Coolest Carnival Game Ideas for a Circus and Carnival Birthday
Home » Kid Party Themes » Circus and Carnival Party » Carnival Party Games
Many of the carnival game ideas on this page have been graciously submitted by visitors like yourself. If you've got any cool ideas to add, take a moment and submit them using the form below. You'll be taking part in creating the Web's ultimate kid birthday party resource that's ALWAYS FREE for everyone to enjoy!
If you're throwing a Carnival or Circus party, here are some of the coolest Circus and Carnival Party Ideas.
Also, here's an excellent selection of printable birthday games you can buy and print out right away:
- Printable Birthday Games Ages 3-5
- Printable Birthday Games Ages 6-7
- Printable Birthday Games Ages 8-9
- Printable Birthday Games Ages 10-16
For many of the parties you can set up game booths, such as the ones in carnivals and circuses. For the booths you will need lots of helpers - so see if you can get teens from your neighborhood or any of your friends to help out.
A few months prior to the party, gather up all your kids McDonald, Burger King, Wendy's, etc. toys from kids meals (you might also have friends who are looking to throw such toys away) and put a box of toys by each game booth. You can purchase nicer toys for big-prize winners.
Since you don't want your toys to run out so fast (the kids of course will want to play millions of times), you can give out a certain amount of raffle tickets and tell the kids that basically they can play as many times as they want, but to win a prize they need to give in a raffle ticket and play. They then will need to give each booth a raffle ticket to play the game.
You can also change this around and have the kids play the games, if they win they receive a raffle ticket and just like at an arcade they get to cash in their raffle tickets for prizes (the more raffle tickets the better the prize).
Here are lots of cool booth and carnival game ideas:
Penny Toss
Take a board and cover it with brightly colored wrapping paper. Then take metal cans and cover with different colored wrapping paper. Put masking tape on the bottom of each can and arrange them onto the cardboard. Put the board on a table and put a line of masking tape on the floor as a starting line (you can vary the distance of this line with regard to the age of the kids). Give each kid a few pennies and let them try throwing them into the cans. You can give out a prize to whoever gets their pennies into the cans.
Knockdown
For this carnival game, put empty tin cans on a table in the form of a pyramid and let the kids throw beanbags or balls at them. If they knock down a certain amount, they get a prize. You can also have the kids use water guns to squirt water at the tin cans and knock them down.
Feed the Lion
On a big cardboard box paint the face of a lion with a hole for his mouth. Designate a throwing line and let the kids toss beanbags into the lion's mouth.
Elephant Ring Toss
Paint big ears and the shape of an elephant's face on a box. Then take an old vacuum hose and connect it to the box as the elephant's nose. Use thick metal wire to hold the hose up and let the kids try and throw rings onto the elephant's nose.
*Remember to submit your own Carnival game ideas...
Ping Pong Toss
Collect glass jars and put them all on a table (create spaces between each). Give out little ping-pong balls and see if kids are able to get the balls into the jars.
Guess the Weight
Have lots of different objects (a brick, half a bottle of water, a tape recorder, a big book, etc.) and let people guess the weight of each object. Then weigh each object and whoever got closest to the real weight wins a prize.
Mouse Holes
Take a cardboard box and cut three holes on one side of it (to resemble mouse holes - make sure a golf ball can make it into the smallest hole). Make the holes three different sizes. Then let the kids roll golf balls and try and make it into the holes. Give different points for different holes.
Bucket Toss
You need a few buckets and a few different size balls. Set the buckets in a straight line with spacing between them (about half a foot between each). The best score would be getting the smallest ball in the farthest bucket.
Dart Throw
Use a piece of wood or thick board and with tape or thumbtacks attach balloons (you can also do this on the side of an old building). Use little balloons if you want it to be harder and bigger balloons if you want it to be easier. Give each kid three darts to throw at balloons (make sure you have enough balloons ready to continue adding to the board as they pop them.)
Looking for more Carnival game ideas?
Scroll down (just below the form), and you'll find all the visitor-submitted Carnival games.
