Carnival Kids Can Create

September 10, 2014

An old fashioned carnival with games and prizes. Everybody is a winner. Feats of strength. Games of chance. Unusual sights; who doesn’t want to see a mermaid or a unicorn? Real mermaid might be hard but what about a picture or sculpture. They are, after all, using their imaginations. And this is, after all, a carnival so things are not always quite what they seem.
The ring leader with his “Come One, Come all” can also be the “confidence man”. Of course you’ll need customers. Children can try different roles and attitudes.
Skills/learning/benefits: language , math, creativity, fine motor, kinesthetic, extended play, role play
The Props: Boxes for bean bag toss game. Use shoe boxes of different sizes or cut holes of different sizes in a larger box. Bean bags or small balls for tossing can be made from ziploc or cloth bags. Fill them with dried beans or rice, fold them over and use tape to keep them closed. A poster board for ‘pin the tail’ games. Nerf guns for the shooting gallery.
Empty water bottles and a ball for bowling or fill them up with water or sand for the ring toss. Add any age suitable games and props. Paper, pens to make tickets; play money to spend on playdough treats (or the real thing).
Coin toss into plastic cups. Shuffle board is as easy as lego pieces on the kid table; who can get closest to the edge without going off. Or have different chalk lines for different prize levels.
Plenty of games mimic curling (it’s an Olympic sport), closest to the center of the circle wins.
Guess the weight booth with the kitchen scale and practically any thing. Use ounces or better yet use grams. You can’t go over, like The Price is Right. Within ten grams is top prize.
Fishing is easy with Tinkertoy hooks and “fish” or maybe magnet hooks and metal cars. You get the idea.
Face Painting? Put the permanent markers away!
Once you get them started they’ll probably come up with ideas you may want to copyright.
What’s a carnival without food? Cookie booth or other vendors of special treats.
Prizes; got to have prizes. Maybe bags of candy; a few jellybeans in a ziploc. Or more likely the kids will have their stuffed animals stand-in or come up with a solution of their own.

“Come One! Come All! Everyone loves a carnival!