A school carnival is a great way to get students and parents involved, pump up the school spirit, and make school fun! When planning your school carnival, it’s important to include booths with games, activities, and prizes the students will love. Here are our top six fun school carnival booth ideas that will have students lined up and ready to play:
Toss Games
Toss games are a carnival classic. You can use rings, balls, bean bags…the options are endless, but the game is essentially the same…toss the item into the correct area and win a prize. For ring toss, set up bottles and have students try to get the rings around the top of the bottle. For ball toss or bean bag toss, have students try to get the item into a bucket or other container to win the prize. Toss games are always a crowd pleaser.
Cake Walk
Who doesn’t love winning dessert? Cake walks are simple to set up and give parents and staff an easy way to participate…just bring a dessert to give out as a prize. Cookies, cakes, brownies, candy…they all work for the cake walk. In fact, students will enjoy having a variety of sweet (and maybe salty) treats to choose from. Don’t forget to include a few items for students with food allergies or intolerances too!
Fishing Games
Just a small kiddie pool and some rubber duckies are all you need for this tried-and-true carnival game. Fill the pool with water, write numbers on the bottoms of the duckies (use permanent marker!), and have students “fish” for the duckies as they float around. Students win the prize associated with the number on the bottom of the duckie. Make this game harder by using magnetic fishing poles and magnetic fish instead of duckies, and have the students actually pull the fish out of the pool using the magnets.
Basketball
Another easy carnival booth to set up, all you need is a basketball goal (which the school probably already has) and a basketball to make the magic happen. Have students compete to see how many baskets they can get in a certain amount of time, with the winner taking the prize. You can increase the difficulty of this game by raising and lowering the basketball goal or having the students stand closer or further away from the goal.
Arts & Crafts
For students who aren’t into the physical games, an arts & crafts booth is a great option. You can fill it with washable paints and cheap canvases and watch their imaginations go wild, or offer a more structured activity. The options for this booth are countless! You can also do more than one arts & crafts booth to do multiple activities.
Dunk Booth
A dunk booth is the gold standard for school carnivals, so you should never have a carnival without one! Granted, a dunk booth requires a little more planning and setup than the other booth ideas, but there’s usually at least one or two places nearby that offer dunk booth rentals for a reasonable price. Giving students the chance to dunk their “favorite” teachers will be the hit of your school carnival for sure!
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No school carnival would be complete without lots of prizes to choose from, and GEDDES offers all the fun, affordable prizes you’ll need to keep students happy. From school supplies to novelty toys to desk pets and more, GEDDES has you covered. Check out our digital catalogs, shop our online store, or contact us at 888-431-1722 for more information on how GEDDES can make your school carnival a success!