Great for festival stalls! Handmade game ideas
Festivals are one of the events everyone looks forward to, aren’t they? In addition to local community festivals, they’re also held as events at preschools, schools, and senior facilities.
If you’ve been put in charge of a booth, you might be wondering, “What should I do?” In this article, we’ll introduce handmade games that are perfect for festival stalls.
Along with classic games like target shooting and yo-yo fishing, we’ve gathered a variety of ideas that both children and adults can enjoy.
We’ve focused on things that are easy to make with readily available materials, so feel free to use this as a reference!
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Recommended for festival stalls! Handmade game ideas (1–10)
ring toss
Ring toss is a game that people have enjoyed for ages.
Its charm is that everyone—from kids to adults—can have fun together.
You can easily make your own and enjoy it using cardboard and empty plastic wrap tubes.
Cut a few holes in the cardboard and attach the wrap cores.
Make the tossing rings by cutting them out of cardboard, too.
Add point values, and if you include a prize for high scores, it’s sure to get even more exciting.
It’s the perfect game for a summer festival.
grab bag
How about a grab-and-go game where you fill a box with lots of sweets and let people scoop them up with a ladle or their hands? It doesn’t cost much, and the treats can be eaten on the spot or taken home as souvenirs, so grab-and-go stalls are very popular.
It’s exciting and fun when someone manages to grab a lot of candy.
When preparing a large quantity, it’s convenient to use a local candy wholesaler or online shops.
If you put the sweets in a large inflatable pool and use toy grabber hands, it adds even more of a game-like feel.
Whac-A-Mole
If there’s a whack-a-mole game at the festival, both adults and kids are guaranteed to have a blast! Make one by hand and liven up your summer festival.
Adults should handle decorating the cardboard base and cutting the holes.
It’s the kids’ turn to make the moles.
Using empty egg cartons and construction paper, you can create round, cute moles.
Have the children draw the faces, too, to give each mole lots of character.
Also let the kids take charge of moving the moles in and out by attaching them to wooden chopsticks.
You’re sure to have an exhilarating game on your hands.
Recommended for festival stalls! Handmade game ideas (11–20)
PET bottle darts
How about planning a “PET Bottle Darts” game for your festival stall that anyone can enjoy anywhere? All you need are plastic bottles and chopsticks! Place plastic bottles with the caps removed on the floor, aim, and drop a chopstick.
If it lands in the bottle’s mouth, you win! You can adjust the difficulty by changing the size of the bottles.
Decorate the bottles cutely to match the festive atmosphere.
Since this game uses quite a few chopsticks when there are many participants, prepare plenty by splitting each pair into two sticks.
Lucky Ball
Lucky Ball varies in how it’s played and set up depending on the region.
Similar attractions are popular at places like Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan.
You line up cups or drill holes in a board to make a grid target, then toss balls about the size of a baseball.
Decide your own rules—like getting the ball into a designated color or lining them up vertically or horizontally like bingo.
As long as you can throw a ball, anyone can enjoy it, young or old.
And don’t forget to prepare some eye-catching, luxurious prizes!
ball throwing
Here’s a ball-toss game idea you’ll want to try whenever you have a large cardboard box.
Unfold and extend the flaps that normally close the box, and secure them with packing tape so they become part of the structure.
On the surface of the box, sketch your choice of shapes—circles, squares, triangles—and cut them out with a utility knife.
You throw balls into the holes in the cardboard, so it’s even more fun if you vary the hole sizes, like small circles and large triangles.
Once the holes are done, add your favorite illustrations—animals, plants, anything you like—to finish it off.
Instead of balls, you can also aim with crumpled newspaper.
It’s easy to make with everyday materials and is sure to be a hit.
Strikeout
Here’s an introduction to a strikeout game using cardboard.
You can use cardboard boxes from large purchases or the ones used in place of shopping bags.
Make a frame with nine square openings for the targets, and create cardboard targets labeled with the numbers 1 through 9.
Strikeout is a game where you knock down the targets by throwing beanbags or soft balls at them.
We’ll add a few tricks to make sure the cardboard targets fall over nicely.
Attach each target to the frame with tape only along the bottom edge, and add a straw as a stopper so the target doesn’t fall backward before it’s hit by the beanbag or ball.
It’s a clever, easy-to-enjoy idea game with just a bit of ingenuity.