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Home > Arts and Crafts Projects > Games and Toys > Wood Cup Catching Game
A game similar to this is played with by children in Mexico today, and a model of it is on display among a collection of children's Eighteenth Century playthings in a British museum. The originals were made with little wooden cups on the end of a stick, string, and a wooden ball.
awl
drill and bit
glue
knife
pencil
sandblock
garnet paper
scissors
cardboard tubing
string
wood
decorating materials
The easiest version for younger children to make uses a 1 1/2-inch section of cardboard tubing about 1 1/2-inch in diameter, string, and a cube of soft wood 3/4 inch on a side. With parental supervision, drill a hole on the center of the cube for attaching a string. Round the edges of the cube with a sandblock, and smooth with garnet paper. To make the cup, trace the inside diameter of the tubing on a piece of cardboard, and cut the cardboard out, leaving about a 3/8 inch margin. Cut this margin in sections, and bend up. Glue the margin, and fasten inside the tubing for a bottom. Punch a hole with an awl in the side of the tubing for attaching the string. The string should be 12 to 15 inches long, depending on the size of the children. Shorter children need a shorter string.
A permanent version of the same game is made with a block of wood, 1 3/4 inches on a side, with a one-inch-diameter hole drilled to within 1/4 inch of the bottom. Round and smooth the edges, and with parental supervision, drill a hole on the side of this cup for a string. Use the same sort of cube as in the other versions, or use a 3/4 -inch wooden bead.