Add your own Carnival game ideas using the form below.
Submit Your Coolest Booth and Carnival Game Ideas!
Do you have some cool booth and carnival game ideas for a circus or carnival theme party f? Great! Here's your chance to share them!
More Booth and Carnival Game Ideas
Contributed by Visitors Like Yourself!
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Balloon Darts Party Game First you fill balloons with beads (while they are deflated). You also fit a little folded piece of paper inside (on the paper write a prize name). Then ...
Flour And Pennies Carnival Game Have two bowls filled with flour, and pennies mixed in each. Give two kids 1 minute to find as many pennies as possible. After a minute the player who ...
Bean Carnival Game The point of the game is to have as many beans on your plate as possible. Every person gets two plates and 1 straw. 2 people get to play this game at a ...
Little Squirts Shooting Gallery Line up ping-pong (or plastic golf) balls on the tops of different sized drink bottles. Have several water guns pre-filled and a bucket of water or a ...
Polka Dot Carnival Game Take a large sheet and paint polka dots on it. Then cover a table with this sheet and let the kids try and throw coins. They need to get the coin completely ...
Bottle Rings Carnival Booth Game Collect lots of glass bottles and put them on a table in a bunch - all of them touching each other. Then let the kids toss little rings (ones that are ...
Arctic Candy Pond You get a baby or toddler swimming pool and buy all kinds of different candies. Place the candies at the bottom of the small swimming pool and then get ...
Doughnut Eating Game Tie a string between two trees or any two objects. Tie a doughnut to the bottom of the string and have the kids eat the doughnuts without hands (it's important ...
Gum Boot Throw Carnival Party Game
Items Needed:
4 Pairs of Gum boots:
* 1 Large Mens
* 1 Medium Ladies
* 1 Small Childs
* 1 Tiny Toddlers
Decorate boots how ever you wish....
Tic Tac Toss Carnival Party Game
Lay colored tape on the floor resembling a tic tic toe square. Ask the kids to throw bean bags to get three in a row.
Bobbing for Caramel Apples Carnival Party Game Kids bob for apples in a bucket of water. After they retrieve an apple. Cut it up and cover it with caramel, whipped cream and sprinkles. Easy, fun and ...
Mystery Cup Carnival Party Game
Take 3 colored plastic cups and a small object like: a ball, clip, etc. Put the cups with the hole facing down on a flat surface.
Show the contestant ...
Musical Pie-In-The-Face Carnival Party Game This game is played like musical chairs but instead of trying to sit in a chair when the music stops, the person holding the plate of whipped cream has ...
Mystery Box Carnival Party Game Have a cardboard box lined inside with tinfoil. Create a hole big enough to fit your hand in. Put in something gross or funny and make the guest feel ...
Pie Eating Contest Carnival Game First you fill tin pie pans with whipped cream instead of pie (its cheaper and kids like to get dirty). Then have everyone or just the kids that want to ...
Penny Board Carnival Booth Party Game
Items needed:
Board or Paper
A lot of Pennies
A Marker
Tape
And Tickets or Prizes
To make and play penny board you first take a board. This could ...
Golf Ball Holes Carnival Party Game
You throw golf balls into the holes, the bigger the hole, the less points you get, but the smaller the hole, the more points you get.
You can also ...
Basketball Shoot Carnival Party Game Put two nets together and 2 backboards, then get two balls and whoever makes the most shots out of 10 shots wins a carnival prize.
Water Balloon Walk Carnival Party Game Give 2 players a spoon with a water balloon on it. Have them race a certain distance without dropping their balloon. If they do, have them start over with ...
Gold Rush Carnival Party Game Fill a small kiddie pool with sand. Bury gold coins throughout the sand. Kids take a small paper cup and scoop 2 piles of sand into a strainer. They ...
Frog Throwing Carnival Party Game
Throw a beanbag (frog) on a lily pad, each lily pad has a certain amount of designated points, the higher the points, the bigger the prize.
