Carnival Games For Kids

These Carnival Games for kids are perfect for birthdays and other celebrations. Tailor it to your theme or party occasion by changing the colors, decorations or prizes. These are also great games for School Carnivals and Fairs.

Quick Link to Each of Our Carnival Games for Kids

• Duck Pond
• Tic Tac Toe
• Ball Toss
• Plinko
• Penny Drop
• Bean Bag Toss
• Race Car Game
• Parachute Man Game
• Ring Toss
• Velcro Target
• Putt Putt Golf
• Ball and Cup Game
• Penny Toss

Duck Pond

This is one of the easiest carnival games for kids and it is perfect for young toddlers but enjoyed by any age. The best thing is all children are winners! Just pick a duck, look underneath, find the number and win a prize.

Materials

• Kiddy Pool or large container or storage tub
• Water
• Sharpie
• Numbered Buckets for prizes
• Small Prizes (stickers, candy, pencils, small toys)

Instructions

• Fill tub or pool with water.
• Mark the ducks underneath with a numbers 1-4 or however many prize buckets you want to have.
• Mark each prize bucket with a number corresponding to one on a duck. Example if you number ducks 1-4, then you need four prize buckets.
• Each child has a turn picking a duck and then selecting a prize from the corresponding prize bucket
• Return duck for next child's turn.

Tic Tac Toe

Get a pre made game or make your own and decorate according to your party theme. Use bean bags to play tic tac toe. You can make your own bean bags or buy them. This is a simple but one of those timeless carnival games for kids that can be played indoors or outdoors.

Materials

• Tic Tac Toe Game Board
• Bean Bags
• Cones or Tape or Sidewalk Chalk to mark where to stand

Instructions

• Buy or make a tic tac toe board.
• Give each child 4 or 5 bean bags
• Three in a row wins!

Tips

• Adjust distance to age group.
• You can make your own bean bags if you have a sewing machine with scrap material and fill with rice.

Ball Toss

Find five baskets and decorate with colors of your party by coloring, painting or print and attach some pictures on the front of each basket.

Materials

• 5 Apple Baskets
• Bean Bags or White Poly Baseballs (One Dozen)
• Cones or Tape or Sidewalk Chalk to mark where to stand

Instructions

• Arrange your baskets and set how far you want the children to stand
• Give each child 5 balls or bean bags.
• Determine how many must make it into the baskets to win. Adjust according to age group and ability.

Tips

• Adjust distance to age group.
• You can make your own bean bags if you have a sewing machine with scrap material and fill with rice.

Plinko

Here is a home made game board to play a Plinko. It is one of our favorite carnival games for kids. For those of you who are handy, this was made by a parent for the school! It was a big hit with kids of all ages. I saw similar games you can buy on Amazon that are table top sized and extra large.

Materials

• Game Board
• Round Discs
• Numbered Buckets with prizes

Instructions

• Plinko Board (lean board back so chips slide rather than bounce out)
• Give each child a disc
• Drop the disc from the top and the number slot it lands in, is the bucket the child selects the prize from.

Tips

• You can purchase a plinko board but they are expensive so making one is a great alternative
• You can make it smaller for young children and use coasters as game pieces.

Penny Drop

This game just needs a fish tank, jar or cup, water and pennies! Great for an ocean theme party or an outdoor party with carnival style games for kids.

Materials

• Aquarium
• Heavy clear glass vase or jar
• Water
• Pennies

Instructions

• Fill tank with water.
• Place jar in tank.
• Drop pennies and if it goes into the jar, it's a winner.

Tips

• Weigh down jar with pennies or aquarium gravel or pebbles if needed.
• It's a tricky game so consolation prizes are a good idea like stickers or small candies. You could also use two jars to drop pennies into. You could make one with a larger opening and one with a smaller opening.
• Adjust water level to make it easier or harder.

Putt Putt Golf

Putt Putt Golf is a simple game and easy to set up. It is easy enough for all ages to play. This was a home made one for school fairs but they sell many options on Amazon or you might have a friend or neighbor who has one you can borrow.

Materials

• Putting green
• 3-5 golf balls
• Putter

Instructions

• Give each child 3-5 balls and putter.
• Putt each golf ball.

Tips

• Show children how to hit, and explain you don't need to hit it hard or you'll be chasing balls.
• For younger children use practice plastic golf balls instead of real balls.
• Have prizes for everyone who tries.

Tiki Nut Hunt

This is the classic ball and cup game where you shuffle the cups with a ball under one of the cups and the child guesses which cup is hiding the ball. Decorate the cups according to the theme of your party. This was a Hawaiian themed game at a school fair.

Materials

• Cups
• Ball (ping pong balls work well since they are light and less chance to make noise)/li>
• Decorations on the cup to match the theme. You can decorate the table as well.
• Small table to play the game on.

Instructions

• Show the ball to the person playing the game and place under one of the cups.
• Shuffle the cups and have the child guess which cup the ball is under.

Tips

• Can adjust number of shuffles according to age.
• Have prizes for everyone who tries.
• Good for all themes. Find plastic cups at the Dollar Tree and other $1 sections in Target or WalMart to match your theme. Dollar Tree has inexpensive decorations often holiday related.

Bean Bag Toss

If you are handy, you can make your own bean bag toss board and decorate with your party colors. Other options are premade ones on Amazon.

Materials

• Game Board with holes of same or different sizes.
• Bean Bags work best so you are not chasing down bouncing balls.
• Cones or Sidewalk Chalk to mark where each child is to stand. You can have two distances for age groups.

