We’ve been thinking a lot about DIY games that you can make together at home. This project is also a great way to reuse those cardboard rolls and paper plates piling up in the recycling bin.
This ring toss game is super-easy to make, and it’s a great way to get your kids engaged in crafting as they get a game to play at the end.
The ring toss game is very easy to play for kids, as they’re aren’t a lot of rules, and it’s lots of fun. The best things about this cardboard version, compared to the traditional wooden version of the game, is that you can play this inside and not break anything, and it’s easier for small hands too.
You will need
4 large cardboard rolls (kitchen paper towel rolls are perfect
Resene test pots in White, yellow, orange, green and blue
Paintbrush
Strong glue or a hot glue gun
Small paper plates
Scissors or a craft knife
Washi tape
Cardboard box for the base (a shoe box would work, or small courier box)
Extra card for strengthening
What to do
1. Paint the cardboard rolls entirely with two coats of bright, fun colours. We used Resene ???. You may want to undercoat all the rolls first with white paint, which really makes the colours pop. Wait to dry completely between each coat.
2. While you wait for the cardboard rolls to dry, tape off two corners of the cardboard box on an angle with the washi tape. Bring the tape right down over the front and back side edges of the box.
3. Paint the two corners in Resene White, and paint the middle section with Resene Blue. Make sure you paint the top, and bring the paint right down over the side edges too. Wait to dry, then paint a second coat of both colours. Remove the washi tape.
4. While you wait for the cardboard box to dry, using scissors or a craft knife, cut large circles from the 6 paper plates. Our plates had a small lip that we could follow. Otherwise just cut large circles out from the middle, leaving the stronger sides intact.
5. Once all the paint is dry, you can glue the rolls. Cut 4 rectangles of card to make tabs, and glue these to the inside edge of the rolls, leaving half the tab outside of the roll. Now position the 4 rolls where you want to glue them to the box base. Fold over the cardboard tabs, and glue these down to the box base first. Add more glue to the bottom inside edge of the rolls too, and stick the rolls down. Then add more glue to the bottom outside edges too. The more glue the better.
6. Finally, draw on some numbers to the top of the rolls for scoring.
How to play
To play ring toss, decide on how far back you will toss your rings from. Then split the paper plate rings between 2 players, 3 rings each.
Now take turns to toss your rings, and add up any scores you get if the ring lands on a roll. Take 3 turns each in total, and add up all your scores. The winner is the one with the highest score at the end.
For hundreds more craft ideas, including DIY games, check out our School age: Creative arts section.
