Winter and Lee Redd publish a wonderful day to day record of their adventures under the title REDD PARTY. Heres a guest blog post from Winter about a Girl's Camp theme that included home made marshmellow guns! (I use Marshmellow Guns in my Santa routines--and found a new wrinke: Including crafty fuzz balls and ear plugs. Winter is a pharmacist at the Unversity of Utah and a former student at Highland Community Ed Web Design and Marketing several semesters ago. I subscribe to her blog and she follows mine. This is the first time I've copied and published her material. Hope this is a enough credit, where this unique activity is involved.:
(As a matter of safety, I've included some clear goggles like the ones you use in a woodshop to protect your eyes from flying sawdust or wood chips. It actually beats paint balls for little kids...and it's delicious!)
NOTE: Always plan to give a prize to participants to pick up the stray projectiles that aren't already confiscated or consumed! (YUK! under the five seconds on the floor rule!!!) Here's Winter's story, pictures and videos:
As I mentioned earlier, I was at Girls Camp a week ago. The theme for camp was "Sweet is the work of a daughter of God" and they played up the "sweet" part by making it Willy-Wonk-aesque and candy-focused.
I was asked to help with a field day activity at camp; there are fun races and games that are set up as "Candyland" on a big field. Lee suggested a game with marshmallow blow dart guns.
Excellent idea!
(For those of you who may not know, it's a blow dart gun made out of PVC pipes and marshmallows are used as ammunition. More on technique later.)
It's really easy to make these blow dart guns. Head on over to Home Depot or Lowes and go to the plumbing aisle. You want the 1/2 inch PVC pipes.
Oh dear! They are 10 feet long and I needed about 10 to 12 inch pieces, but I don't own a pair of pipe cutters. Thankfully the Home Depot does (plus a hacksaw or two for bigger pipes) and let's you use them at the store.
Because of the candy theme, Lee helped by "candy cane-ing" them with red, green and yellow electrical tape.
I wanted to tie the blow dart to the candy theme, so we came up with a game called The Peppermint Ninja Pow! (Note: We're into ninjas.)
Then we made these targets with varying hole sizes and point values from foam core.
Okay, now let's talk ammunition. Marshmallows are the best in my and Lee's opinion, but I needed to think of something different since we needed to re-use the ammo at camp. Marshmallows are not awesome if you need to re-use them.
So I tried out a couple of other things:
I opted for the fluffy pompoms for the activity since I could buy them in bulk for pretty cheap. The activity turned out pretty well and the girls had a lot of fun.
Anyway, I think this would be an awesome large group date or mutual activity if you don't mind getting hit with slightly sticky marshmallows.
Have fun!
Marshmallow Blow Dart Guns
Supplies:
10 to 12 inch long pieces of 1/2 inch PVC pipe
Marshmallows (or foam earplugs or fluffy craft pompoms)
 |
| All the girls had different colored shirts indicating their "sweet" group. |
I was asked to help with a field day activity at camp; there are fun races and games that are set up as "Candyland" on a big field. Lee suggested a game with marshmallow blow dart guns.
Excellent idea!
(For those of you who may not know, it's a blow dart gun made out of PVC pipes and marshmallows are used as ammunition. More on technique later.)
It's really easy to make these blow dart guns. Head on over to Home Depot or Lowes and go to the plumbing aisle. You want the 1/2 inch PVC pipes.
 |
| $1.63/pipe--that's cheap entertainment and fun! |
Oh dear! They are 10 feet long and I needed about 10 to 12 inch pieces, but I don't own a pair of pipe cutters. Thankfully the Home Depot does (plus a hacksaw or two for bigger pipes) and let's you use them at the store.
 |
| Feeling all handy cutting my pipes at the HD. |
Because of the candy theme, Lee helped by "candy cane-ing" them with red, green and yellow electrical tape.
 |
| Lee did a great job making these plain white pipes look like candy canes. |
I wanted to tie the blow dart to the candy theme, so we came up with a game called The Peppermint Ninja Pow! (Note: We're into ninjas.)
 |
| I think my sign turned out pretty cute! |
 |
| Easy to make and looks pretty good! |
Okay, now let's talk ammunition. Marshmallows are the best in my and Lee's opinion, but I needed to think of something different since we needed to re-use the ammo at camp. Marshmallows are not awesome if you need to re-use them.
So I tried out a couple of other things:
- Foam ear plugs (purchased at Home Depot for about $3.00 for 7 pair) and
- Fluffy craft pompoms (purchased at Walmart for about $3.00 for a pack of 250 varying sizes of poofs).
Lee tested all of these options.
I opted for the fluffy pompoms for the activity since I could buy them in bulk for pretty cheap. The activity turned out pretty well and the girls had a lot of fun.
 |
| During the Candyland field day activity |
Lee, of course, had to show me the superiority of marshmallows, especially in machine-gun mode!
Gross! I always put the marshmallow in the gun then blow. Boys and their spitting skills--sheesh!
Anyway, I think this would be an awesome large group date or mutual activity if you don't mind getting hit with slightly sticky marshmallows.
Have fun!
Marshmallow Blow Dart Guns
Supplies:
10 to 12 inch long pieces of 1/2 inch PVC pipe
Marshmallows (or foam earplugs or fluffy craft pompoms)
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