Kids Can Create A School Carnival!

Why a carnival?	Where does the money go?	Find out more about Our Donations
Who doesn't love a good carnival? We made games and prizes so the students at P.S. 175 can take a break and have fun! We knew that not only would the carnival get a lot of attention, but we also knew that parents, students and teachers would be more likely to play the games if they knew the money was going to charity. As soon as word got around that there was going to be a carnival, we knew that we would make a lot of money. Guess what? We did!	Since 1988, Robin Hood has targeted poverty in New York City. Our philosophy is simple: to significantly affect people living in poverty you have to attack its root causes. That’s why Robin Hood focuses on poverty prevention through programs in early childhood, education, youth and job training. And, because we can’t turn our backs on those living and suffering in poverty, we also fund basic survival programs in healthcare, hunger, housing and domestic violence. At Robin Hood, 100% not only refers to the value of your contribution, but also to what we expect from ourselves and from the programs we support. 100% — nothing less — is what it takes to make a difference in the lives of New York City’s poor. (http://www.robinhood.org/approach/approach.cfm)

Want to find out how we donated to the Robin Hood Foundation? Click on the Robin Hood link to find out more about the charity!

Follow these simple steps: 

• Talk with a teacher to help put the carnival together.

• Get permission from the principal to have a carnival.

• Assign a job (see suggestions) to everyone working in the carnival.

• Decide on the location and date of the carnival.

• Decide on a price to play a game in each booth.  ( We charged 25 cents per ticket.)  The amount of tickets can differ for each booth.

• Start planning game booths (see suggestions). You can also have food stands (see suggestions).

• Collect supplies for decorations and the booths, (see suggestions).

• Once you have your supplies, you can start making the booths.  You might want to make them colorful so people notice them.  Each class can participate and make one booth. Make sure nobody makes the same booths!

• Have someone from ThinkQuest make a list of who is responsible for each booth so there is no confusion.

• Make posters and give out flyers advertising the carnival; this way people will know about the carnival and be prepared for it.

• Set up the booths in the location you decided to have the carnival. (We chose the Gym.)

• Now it's time for the carnival to be put into action.  Set up a schedule telling each class to come at a certain time.  Have kids from each class run their class booth.  Make sure everyone participates; rotate the kids running the booths throughout the day.

Suggestions for Carnival Booths:                                                                                        

Bowling - with plastic-decorated soda bottles (make sure they are empty!)               

Hula hoop or bean bag toss                                                                                           

Basketball (have one person shooting at a time)

Pin the nose on the clown (played like pin the tail on the donkey)                            

Guess how many jelly beans are in the jar ( the person who guesses the right answer or closest to the correct answer gets a prize).                                                                    

Suggestions for food stands:                                                                                   

Cotton Candy                                                                                                            

Popcorn     

Mini bags of potato chips                                                                                         

Suggestions for Supplies:                                                                                              

Markers, crayons, and/or paint                                                                                  

Glitter or Sequins                                                                                                         

Paper and/or cardboard

 Glue                                                                                                                              

Suggestions for jobs:                                                                                                   

People to sell the tickets

People to collect and count the money                                                                        

 Photographer  

2 people to collect the tickets at each booth                                                                      

A person to make sure that everyone is doing their share (Supervisor).

Follow these simple steps and you are guaranteed to have a spectacular carnival. Decide what to do with the money you make.  We are giving to the Robin Hood foundation.

Remember, Kids Can make a BIG difference!