Carnivals help children bond as well as collect funds for the school. Besides, if well-planned and executed they make for some interesting fun.
Did You Know?
We can learn more about ourselves and teach kids about accepting and understanding other cultures through a carnival.
What’s colorful and fun, and has lots of candies and prizes to be won?
Well, this sounds like a carnival, and yes, it got to be fun. School days are meant for experiences, learning, and bonding, and all this takes place in a fun atmosphere. The year-end school carnival is one such event that gives children a whole lot of opportunity to explore their potential.
Talk of fun plus profit and a carnival is all we can think of. Games, food, vibrancy, and high spirits, that’s what makes a school carnival such a hot favorite among both parents and children.
Let’s get to the point, the booths for a school carnival have to cater to children specifically. Which means the games included should appeal to all ages of children. The ideas given below are sure to entertain the young minds as well as bring a smile to each face.
Hungry Me
All you Need:
✓ Cardboard boxes
✓ Soft balls
Easy to make and fun to play, the hungry clown is a favorite game at carnivals. To make it more interesting you could add a dash of paint to the soft balls to resemble a doughnut. You can make the clown using old cardboard boxes. Three tries each to feed the hungry clown. Sounds fun.
Waddle Pool
All you Need:
✓ Inflatable pool / Tin bath
✓ Rubber ducks
✓ Rings
Hide a couple of ducks with painted bottoms among a tub filled with plain ducks. Three tries to find a lucky duck and the prize is yours to take home. Sounds like some splashing fun.
Burst the Bubble
All you Need:
✓ Balloons
✓ Darts
Don’t we get fascinated with colorful balloons at the carnival? Well, this booth is sure to garner a lot of takers so keep a bucketful of darts ready. You can make it even more interesting with hidden messages stuck to the board.
Moon Walk
All you Need:
✓ Inflatable jack
Jump, jump, and jump. There should be a jump in every step. The moon walk, essentially the jumping jack, is one fun place to be. Keep it filled at all times and let the children enjoy their minute on the moon.
Pocket the Marble
All you Need:
✓ Marbles
✓ Cardboard box
Glass marbles can be loads of fun for children. All you got to do is cut out tiny holes on the cardboard box and place the box inclined. The children have to hit a marble with another and make it sit on one of the holes on the box. You can make markers with points that equate with a certain prize.
Candy Tree
All you Need:
✓ Thick foam
✓ Candy sticks
✓ Rings
What is a carnival without a candy booth? Cut out foam in the shape of a tree and stick lollipop sticks into the foam. Place a bucket of rings a few feet away and get the kids to aim their shots in the right direction.
Need for Speed
All you Need:
✓ Matchbox cars/ Small toy cars
✓ Cardboard box
✓ Dice
✓ Scoreboard
Don’t you agree that boys and cars can’t be far apart. Well, make a makeshift car race board using cardboard. Throw in some dice and a score board and get rolling. The first car to reach the finish line is the winner. The game keeps a maximum of six players occupied in one go.
Beauty Salon
All you Need:
✓ Paints
✓ Colored hair spray
Kids enjoy having their face painted. After all, it is one way of reveling in the carnival. Add in temporary tattoos and a couple of colored hair sprays to make it even more interesting.
Duck Race
All you Need:
✓ Inflatable pool
✓ Rubber ducks
✓ Squirt guns
Fill the inflatable pool with water and place a couple of ducks in the pond. Hand the students a squirting gun and get ready to race. The first duck to reach the other end of the pool wins.
Kiss with a Twist
All you Need:
✓ Lip shaped foam
✓ Ink
✓ Stamp pad
Aha! gotcha. Well, don’t be deceived by the name, the kissing booth can initiate a lot of laughs and well, lots of funds. Just kidding. Here’s what you do, make chits containing parts of the face or even the visible parts of the body like the leg, cheeks, nose, forehead, hands, palm, ear, neck etc. According to the chit you get to kiss (I mean stamp) the child.
Missile Launcher
All you Need:
✓ Squirt guns
✓ Water
Interested in creating a splash? Keep squirt guns ready to shoot water at posters or volunteers ready to get wet. You can also use plastic dolls, so that they drop with the force of water.
Bounce a Ball
All you Need:
✓ Ping pong balls
✓ Foam glasses
Participants have to bounce off three of five ping pong balls from the edge of a board into one of the polystyrene cups filled with water. The one who succeeds in the task is a winner.
Monster’s Inn
All you Need:
✓ Cardboard boxes
✓ Plastic wraps
✓ Gel / slime
✓ Plastic toys
Hide small tops in a box filled with gel or slime. Cover the box with monster cutouts. The one who dares to stick their hand into the monsters mouth gets a toy. Sounds like some gooey fun to me.
Loop the Saucer
All you Need:
✓ Hula hoop
✓ Frisbee
Three tries to send the Frisbee through the hula hoop without toppling the joker? Well, it is possible. Do remember to place a curtain behind to break the speed of the Frisbee.
Drop the Can
All you Need:
✓ Plastic bottles
✓ Ball
Aim and hurl the ball at the stack of milk bottles and scream ‘no more milk’. Nice way to went out the anger. You can paint the bottles to resemble just about anything. Have fun hurling balls.
Lucky Guess
All you Need:
Gummy bears
Large popcorn cartons
Wouldn’t it be fun to guess the number of gummy bears in the carton and take away the entire carton. You might have to keep tiny takeaways for those who come close to the right number.
That about completes my task of belching out ideas. You can use any carnival game that you feel suits the age group for your school carnival. Keep the music and fanfare going and you are sure to win the hearts of the little ones in no time.
