the music off for a few seconds. Anyone who breaks her pose is out of the game. Start the music again and continue this process until only one ballerina remains.

Who’s the Ballet Teacher?

To play this game, choose one player to leave the room. When that player is gone, the remaining players choose one person to be the ballet teacher. The girls will dance to ballet music, and the “teacher” will change moves at random. The rest of the dancers must follow the lead of the teacher and change moves, too. The trick is for the other players to watch the leader and quickly change moves, so that it is hard to tell who is leading. Bring the other player back into the room and allow her to observe for a few minutes. Ask her to guess which player is the ballet teacher. If she guesses correctly, she wins a prize.  

Musical tutus

Have the girls gather around a row of tutus on the floor. Play some music and have them walk around the tutus as the music plays. When the music stops, they must each put on a tutu and sit on the floor. The last one to do so is out, the rest of the players put their tutus back on the floor and begin circling them until the music stops again. The game continues in this manner until only one player remains.

Ballerina May I?

This game puts a ballet theme on the classic children’s game of Mother May I? Choose one player to be the ballerina. She stands on one side of the room and the rest of the girls stand on the other side of the room. The ballerina calls out the girls by name and instructs them to take a certain number of ballet steps toward her. For instance, “Katie, take one pirouette forward.” Katie must ask, “Ballerina May I?” If she asks, the Ballerina will tell her yes and she will move forward. If she forgets to ask, she must remain at (or later in the game go back to) the starting line. The first player to reach the ballerina wins.

Ballerina, how do you Dance?

Have kids sit on the floor and then call out one of the player’s name. If the name of the child is Lily, you would say “Lily, Ballerina, how do you dance?” Lily has to get up in front of the players and perform a ballet move. When she is done she calls out another player in the same way. That player gets up and performs another ballet step. Play goes on until everyone has had a turn.