Instructions

• Buy or make a bean bag toss board
• Give each child 4 or 5 bean bags to toss.
• Decide how many you need to get in the hole to win.

Tips

• Adjust the distance according to age group.
• You can make your own bean bags if you have a sewing machine with scrap material and fill with rice or beans.
• Test to see how difficult it is to get the bean bag in...this can be more challenging than the tic tac toe bean toss depending on the sizes of your holes. You will have to consider how large a bean bag to fit the holes or adjust the holes according to the size of your bean bags.

Racing Cars

This is a simple game, but it is great to be able to have more than one child playing at the same time. Just play with one die, die cast cars and a game board. Game board can easily be made with paint pens or permanent marker.

• Game board made out of wood, cardboard or you could laminate card stock or similar.
• Permanent marker or paint pens to mark the lanes. Yardstick to keep the lines for the lanes straight.
• 1 Die (larger is easiest to use and find after rolling.) You can find some at education stores where they sell game pieces.
• Decorate board to match the theme of the party with stickers, small decor on the edges or at the "Finish Line".

Instructions

• Players select car and put at the starting line.
• Player rolls die on turn and moves car the number of spaces on the die thrown.
• Winner is the first car crossing the finish line

Tips

• Racing Flags make cute prizes or decorations.

Tip

• Make the lanes further apart if you have more than 3 lanes. It will be easier for the children to be behind the board instead of on the sides. 5 is probably the max number of players you would want to play at a time.

Parachute Game

I remember playing with the parachute toys when I was young. You can still find them in party stores or sections. Since there are less party stand alone stores, Amazon is probably the easiest to find parachute toys. If its for a school fair, I'd buy about 10 in the event some tangle or break. Drop a parachute onto a quadrant and depending where it lands, will determine which prize. You can make your board with more than 4 quadrants or keep it simple.

Materials

• Tarp or Landing Area of your choice.
• 1 Parachute Man (have a few extra in the event one breaks or the strings tangle to keep the game moving)
• Write or paint numbers on each quadrant.
• Prize buckets for each quadrant. Place a matching number on the bucket to determine which prize the child wins from.

Instructions

• Players drop parachute man onto game mat.
• Depending where he lands, the number determines which bucket to select their prize from.

Tips

• Number the quadrants so children can try to aim at a certain one.
• For a larger mat, use a parachute with colors as different quadrants to land your pieces on.
• You could also use colored quadrants and matching buckets for prizes.

Ring Toss

Another easy game, good for all ages! This was a home made one used at a annual school fair. My sister bought one on Amazon for a birthday party that came with rings.

Materials

• Ring Toss Board
• Rings
• Tape to have a line to throw from or drop straight above. Depending on the ring type and size, it can actually be quite challenging.

Instructions

• Set up on a flat surface
• Decide how many rings for each turn.
• Decide where the children need to stand....cones or chairs can mark the area.
Gather the rings and have have a score keeper and ring fetcher to make the game run smoother.

Velcro Darts

This was a simple game for kids of all ages. Give each child velcro balls and aim for the center. It sticks on the felt target. Hit the bullseye and win a prize.

Materials

• Stand and dart board
• Velcro balls

Instructions

• Let each child have 4-5 velcro balls
• Determine where they can stand to throw.
• For more competitive scoring you could add numbers

Penny Toss

This was one of my favorite carnival games for kids when I was young. I remember excitedly tossing dimes and if you landed it in one of the shiny cups or dishes, you got to keep it. For a smaller version at a school fair or party, getting the penny into a glass wins a small prize.

Materials

• Various Cups, glasses, dishes in all colors, shapes and sizes. You can used themed dishes or specific colors to match your party theme.
• Small table to place your dishes on
• Tarp or mat to put under table to pick up dropped coins easily.
• Small buckets to collect the pennies in and hand out.
• Real pennies work well because they have some weight and make noise when you hit the dish or land in it. You might be able to find game pieces that will work. Pennies are great because they can bounce as well but they won't chip the dishes.
• Barrier such as a bench or cones to stand behind when tossing pennies.

Instructions

• Lay out the tarp or mat, place the table on it.
• Arrange the dishes on the table, stack a few for an interesting array of dishes.
• Fill cups with pennies to hand out to each player.
• Set up a barrier for kids to stand behind when tossing
• Pennies that land in a dish win a prize. I believe carnivals used to give the dishes themselves, but you can decide on what prizes you'd like such as stickers, candies, or small toys.

Donuts on a String

Hang Donuts individually on a line and each child has one. Without using hands, each child tries to eat the donut and whomever finishes or eats the most after a set time wins.

Materials

• Donuts
• String
• Time
• Garage door, tree branch, clothesline, or somewhere you can attach the donuts on a string

Instructions

• You need to be able to hang the donuts from a string. So you need to be able to tie or tape it securely to a surface. Tying would work the best.
• This is an old timey game when people had clotheslines so you might have to be creative and find a branch, open garage door or playground set.
• Tie the donuts with regular ball string leaving it about head height. Donuts will swing so you need enough space between children.
• Set a timer and let kids try to eat the donut without hands.

Tips for Carnival Games for Kids

• Bulk Prizes can be found from Ali Express or Oriental Trading Company. You many need to plan ahead as shipping can take much longer. Amazon is always a good source and I used to enjoy stores like Party City but many have closed. We do find a lot locally at craft stores like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. Dollar Tree is another good option for inexpensive prizes.