If you have a tween boy at your house, chances are you have Nerf guns.
Moms, it is time to embrace those foam darts and use them for good!
There are so many fun (and even educational) Nerf gun game ideas to try.
This week, while planning our home school Valentine’s Day party, we created some fun DIY spinning Nerf gun targets.
In the past we have used our foam dart guns to do Nerf gun math facts.
These Nerf targets will be a fun Valentine’s Day activity for tweens. They are especially awesome as a Valentine’s Day idea for boys.
Of course, spinning targets would be fun anytime!
Spinning Nerf Gun Targets
Materials Needed:
- Cardboard
- Drinking Straws
- Scissors
- Yarn or Thin Cord
- Tape
- Pennies
- Markers, Colored Paper, or Stickers for Decorating
- Large Plastic Storage Container (optional)
Cut target shapes from cardboard.
You can make the targets all circles or squares if you wish. We traced our tape roll to make circles and also made heart shapes since we plan to use the spinning targets as a Valentine’s Day party activity.
Once you have your targets cut out you can decorate them.
You can glue colored paper onto the front of the target and use markers to draw a bulls-eye in the center if you wish.
My daughter decided to use stickers to decorate our Nerf targets, keeping them with the Valentine’s Day theme.
Flip the targets over and tape a 3-4 inch piece of drinking straw to the center of each target.
Tape a penny under the straw so that the penny is at the bottom of the target. This will give the target enough weight to flip back around.
Next, thread your yarn through the straws.
You can stretch the yarn between a couple chairs, tying it to them so the targets hang between them.
Or, if you have a large plastic storage container handy, you can run the yarn across it’s opening like we did. (If you don’t have a container with holes in it like we do, you can secure the yarn with tape.)
The plastic container will catch most of the Nerf darts, and it also means we can move the game out of the way and set it up again easily.
If the targets don’t hang right on the yarn, you can unfasten the tape securing them to the piece of drinking straw and adjust its position.
We learned that the straws had to be higher up on our heart targets to hang correctly. It’s all part of the engineering process!
These spinning Nerf gun targets were so much fun to make. I know we will be making more in the future.
You may also like:
- Fun STEM Activities for Kids
- Simple Equivalent Fractions Activity
- Valentine’s Day Crafts & Activities
