Keep children engaged, entertained, and inspired with these 30 fair-themed activities and games. Our collection ranges from hands-on activities to fair-inspired crafts, as well as fair-themed recipes to make and enjoy with your littles. These fun ideas are perfect for an afternoon activity or a great hands-on fair experience. Bring the excitement of a fair to your home or classroom by incorporating a few ideas into your daily routine!
1. Bucket Toss Graphing Activity
Grab buckets and ping-pong balls for this addictive game and math activity. Children will toss the ping-pong balls into multi-colored buckets and then record their scores on a graphing chart. Make the game challenging by increasing the point totals for certain buckets!
Learn More: Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten
2. Dart-less Balloon Game
Simply use a piece of cardboard or bulletin board and tape blown-up balloons onto it. Next, put a small tack on the back of the board so that it is nearly touching the balloon. Children will toss bean bags at the balloons instead of sharp darts to pop them.
Learn More: Through My Front Window
3. DIY Cotton Candy Playdough
Use flour, salt, water, and neon food coloring to create this amazing cotton candy playdough. Children will love making the dough as much as they will love pretending that it’s cotton candy to take to the fair. Just add a rolled-up piece of paper for the cotton candy holder!
Learn More: Mama Miss
4. Rock Candy STEM Activity
Make delicious rock candy with this STEM-inspired fair experiment. No carnival day is complete without rock candy, and with just water, sugar, jars, and food coloring, you and your children can create this fun treat! They will love eating candy that they make with their own two hands!
Learn More: STEAMsational
5. Cupcake Liner Balloon Craft
Create this bright and beautiful balloon craft as a fun fair decoration. You will only need cupcake liners, craft paper, tape, and ribbons to make these beautiful balloons to display at your kid’s fair party.
Learn More: A Little Pinch of Perfect
6. Ping Pong Ball Toss
Fill cups with water and add food coloring to create these classic carnival games. Children will then throw a ping pong ball into different-colored cups. Add prizes for different colors to increase the excitement for all involved!
Learn More: Everyday Chaos and Calm
7. Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss
Get a large cardboard or wooden board and cut holes into it to recreate this classic fair game. Next, have children toss bean bags through various holes to earn points and work toward earning prizes. The bonus is that you can also decorate the board before use with your children.
Learn More: Carnival Savers
8. Paper Plate Clown Puppet
Make this clown puppet to engage learners in a hands-on activity before the fair. You will need paper plates, colored paper, pompoms, and glue for this cool fair craft. Put it on display in front of your fair games to add more fun to the day!
Learn More: Crafts by Amanda
9. Popcorn Counting Activity
Use this printable resource to create a fun popcorn-counting game. It’s not much of a fair without popcorn, and you can have children use this as a learning resource while they enjoy the carnival festivities. Simply place the popcorn on the corresponding numbers to use!
Learn More: Raising Whasians
10. Funnel Cake Recipe
Funnel cake is a staple of a great fair! You and your littles can make some with this very simple recipe. Simply grab flour, milk, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar to make this delicious treat.
Learn More: Sugar Spun Run
11. Soda Ring Toss
Get 2-liter soda bottles and plastic rings to design this must-have for a children’s fair. Set the 2-liter bottles up in a triangle and have the children throw the rings over the tops of the bottles. You can vary this game by making different color bottles worth different points.
Learn More: Carnival Savers
12. Soft Pretzel Recipe
Create delicious, savory pretzels with this simple recipe. You will need some delicious fair food to accompany all of the great games and activities you complete at the fair. These are simple to make and your children will love satisfying their carnival cravings!
Learn More: Love from the Oven
13. Cotton Candy Puffy Paint Craft
Slow down your fair activities with this fun puffy paint craft. Use shaving cream, glue, and red or blue food coloring to create this cute cotton candy design. Simply trace out the cotton candy shape and have your littles push the shaving cream around to create their eye-catching painting.
Learn More: Crafty Morning
14. Delicious Caramel Apples
Use butter, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla extract to make caramel dip with this simple recipe. Next, dip your apple-on-a-stick into the mixture and let it sit. Children will love choosing their own toppings to then add to the caramel apple!
