Make Your Own Corn Toss Game Set

Occasionally, I find the holy grail of art projects. That’s just what happened last week, and the discovery couldn’t have come at a better time. The kiddos were reaching an all-time high in the boredom department.

First of all, let me explain a bit about my inspiration. I love the outdoors and I love to play corn toss. I also love my kids (obviously) and I love to paint. I’m a big recycler, and having just held a birthday party for a certain awesome 5 year old, the recycling was overflowing.

And BAM! It hit me. We were going to make our own corn toss game, courtesy of all of the above.

Corn toss, you say? Yes, corn toss!

If you aren’t familiar with it, the game essentially involves throwing a bean bag (traditionally filled with corn) at an elevated platform with a hole in the center. The board is typically wooden and you’ve probably seen a corn toss game if you’ve attended a backyard cookout or tailgate party. If you’re still unsure, check this corn toss guide for more information .

I have a board myself, but I didn’t just want to stick everyone outside. I wanted to give it a new feel and make the experience feel exciting from start to finish. With all of the above in mind, here is my DIY step-by-step guide to make your own corn toss set.

Time: 5 minutes for preparation, 10-45 minutes for execution, and hours of play time!
Age: Any Age
Level: Easy

Materials



Note: You can use two cardboard boxes in order to have two boards. I decided to spread the fun and repeat the process on another day for a little bonus awesomeness.

Method
Build the Board
When using a cardboard box, the process is fairly simple. I enlisted the kids’ help with the taping of the box flaps and drawing the circle templates, while I opted to cut the circles out of the box myself—for obvious reasons. (Hint: my fun activity plans did not involve a trip to the ER.)

Since my youngest is 2.5, we made one big circle and one smaller circle.

When cutting your circles, be sure to point the blade of the scissors or box cutter away from you and keep the little ones at a safe distance. Then, promptly put said device away so that your curious 2.5 year old isn’t tempted to foil your “No ER” rule.

Paint!
Apart from actually playing corn toss, this part was by far the most entertaining for my kids. The 7 and 5 year olds wore smocks, and the 2.5 year old went shirtless.

As you can see, I had an assortment of paints and brushes. In a perfect world, I’d have picked up some kid friendly (read: washable) paint from the local craft store, but I decided that lugging my three bundles of joy to the store was not my idea of fun. And so, I opted to use some craft acrylic paints I had on hand.

I also didn’t use a tablecloth for table protection. Since I paint, I’m pretty laid back when it comes to paint, and knew that as long as I promptly cleaned up messes after the paint party, I’d be okay. If you are uncomfortable with this idea, a cheap plastic tablecloth (or an old sheet) works well. Alternatively, you can take the paint party outside.



Make Bags
While the board is drying, you can make the bags. Since corn toss is traditionally played with bean bags, and I’m not what you would call a seamstress, I had to get a little creative. To follow my lead, you’ll need socks.

If you happen to have bean bags laying around the house, awesome! Put those to use. Otherwise, collect all the mismatched socks laying around and roll them up into a ball.
At this point, the tiny one was down for a nap and the 5 year old was upstairs collecting more socks.

As you can see, there are a few semi-matching pairs on the table, but I went with it.

If you have any dry beans or corn in your pantry, you can pour ½ to ¼ a cup in each sock (relative to sock size) and tie a knot. I didn’t, so we simply paired two socks and rolled them into a ball.



Play!
Once your board is dry and your “bags” are ready, it’s time to head outside. For us, this happened after naptime.

Traditionally, a corn toss game consists of a regulation board placed 24-27 feet away from the players. Obviously, this is not a traditional game.

If your kids are competitive like mine, they don’t need a reason to turn a “game” into a fight over who is winning what. I wanted to continue my low-key corn toss DIY experiment, so I encouraged them to run around and experiment with the game.



My kids had a blast making their corn toss game set. And we made it weeks ago--they still haul it out nearly every day to play!

If you are looking for a safe, entertaining activity that can be played either inside our out, give this a try!

Categories
#all_ages
#easy
#painting
#corn_toss
#recycling
#games

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