Handmade games: DIY craft ideas you can make and play
We’ve put together a collection of DIY game ideas you can make and play.
Crafts are great not only for indoor play, but also for activities in childcare settings and as summer break projects for elementary school students.
And if what you’re making is a game, kids can enjoy playing with it even after the crafting is done—which they’re sure to love.
In this article, we introduce a variety of games you can make by hand.
If you’re looking for handmade game ideas, feel free to use this as a reference.
Since they’re handmade, it’s also fun to set your own rules and difficulty levels!
Handmade Games: Craft Ideas You Can Make and Play (1–10)
billiards
A handmade billiards toy—but not a small board game.
Let’s make a handmade billiards set that lets you play a billiards-style game using your arms and body.
The key feature of this craft is the cue, the stick used to strike the ball.
In real billiards, you steady your hand and manually slide the cue to strike the ball.
The twist in this project is that the cue has a rubber band built in, so it moves automatically using a spring-like action.
The rebound makes the cue snap and strike the ball.
The balls are made by crumpling paper, so they’re light and easy to handle, making it fun even for small children.
crane game
How about enjoying the ever-popular arcade crane game at home, daycare, or kindergarten? Connect several straws to create a crane axis, and tie on a piece of kite string with a clip attached.
Thread the axis through a cardboard cutout box, and when you rotate the straw section, the clip catches the items inside so you can lift them up—mechanism complete! Fill it with light items like empty candy boxes or small figurines and play over and over—a game packed with excitement.
Balance game
This is a balance game where you hang fruit on a wobbly tree without letting it topple over! Bundle a few bendable straws together to make a tree, and clip a clothespin to the base to keep it in place.
Prepare either the top or bottom half of a capsule and glue a marble inside.
Attach the straw tree you made to the rim of the capsule, and the main body of the balance game is complete! Draw fruit on paper, add rubber bands, and hook them onto the straw branches so the tree doesn’t fall.
The depth of the capsule changes how wobbly it is, so adjust the difficulty and have fun experimenting.
Cardboard bowling
Perfect for a summer vacation craft: a cardboard bowling game where you knock down pins with a marble! Use small pieces of cut cardboard to make the pins and a launcher shaped like a slide.
Mark guides on the lane for where to place the pins, and add a slight slope so the launched marble naturally rolls back.
Then finish by painting and decorating it with a bowling alley theme! Fine-tuning the angles can be tricky, making it a rewarding project to tackle—ideal for a long break when you can take your time.
Give it a try!
Tetris game
Tetris is the classic puzzle game where you combine randomly falling block shapes to complete lines.
How about making a Tetris-inspired puzzle using cardboard? Prepare a piece of cardboard with a grid of squares and a set of randomly shaped blocks, and aim to fill the grid perfectly, just like in Tetris.
If you decorate the blocks with bright colors, the different shapes will be easier to tell apart and it will make the game more fun.
It’s also great to split the playfield into two sections and play head-to-head as a versus game.
Basketball board game
Recreate basketball as a board game! Combine cardboard to build the mechanism, and make the basketball hoop by cutting a small paper cup into a mesh pattern.
To launch the ball, assemble a device from cardboard, ice cream sticks, a plastic bottle cap, and rubber bands so it moves like a seesaw.
Once all the parts are glued together, you’ll have a finished board game that lets you experience basketball on a tabletop.
Since you’ll be using a utility knife, be sure to closely supervise children if you’re making it together.
Sticky Game
It’s a sticky game you can play using only chopsticks and a round cutter like the kind used to cut cookie dough! Gather the colored chopsticks together and fit them inside the round cutter; then stand them up and spread them out in a spiral to set it up—ready to play.
Roll the dice and pull out one chopstick at a time matching the color you rolled.
Whoever drops the cutter or topples the chopsticks loses.
The suspense of wondering if it will collapse is similar to Jenga, but pulling out chopsticks rather than delicately removing blocks might be easier for kids to play.
Curling game
Let’s make a curling game—familiar as an Olympic sport—using cardboard and plastic bottle caps.
Use a rectangular piece of cardboard as the field, attach a printed target sheet, and slide bottle caps (as stones) toward the center of the target.
Depending on the thickness of the target paper, the stones may catch, so laying a PVC sheet over the entire field is recommended to make it smoother and improve the stones’ glide.
Also, if you put a marble inside the bottle cap and launch it, the stone will move more smoothly while being harder to control, which enhances the gameplay.
By adjusting factors like the distance to the target, you can create a thrilling, heated competition.
Whack-a-mole with paper cups
Instead of whacking moles, this is a new kind of whack-a-mole game where you capture them by covering them with a hammer! Draw mole pictures on several paper cups, then make hammers by attaching handles to paper cups of the same size.
After that, just cover the moles that are placed out with your hammers, stacking them up as you go.
The person who captures the most moles wins! You don’t need a special base—just place the mole cups upside down on a table or the floor—so you can set it up anytime and enjoy it easily.
gacha gachi
The fun of gachapon is that excited moment when you turn the knob and wait to see what comes out.
Here’s a DIY gachapon project you can enjoy at home, letting you experience the thrill of turning the knob yourself.
Since you make it on your own, you’re free to decide what to put inside and fill it with your favorite items.
Once you understand the mechanism and structure, it’s not all that difficult to build.
If you make the box and the balls inside colorful, you’ll have a wonderful, original gachapon.
Try playing with your friends using your finished creation!