Learn More: House of Nash Eats
15. The Guessing Booth
Grab jars and random household items to make this classic fair activity. Be sure to count the items you place in the jar ahead of time and let the children guess the number of objects in the jars. Great items are animal cookies, M&M’s, jelly beans, and other sweet treats!
Learn More: Everyday Chaos and Calm
16. Baby Corn Dogs
Make this delicious savory fair food to spice up your carnival menu. Small children will love these baby-sized corn dogs. Use skewers, cocktail sausages, eggs, and flour to create this mouthwatering carnival cuisine.
Learn More: Call Me PMC
17. Mystery Fishing
Create this simple and incredibly fun fishing game with just pool noodles, paper clips, sticks, and strings. Fill a tub with water and watch as children try to catch a “fish” from the water. Add prizes to increase the excitement!
Learn More: Happy Tot Shelf
18. Pick a Duck Activity
This fair activity just requires rubber ducks, permanent markers, and a tub of water. Put various colored circles on the bottoms of the ducks and have children randomly grab them. You can make certain colors match with prizes such as green for candy or red for a small toy!
Learn More: The Spruce
19. Snow Cone Recipes
Snow cones are a great way to ramp up a fair- especially on a hot day. Blend ice and add flavored syrup to brighten up a special day at the fair. Children and adults alike love this delicious, frozen treat.
Learn More: The Gunny Sack
20. Paper Plate Elephant Puppet
Create this cute elephant with simple household items. You will only need paper plates, googly eyes, paper, and a sock to create this carnival-inspired elephant.
Learn More: iHeartCraftyThings
21. Pom Pom Scoop
Prepare a large tub of water, pompoms, cups, and a spoon, and challenge learners to scoop as many pom poms as possible within a given time frame. Ask them to scoop out the pom poms and place them in color-coded cups. This is a great game for toddlers to practice gross motor skills!
Learn More: Happy Toddler Playtime
22. Knock Down the Cans
All you need are either old soup or soda cans and a ball to create this classic fair game. Children will throw the ball at the stacked cans in an attempt to knock them over. Keep them entertained for hours with simple fun!
Learn More: Something Like Life
23. Popsicle Stick Catapult STEM Activity
Create this STEM-inspired catapult for a collaborative fair activity. Depending upon the number of children, place them in teams to see whose catapult will launch objects the farthest. Use popsicle sticks, soda caps, and rubber bands to create the catapult, and watch as children learn and compete!
Learn More: Little Bins for Little Hands
24. Glow in the Dark Ring Toss
This glow-in-the-dark ring toss is great for a night event or after a long day of fair fun. You only need a PVC pipe for the base and glow-in-the-dark rings. Have children throw their rings onto the stick to earn points or prizes!
Learn More: Frugal Fun 4 Boys
25. Water Coin Drop
This is a smaller version of the endlessly entertaining water coin drop. All you need is a glass, pennies, and a small tub of water. Watch as children get competitive seeing who can drop their coin into the water and the cup below.
Learn More: The Spruce
26. Lego Fair Recreation
Use LEGO to have children recreate their favorite fair events and games. This is a great activity to wind down after a fun carnival day or before a day of carnival events to explain the games to little learners. This resource provides ideas for builds.
Learn More: LEGO Librarian
27. Duck Race Sensory Bin Activity
Small rubber ducks, a tub of water, and water guns are all you need for this carnival staple. Have two children stand at one end of the tub and shoot the ducks with their water to have their ducks move and race across the tub. Add a pool noodle down the center for separate lanes!
Learn More: Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten
28. DIY Plinko Game
Use cardboard, paper cups, glue, and ping-pong balls to create this classic fair game. Cut up a cardboard box to make your game board and space the cups out to allow the ping-pong balls to travel downward to the different numbered slots. The highest score wins!
Learn More: Frugal Fun 4 Boys
29. Pin the Nose on the Clown
A straightforward and beloved activity; pin the nose on the clown! Get cardboard and paper to create the clown. Then, cut out circles with the names of the children on them. Children will be blindfolded as they attempt to put the nose on the clown. The closest wins!
Learn More: Pinterest
30. Water Cup Races
You need water guns, cups, and string for this exciting race. Children will go head to head to see who can shoot their cup across a string the fastest! Play again and again with this simple setup.
Learn More: All for the Boys
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