For the past few years, we’ve done a carnival during our Family Camp Weekend and sometimes during our elementary school camp, which is called Discovery. It’s been a year or two since I’ve added any new games, so I thought I would change that.

For most of the steps for these I forgot to take pictures, so for the most part it’s just the finished construction and then the painting (which may or may not have been updated yet.)

So far, I’ll be adding 3 different games.

Plinko

Plinko is great a lot of fun for younger kids, probably because of the unpredictability, sounds, and the fact that you get a prize. I decided to make this one because it really is a very simple process and doesn’t take too many supplies.

For mine, I had a 2 x 4 sheet of peg board from another project, so I decided to use that as my dimensions. I then made a frame with a thin plywood backing and used a staple gun to quickly fix the pegboard into place. I then made the slots at the bottom which determine what prize you get, out of paint stir sticks that I cut to the length. Getting them to stay in place was tricky, actually. I tried using calk, but it wasn’t strong enough, so I ended up taking some left over pieces trim that I had, and scoring them so that the stir sticks slotted into place. I then stapled those into place as well. Then I used some  3′ long 1/4″ dowels and cut them down into a bunch of 1 and 3/4″ long dowels that would fit into the pegboard. I spaced them out using an air hockey puck that we’ll use for the game to make sure it could slide it’s way down. Then I just secured that, and it was all done.

I still need to have it painted, but functionally, it’s ready.

 

Basketball Shooting Game

I’m sure we’ve all been to an arcade at one point or another and seen the basketball shooting game where you have to make as many baskets as you can in a minute. Well, I figured making something like that couldn’t be that hard, so I took a swing at it.

I decided to make mine portable, so I measured it to be about the width of a rectangular folding table and the height be about 4′ tall. I then used some smaller pieces of plywood that I had left over from something else and cut some doors that would fold out, guide the ball back down the table, and support the stand. Then it was just a matter of trimming the top of the board and ordering a small rim.

I’ll also make some smaller guard rails for this out of 1″x 4″s that can be attached to the sides to help the balls roll back. Then I’ll just raise the table up so that there’s an incline using some 4″x4″s or concrete blocks.

 

Football Throw

For our football throw, all I’m doing is taking a tarp and cutting squares out of different sizes and adding point values. Simple, easy, effective. Then I just need to hang it from our soccer goals.