Use blue ...
Face Throwing Sponge Carnival Game Find a piece of cardboard and cut a hole big enough so that someone can stand behind and put their face in it (you can even make a few different face holes ...
Pyramid Cup Stack Carnival Game
The contestants are suppose to make a pyramid (stacking plastic or paper cups on top of eachother).
You can have a race between a few people, give ...
Fish For Prizes Party Game
You will need:
-Kiddie Pool
-Water
-Small prizes that can be hooked, such as rings, and toy motorcycles
-Small/Kid/Pretend Fishing Poles
Kids can ...
Wheel Of Winners Carnival Game
This carnival game is played when you set up a wheel with #s on it. Players take turns spinning the wheel to see how much money they win!!
It doesn'...
Rescue The Animal Place a few stuffed animals inside a cage and lock the cage. Set a few keys beside the cage and have kids try to open the cage by picking 3 keys and giving ...
Cold Potato First get a balloon and get a bunch of ice cubes and put it inside the balloon, then put back in the freezer (you can also just put water inside the balloon)...
Peanut Race You give a peanut to each contestant. Each contestant gets on there hands and knees (on easy flooring) and on the mark of "GO", they each need to push ...
Bobbing for Apples (the sanitary way!) Cut out lots of apples from red construction paper. Print easy "things to do" on the apples, such as, "say the ABCs" or "do 5 jumping jacks." Place a ...
Musical Cake Walk
SUPPLIES:
Chalk.
Baked Goodies on a table.
Numbers written on paper and cut up; place in a bucket.
CD Player.
Music to play.
You have people bring ...
Water Balloon Smash
1. Two teems are needed.
2. Put water balloons in a row and one team goes on one side and the other on the other side.
3. On the count of three each ...
Mop Water and Bucket Game Every team dips a mop in a bucket of water and on the count of 3 everyone runs to the finish line where there will be two empty buckets. There, they have ...
Whats Inside The Box Have a couple of small boxes. Fill them with different items. For example fill one with oatmeal, one with dry noodles, and one with grass. Cut holes big ...
Rubber Ducky Carnival Game
Before you begin setting up for this game make sure you have enough prizes (you should have small, medium, and large prizes).
To set up for this game,...
Pole Ring Toss This is a fun booth game for kids. Start by having a pole about 1-foot tall. Have 3 circle toss rings. Each person tries to get all three rings on the ...
Chop Sushi First take a small box, rip pieces of paper and put the pieces of paper in the box until it's full. Take one of the pieces and draw a line on it, then ...
Candy Throwing Game
The Candy Throwing Game isn't just for little kids it is a game that can be played for ages 3 and up; even adults can play it!
You need:
Tin buckets ...
Bazooka and Whipped Cream The object of the game is to find the piece of Bazooka Bubble Gum on a plate while standing with your hands behind your back searching through the whipped ...
Pony and Horse Ride You need a Miniature Horse or just a small horse for toddlers. For bigger children, you will need a normal sized horse. Have someone guide the horse or ...
Ping Pong Bouncer Game Get a large box about 3’ x 3’ square (width). Cut down three sides to about two feet high and the fourth side all the way off, which will be the opening,...
Washer Toss Carnival Game Use large washers or poker chips (washers seem to be best) to toss onto a 2’ x 2’ carpet square that has been marked off with paint or tape in the shape ...
Rubber Duck Race Place some pieces of rain gutter (like the kind on your house) side by side on tables. Cap both ends of each piece, fill with water and put rubber ducks ...
Grocery Knock Down Set empty food boxes on a shelf and try to knock them down with a tennis ball. You can put shelves for each player and whoever knocks theirs down first ...
Toy Toss Carnival Game
1. Go out to a store or even look around your house and buy cheap toys for kids to toss.
2. Give each child 3 toys to throw.
3. These children will try ...
Fetch The Marble Game
You will need a flat transparent bucket or rectangle shaped plastic tray and marbles.
Put the marbles in the bucket or tray, then fill it halfway with ...
