Halloween Graveyard Roll

Halloween Graveyard Roll – Kids Target Game

Supplies: Large piece of cardboard, Yankee candle toppers, card stock or poster board, ping pong balls, markers, glue gun recommended, general crafting supplies and themed stickers (Supply options given below)

Graveyard Roll was created out of a Dollar Store Challenge, (video below) where we went to the Dollar Store and returned with various items and had to create games from those Halloween items. The item that inspired Graveyard Roll was reflective Halloween stickers. The stickers then became part of the tombstone decorations.

This Halloween game is a simple target game where kids aim to land their ping pong balls in Pumpkin tombstones and avoid Skeleton and Bat tombstones. While I made a small sample with three holes, I would recommend using cardboard or wood to create your Graveyard Roll with 6 – 10 holes. With wood and a hole saw drill bit (if you have one) you eliminate the need for the Yankee candle tops that I used to catch the ball and you can easily lay the board flat on a table and it works; in my opinion a wood base is a better solution.

Another fun part about this game is you can decorate the tombstones any way you want. So the kids can help in making this Halloween game, which is always makes it a little more exciting. I would suggest you have Pumpkins or Candy images represent prizes or candy and Skeletons, Bats, Ghosts and Monsters be the bad guys.

Halloween Graveyard Roll Game Prep – Step by Step Guide
Graveyard Roll 1

First Step Gather Up Items Needed for this Project:
1. Cardboard or Wood
– If possible and have a hole saw drill bit, wood would be preferred, plus once createed you can use it for other parties and kids activities.
2. I used Yankee candle tops, another option small yogurt cups
Pros: great size and nice sound when the ball rolled in
Cons: The plastic around the top made it hard to place tombstones
3. You’ll need poster board or card stock and markers to decorate the tombstones. Stickers are optional but offer a colorful touch.
4. Ping Pong Balls – Use markers to make look like eyeballs
5. Other items not shown: Pencil (to mark holes), ruler, glue gun, cutting knife to cut through cardboard, scissors, general crafting items.

Graveyard Step 2
Get Cardboard and Mark Holes
Once you have found a large piece of cardboard. You’ll need to plan out where to place your tombstones.

1. The older the kids the further the distance. Note: You want it to be a challenge so the kids want to play. For young kids, ages 4 – 5, a roll of 3 or 4 feet is a challenge and for kids 6 – 7, 5 – 7 feet is a challenge. the hard part is in finding the cardboard. Note the Tombstones worth points / candy should be the hardest and withing the last foot of the board. The obstacles should be in the mixed in around them.

2. Once you have decided where to place the tombstones, trace around the cup and then make your cut. Do the first one and test the result, then if you need to make adjustments to your cutting you can.

Graveyard Step 3
Once you have made all of your cuts, you’ll need to test them by sliding the Yankee candle toppers (in my case) or placing the yogurt containers underneath. If you plan on spray painting the cardboard, to match a color theme, this would be a good time to do that. Just use a light coat of spray paint to give a textured look, rather than a solid one.

If you use small yogurt containers and have a glue gun consider just going ahead and gluing the containers to the cardboard once everything looks right.

Also if using yogurt containers, if you don’t like the white plastic consider spray painting the inside black or orange for a Halloween touch.

Graveyard Step 4
When cutting out the tombstones, remember you want the base to cover about 1/3 or the target, so be sure the test your first one and if it works use that as a template to make the rest.

We used a ruler to make a narrow base and a wider top on the first one, then traced the tombstone to make the others. Once we finished tracing them, we varied the look of the tops of the tombstones and cut them out.

After you cut them out use pictures or stickers and then add gravestone details with markers. Once completed layout where you want each tombstone and then wedge into the cup and glue in place using the glue gun. This should keep them securely attached during the game.

Once you have completed the basic Graveyard Roll board, which took me over an hour to create, you can add some finishing touches to it make it better than my example.
1. We suggest adding a rope, trim or some sort of border to keep the ping pong balls from rolling of f the side.
2. If you use yogurt cups or Yankee candle toppers, consider a decorative side so the kids can’t see underneath the game. This can be cloth or cardboard.
3. Add a background image. We added a Skeleton to the background so that the game looks complete and interesting, feel free to use that idea or any existing decorations you have.

How to Play Halloween Graveyard Roll
As noted Graveyard Roll is a simple game. Here are some general rules of play that you can adjust as needed.

Individual Play
1. Each child is given 5 ping pong balls and informed that they want to roll the balls in the Pumpkins grave or tombstone.

2a. You can score each roll as follows: 3 points for a Pumpkin Grave, -1 point for other graves and 0 points if no graves hit. Tally up the points to declare a winner or to reach prize levels.
2b. Have each Pumpkin tombstone in the Graveyard represent different candy, so the kids can target their favorite and all other tombstones and misses represent no candy.

3. Play continues until each child has taken a turn.

Team Play
1. Divide your group into team and explain the rules. Each player on each team receives “x” ping pong (better if called eyeballs) and must roll to score the most points. Placing your eyeball in the Pumpkin Grave is worth “3” points and but landing it in the Skeleton or other graves is -1 point.

2. At the end of each players turn, tally that persons score and add it to the team score. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

While this game does take planning and prep work, Graveyard Roll is a simple and fun Halloween game for younger kids.

Our Halloween Dollar Store Challenge