Paper Lawn Darts

It was a casual comment from Caitlinsdad that triggered this project - after I made the Paper Dart Board, he tweeted at me; Cardboard lawn darts next!

OK, so they're not cardboard, but they work well - this is a really easy make that can be played in any outdoor or indoor space, and will occupy the afternoon of anybody's time. You can make it yourself in just a few minutes, or share this instructable with your younglings and keep them busy all day for the price of a couple of sheets of paper.

All you need to make this project is a couple of sheets of A4 paper, scissors and glue and some sort of modelling-clay-like material.

To make a version like mine, you'll need also need a drawing compass, fine markers and coloured pens.

I've also drawn up a couple of templates (attached to this step) which you could print, colour and cut out.

The target is basically a circle 200mm across (as big as you can fit on a sheet of A4). I also added a central circle and cross-bars, making "pie slices" that can be used to play the game. The colours are completely arbitrary.

I went over the pencil lines in black fineliner to make them stand out.

The darts start out as circles 100mm across (50mm radius), with an inner circle 80mm across (40mm radius).

One circle will make two darts - colour in a quarter of each outer ring to mark the ownership of the dart.

Cut each circle in half, so that there is a coloured quarter on each half.

Roll the circle into a tight cone, and glue in place (when it's tight enough, the ends of the coloured stripe will meet).

The darts need to be weighted - I used a piece of "white tac" a bit smaller than a pea, and pressed it into place in the point of the dart with the blunt end of a pencil.

(It doesn't have to be "white tac" - you could use modelling clay, play doh etc.)

Well, you'll have to make the game up, first...

The easiest game, obviously, is to take turns throwing your darts at the target, and see who gets closest to the centre. Score in the same way as bowling or curling by counting how many darts are "in" (closer than the closest opponent's dart).

You could give points to each coloured sector and the centre circle, or draw in more circles and give points to each ring, like archery.

If you're playing outside, and the paper target won't lay still, you can use almost anything as targets - circles drawn in the dirt, buckets, plant-pots...

Anyway, it's over to you - share what versions you make, or the rules of the games you make up...