here are some ideas for a school fete that I have seen work well.

guessing game: fill a jar with jelly beans, do count the jelly beans into the jar so you know exactly how many jelly beans are in the jar. Each kid pays 10 cents to guess how many jelly beans are in the jar. The child that guess the right number or the nearest to it gets to keep the jar of jelly beans. Make a board up with the numbers from say 200 – 400 (if your number of jelly beans is between those numbers.. say 327…) on it so each child who pays can write their name on the square with the number for their guess. When all of the numbers are filled… or you think enough guesses have been sold…you announce the winner. You could prepare more jars and more boards to do it all over again.

if you had a little more time I would suggest getting your daughter to plant seeds and you could sell seedlings. Use margarine tubs, or any other handy container to add some seed raising mix and seeds and water regularly until seeds are an inch or two high. Perhaps next year you and your daughter can do this. Choose seeds of plants that children can easily grow in their garden at home. Alternatively you could arrange with the school to set up a small vegie garden patch and the kids could plant the sedlings in the school garden. If this idea appeals to you talk to the teachers this year and arrange for it next year and you will find the teachers will include suitable units of study around healthy food and or gardening leading up to the fete to fit in with your idea. The school gardener or some volunteer parents may be more than willing to prepare the seed bed for the kids.

You can make mini gardens for kids to take home and grow. Fill the foot of a pantyhose with chive, wheat, or other similar plant seeds and peat coir, this can be bought in compressed blocks at the major supermarkets and hardware stores, make a ball shape with the coir and tie off sew on two eyes and a mouth. The kids take these home put them on a plate or saucer so something similar and water then well and leave them in a window to grow.

You could make puppet kits for kids to take home and make. Or set up a table for them tomake them at the fete. Simple finger puppets are easy. Buy some felt say yellow and red and little eyes and cut the felt into the right shape for a finger puppet and the red felt into mouth shapes. Add some heavy thread and tell the kids that they will need to ask mum for a suitable sewing needle to darn the edges of the puppet, though if you are making these onsite you will need to supply the needles and supervision. blunt needles will go through felt easily.

I hope these ideas at least spark an idea for you.