These days, most kids are playing games on a game station, or on their phones, and the old board games don’t get used quite as often as they used to. Still, every now and then, it’s fun to break out some of those old games and have a good time with family and friends. One game that was always a bunch of fun was Twister. The game came with a plastic mat that you put on the floor and the mat had rows of giant dots. The dots were different colors and, with a spinner, each player was assigned to place a particular foot or hand on a particular color of dot. The players would get all entwined until, eventually, they could no longer obey the spinner suggestions as they fell down. The last person standing, of course, was the winner.
Twister is still a really fun game, and if you have little kids, they’ll love playing the game outside. Have the old boxed game for use indoors then use an outdoor version for playing out in the sun. Kids will love it!
Purchase a large piece of canvas or even a cheap tarp to make the Twister game. Some tarps have grommets in the corners so they can be tied down so they’re perfect for making a Twister board. If you’re using a canvas it’s easy to attach the grommets yourself. Grommet kits can be found at hardware stores and discount department stores – even places that selling sewing supplies. Follow the instructions on the box to attach a grommet circle to each corner of the canvas or other material. Use tent stakes, through the grommets, to hold the canvas or tarp to the ground.
Paint the rows of circles on the new mat. Make a row of six dots which are green, six red, six yellow and six blue circles. It can be helpful to go online and look at pictures of a Twister mat or to look at the mat from your old game. If you space the dots too far apart, players will have a hard time reaching them; if you make the dots small and close together, no one will ever be “out” of the game. If possible, draw around an original Twister board, onto the new mat, to get an approximate match to the original.
To make the spinner start with a square of thin cardboard. Draw a large circle on the board, then another circle inside it, to make one wide circle. Draw two lines to form a “+” which intersects in the middle of the board. In one corner, write “Left Foot”, the next corner should say “Right Hand”, the next says “Right Foot”, and the last, “Left Hand. Section the large circle so that each corner has four circles – one green, a red, a yellow and a blue. Again, view a Twister spinner or picture online to help you accurately draw the spinner.
Cut an arrow shape from a piece of plastic and poke a hole in the end. Use a brad to attach the pointer to the spinner. The kids will want to immediately play the new Twister game – as long as the paint is dry – and they’ll play with it for hours on end!
Reference:
- Canvas here: www.joann.com
