This three-hole mini golf course is the perfect game to teach kids eye-and-hand coordination while having some backyard fun!
For the golf course, you will need the following items:
- Three empty 64-ounce canisters or similar round containers;
- Three rubber door mats or three squares of green outdoor turf (available at garden centers)for tee mats;
- Three two-foot long wooden dowels;
- Several sheets of craft foam or construction paper;
- Several 4.23 fluid ounce juice boxes;
- Large packing tubes (available at box/moving stores);
- A garden or beach pail;
- A wooden board, approximately 12 inches wide and 24 inches long;
- Three garden hoses;
- Marker pens in various colors;
- Safety scissors;
- A five-pound bag of sandbox sand;
- Large plastic trash bags;
- Golf balls -- real of Wiffle golf balls.
Trace pennant-shaped flags onto a piece of craft foam or construction paper and cut out the flags.
Make a small slit at the top and bottom of the flag and thread one of the two-foot dowels through each one. Use a colored marker to give each flag a number.
Put the empty canisters on their sides around the yard to form the holes for the course. Plant the flags next to each golf hole canister.
Using one garden hose for each hole, wrap the hose around the area of the golf hole to keep the ball from going out of bounds.
Use obstacles to make the mini golf course more challenging! Make a sand trap near one of the holes by covering a plastic bag with sandbox sand.
Stack juice boxes in front of one of the holes or try placing a mailing tube near one hole that the ball must pass through before it can enter the hole.
Create a water hazard in front of a hole. Fill a pail with water and prop a piece of wood against it so that the player must roll the ball up the plank with enough force to sail over the water-filled bucket.
Make Golf Clubs
To make the golf clubs -- one for each player -- you will need the following for each club:
Start by removing the straw from the side of the juice box. Set it aside.
- One unopened 6.75 fluid ounce juice box;
- One four-foot long wooden dowel;
Use a craft glue gun to attach the dowel to the straw sideof a juice box. The box is the face of the putter and the dowel forms the shaft, or handle, of the club.
Be sure an adult supervises the use of the glue gun. The glue gets very hot!
Play Mini Golf!
Print out a handmade scorecard for each player. Make a list of all the players in the order that they will begin to play.
You may want to have the children go around the course alone, or select small groups to play together as teams.
At the first tee, each child will receive a scorecard, a Libby's Juicy Juice golf club, and one golf ball. The player places the ball on the tee mat and attempts to hit the ball with the club into the first hole.
The player must be sure to go through or over any obstacles that are placed in front of the hole. Each stroke needed to reach the hole is counted and written on the scorecard. At the end of play, the player or team with the lowest score is the winner.