Shooting marshmallows is safe and fun.
A marshmallow gun uses small or large marshmallows as ammunition, which don't hurt on impact. Children of all ages can use store-bought or homemade marshmallow guns for many fun games. While foam-shooter guns are expensive and the "bullets" are a hassle to replace, marshmallows can be purchased at your local grocery store, making these guns hassle free. Whether you want to reinvent an old favorite or create an entirely new game, a marshmallow gun is a safe, inexpensive, and riotously fun toy to use.
Target Practice
Although playing "guns" and "fighting" isn't necessarily what many parents want their kids doing, setting up a target practice allows kids to have fun with marshmallow guns without pretending to hurt anyone. Find a fence or a short wall and place empty cans and plastic bottles on top of it. Because the marshmallows are light and may not knock the items down when they're struck, improvise by covering the cans with white paper. Dip the marshmallows in food dye so they leave marks on the targets when they're hit. Whoever hits the most targets wins the game.
Paintball
If you don't mind your children play fighting, a marshmallow is a safe substitute bullet and won't cause welts or bruises like paintballs. Dip the tips of the marshmallows in food coloring before they're loaded into the shooter. Children can divide up into two teams and see who is the last one standing. Have children wear white shirts so the "bullets" leave a mark. This game is similar to tag, only using marshmallow paintballs instead.
Pin the Tail on the Donkey
Like the traditional game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, children will be blindfolded and try to mark as close to the donkey as possible. Post the picture of the donkey on a vertical surface. Using marshmallows dipped in food dye, children will take turns shooting the marshmallows to try to mark the donkey's tail. The child who hits closest to the tail area wins.
Shooter Challenge
This game is similar to a target practice, but with different levels of difficulty. The game can be set up in two different ways. One way is to set up different sized square buckets on their sides in a vertical stack from largest to smallest, with the smallest being worth more points. Children will take turns shooting to see who can get the most marshmallows in the buckets with three shots. Another way is to set up the buckets in a horizontal line, with children shooting three shots at each bucket to see how many they can make. To heighten the difficulty level further, use plastic cups, which have smaller openings at the top.
Tags: game similar, marshmallow guns, marshmallow safe, marshmallows food, Tail Donkey