Creativity 521 #105 - DIY Ball Games

Woohoo! It's time for the first Creativity 521 post of the year 2017!! Yes yes, I do hope to keep this series going even though I don't think many of you are interested in reading what we do for art and craft at home. It's the best way for me to keep motivating myself to carve out some time no matter how busy we get and let the kids get creative once in a while.
So, we held a ball themed party to celebrate the baby turning the big one and I'll be sharing more about the party with you very soon! You know what I always love to DIY stuff for our parties so even though we are so busy with the move, we still managed to do some very simple games for our guests to enjoy. Here's a look at what we did using only recycled material we had at home.
1) Toss the ball
Materials:
- Plastic cups
- Cardboard box
- Balls
- Number/alphabetical stickers
- Sticky tape
- Scissors
Remember the simple but fun carnival game where you get to toss balls and score points? Well, this was done in a similar sense. I found an empty box at home and we filled them up with plastic cups which each had a number to represent the score 1-5.
We also decided to have five special cups which spelt the name Asher since this was his birthday after all. If the ball lands on any of these five special cups, the player will receive a whopping 10 points!


Lastly, we stuck the cups into the box using sticky tape at the bottom. We looped the tape so that it functioned as double sided tape and also arranged the cups to make sure they were neat and as close to one another as possible.
During the game, the players had to take turns and had three tries at every turn. The one with the highest score would win and receive a ball themed toy (I bought baseball bats, balls, bowling pins, ball guns, mini golf, mini basketball and more!) Guess who was the only one who managed to hit one of the bonus cups that day?


2) Kick the ball
Materials:
- Cardboard box
- Scissors
- Sticky tape
- Aluminium foil
- Wrapping paper
So this was done in a matter of 30 minutes and only because I wanted the kids to be able to play a game which required the use of their legs. So using just an unwanted cardboard box, we turned it into a goalpost by cutting a hole and wrapping it with aluminum foil and wrapping paper.

Using a ball of the appropriate size, the players just had to take turns to try and kick the ball in! The further it is, the harder it gets and to be honest, it really wasn't that easy after all and even I myself had trouble getting it in!


3) Catch the ball 
Lastly, this was the game that delighted the girls for a long time and it brought back childhood memories for me too. Do any of you remember the cup and ball game? Yup, this was it and it was done so simply that any of you can do it too. It would make for a great craft session for kids at a party too!
Materials:
- Foam cups
- Yarn
- Christmas balls
- Markers
- Scissors
We wanted the cups to be personalised so the first thing we did was to let the girls decorate and design the cups - one for each guest and for themselves too.
Since both of them love to draw, this was a good opportunity for them to be creative and come up with their own special designs too.

I thought it was quite sweet that the big sister wrote things like "Happy birthday Asher" and "Happy turning 1" on the cups! Awww, so much love!

Now, the reason why I decided to use Christmas balls is that firstly, we had plenty of these in the house and secondly, they come with loops so it would be very straightforward to tie them to a string of yarn. All you have to do is go through the loop, tie a double knot and cut the excess yarn.

For the other end, poke two holes on the bottom of the cup as shown below and string the yarn so that you can tie a double knot in the middle. This will ensure that the ball hangs from the bottom of the cup. You can adjust the length of the yarn to suit the age and height of the guests.

And we are all done! I love how colourful and festive they turned out, don't you? Just perfect for the boy who turns a year old near Christmas.

I also realised that while slightly older kids might not find this difficult, it definitely was a challenge for the four year old. (The baby had my help, obviously, and the big sister could somewhat master it after practicing many times). To make it more age appropriate, you can considering giving time limits (shorter time for older kids) or set rules for instance you have to catch the ball xx number of times (xx corresponds to your age).

Yup, so that's all for our ball games which I hope helped to bring about some laughter and spice up the party for the kids. Till more updates on the party where I'll be sharing more about The M.A.D.Z and how it makes the perfect venue for a family celebration!
For more DIY tutorials and craft inspiration, visit my gallery here.