Here is an easy DIY Arctic animals ball game, for kids to play!
Feed me more game!
Crafting doesn’t have to be expensive. We can DIY a straightforward ball game for kids where they can learn many skills while playing, and they wouldn’t even know it!
PLAY AND LEARN!
Keeping kids interested is key, so having fun whilst playing games and learning different values go well together, don’t you think?
WHAT RESOURCE?
Before you throw out your general rubbish, you need to hold on to large pieces of brown packaging card.
We can make excellent use of this type of card. You would be up-cycling some odd packaging and it will cost you next to nothing to make!
WHAT I HAVE IN MIND!
Thinking of winter, snow, and very cold climate, I thought of the type of animals that live in arctic conditions. There are a few that come to mind which include:
The Penguin, Polar bears, Seals, Wolfs, Tigers and Hares. I will be choosing two of these animals to be our models for the game!
Before we move on here are a couple of short videos, showing two Arctic animals in their environment!
This is the Polar bear!
This is one of the animals I am choosing for our project, the Polar bear!
And a not-so-recognized smaller creature, an Arctic Hare!
The second Arctic animal I am choosing for this project is the Arctic Hare!
That was interesting, I thought it would be nice to familiarize ourselves with these amazing creatures, and how they have adapted to such cold conditions!
COMPARING!
We haven’t experienced a real cold winter yet, some animals live in an Arctic climate all the time, and can endure it!
Whereas we would rather cuddle up with jumpers, or blankets wrapped around us, and have the central heating full blast!
MY INTENTION!
THE AGE!
This game would be more suitable for kids from 2 years upwards. The size of this board game is approx. 88 x 67cm, so the right height for little ones, and older kids can sit on the floor or bend down to do the throwing too!
THE GAME?
What I have in mind is a large cardboard that folds into two. On one board, there will be a caricature of a Polar bear on the other board, a Hare, (mainly their faces).
The board can close up, but when opened wide, it would show both animals next to each other.
HOW TO PLAY!
These Arctic animals are very hungry, so your kids would throw snowballs targeting their mouths, to ‘feed them!’
So we are going to DIY Animal Feeding Game for Kids!
WHAT THIS ACTIVITY CAN ADDRESS!
- Fine motor skills. (gripping, holding a ball).
- Gross motor skills. walking, running control).
- Improve aim. (Align, judge before throwing).
- Making decisions. (analyze, think, decide).
- Balance. (work on standing upright and still).
- Being competitive. (building on confidence).
- Understanding. (listening, following instructions.)
Interestingly enough, you wouldn’t think such a simple activity would address so many areas in a child’s development, but it sure does!
WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.
Firstly, practice drawing with a pencil, a Polar bear, and a Hare’s face (see my examples), or draw your take on how you see these animals, on each side of the cardboard, until you are happy with your results.
CHECK FOR SIZING!
Make sure the mouth is big enough so a ball can go into it, then paint it!
That’s it, of course, let it dry and now your kids can go ahead and play the game!
SO ARE YOU READY?
RESOURCES
Large brown packaging card, approx. 150 x 100 cms, or near to that.
Large/small scissors/serrated knife.
Acrylic paints white/black/red/yellow & blue.
Black felt-tip pen, pencil/rubber.
Metal ruler/Stanley knife/cutting board.
LET’S CRACK ON!
Here are the outlines of the Polar bear and the Hare.
Use the whole board, drawing large faces. This is my interpretation of these animals, you can either copy or draw your version.
SOME USEFUL TIPS!
DRAWING.
- Once you have your double cardboard, using a pencil sketch the outline of a Polar bear on one side and the Hare on the other side.
- When happy with the caricatures of your animals, go over it in a black felt tip pen.
DRAW LARGE FACES.
- Make sure the whole cardboard is covered with large faces and mouths are big enough for balls to be thrown in.
HOW TO PAINT.
