27 April is the birthday of the Netherlands's King Willem-Alexander. It is a national holiday and the whole country goes all out in celebration mode. The schools organize 'Koningsspelen' and encourages the students to take part in sports activities and being physically active outside because the king is known to love sports. There is of course the infamous national garage sale where people get to sell things on the street without any permits. You see people selling old toys, books, and whatever they have been hoarding in their storage rooms. You also see kids performing instruments like violin in exchange for a spare change. Dutch people hate queuing but on this particular day, you actually see people lining up to get their hands on the Koningsdag Tompoucen. A tompouce is similar to French Mille-feuille layered pastry. It's typically topped with a pink frosting but on Koningsdag, the pink becomes orange. Simple right? But they sell like hot cakes!
Last year, I made a King's Crown for my daughter and she wore it on Koningsdag with pride. This year, I made a simple ring toss game using TP rolls, cardboard and paper plates. It's super simple to make so I will also be making this game with my usual Age 4-7 Arts & Crafts students. Perhaps, you would also like to make one with your child(ren)? I wanted to link the activity with Koningsdag so I made the TP roll to resemble a king but you can of course make other characters like cats, dogs... raccoons?
Koningsdag Inspired Craft Idea: DIY Ring Toss Game
Materials
3 x Toilet Paper Roll
2 x Cardboard (cut to same size)
2 x Paper Plate
Scissors
Glue
Duct Tape
Scotch Tape (Sellotape)
Colour paper
Markers
Stickers and other decorations
Step 1
Connect the 3 TP rolls vertically using duct tape or other strong adhesive tape.
Step 2
Make multiple small vertical cuts at one end of the TP roll as shown below.
Step 3
Prepare 2 cardboard sheets of the same size. I made mine 12 x 12cm square but it's totally up to you. For one of the cardboard, you need to make a round hole in the middle. The circumference should match the TP roll.
Step 4
Insert the TP roll into the hole, bend the cuts and use the duct tape to secure them.
Step 5
Place the other cardboard at the bottom and duct tape the 2 cardboard sheets together,
Step 6
Decorate the ring toss target/stake however you like! I used paper to cover the target so you don't see where I used the duct tapes.
Step 7
For the ring, I placed the 2 paper plates on top of each other and taped them together using scotch tape (sellotape). Stapling them together also works! The reason why I used 2 plates, instead of 1, is because a single plate was not heavy enough to aim & throw at the target.
Like I said, it's super easy to make using everyday household recycling. My daughter and I had a friendly match to see who can loop the ring onto the stake. I am absolutely terrible at the game where as my daughtered managed to score several times. Simple, economical, eco-friendly and super fun. Definitely give it a try!