- Both animals are white, so start off painting them both until they are covered in white paint, leaving out the mouth area. Go over again until the paint covers the brown cardboard.
ADDING TEXTURE.
- Once they are white, you can paint individual animals with grey shading and fuzz out the outside areas as if it were their fur. Paint eyes, nose, and ears.
- When both animals are completed you can paint around the faces in a light blue, to give it more of a finish.
CUTTING OUT MOUTH.
- Depending on how thick your card is, this is the hard part. You will need to raise the board off the floor so you can pierce into the card, be careful with your fingers keep them away from scissors and the blade.
CAUTION.
- Carefully cut around the mouth, not too close to your painting, as you may tear it, and remove sections.
PARENTS GUIDANCE WITH ANY CUTTING TOOLS!
- It may be easier to cut the center outwards and keep cutting small sections so as not to destroy your painting.
- Keep using your scissors and Stanley knife alternate to help with removing sections.
NEATEN OFF.
- When you have removed the inside of their mouths, then you can carefully neaten off the edges snipping away bits, until the mouth opening looks smooth.
PREPARE BALLS.
- I didn’t demo this part, as all you have to do is cut using a serrated knife rounded chunks of polystyrene, if you have any, and round off into balls.
- This is demoed in a previous post (Styrofoam Snowman craft!) showing what tools to use and how to cut foam.
ALTERNATIVE BALLS.
- If you do not have any foam. any plastic balls can work, or scrunch up some newspaper, or magazines secure them with tape and viola you have instant balls.
- As a last resort, you can use plastic bottle tops too!
SHAPING THE BOARDS.
- You can cut out the outline of your animals, but this would weaken the boards, it’s best to keep the square shape intact so that it would keep the board game solid.
I hope you enjoyed doing this activity and your kids had lots of fun playing the Arctic Animal feeding game, and in hand learning new skills!
Hey there, when you click on links in this post and you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission that l can use towards resources (other than throw-outs) for project making within my website😀
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TO CONCLUDE!
In this post, I show you how you can put together a very economical simple, ‘feed me more game!’
I chose two Arctic animals, a Polar bear, and an Arctic Hare as our models.
POINT OF THE GAME!
This game will encourage young children to aim a ball and get it into the animal’s mouth.
KIDS LEARN WHILST THEY PLAY!
An easy activity to make will address many useful skills in a child’s daily learning.
KEEP YOUR PACKAGING.
So hold on to your large brown packaging card, choose a couple of animals you would like to portray and follow the steps I demo and you are good to go!
Are you looking for another fun feeding game for your kids to do? Check out an earlier post on ‘Fun Summer Crafts for Kids!
This shows milk bottle Monsters, stacked on top of each other, with wide open mouths. Where you aim, shoot, and get your target in!
HERE’S AN UPDATE!!!
“Check out my grandson playing the DIY Animal Feeding game at 2 ½ years old! He eventually figured it out.
Appologies for the background noise, I wanted to keep it authentic.”
Hi Julia,
Thank you so much for this super fun looking game. I have a 4-year old and a 10 year-old. I think this would be great entertainment for both of them. Perhaps my oldest can make the animals, and the youngest can feed them… 😉 No, just kidding. Besides obviously keeping them safe in regards to the knives/scissors, this seems like a great activity for them to share. And hey… Who says grown-ups can’t play as well, right! 😉
Thanks again. Definitely bookmarking your site for future inspiration as well!
All the best,
Michael
Hey Michael, I am loving the fact that we are all big kids at heart, and why not have fun too!
This will be an excellent activity for both your kids to participate in and you will have lots of laughs!
You 4 year old, can aim and throw the balls, the 10 year old can gather the balls, for the next round, and perhaps you can time them lol! So all in all there will be a job for everyone!
Thank you for your super comment, and I do hope I am able to inspire your kids, as well as you in up-cycling your ordinary packaging and crafting it into a cool animal feeding game for your kids!
Happy Crafting!
Julia.?