Homemade Miniature Golf: A Party Plan
By Mary Nerburn • Illustrated by Chris Demarest

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Invitations
To make "golf ball" invitations, fold white paper in half. Trace around a small bowl on each paper, slightly overlapping the folded edge. Cut out the circle. On the front, print "You're invited to a mini-golf party!" Use crayons or markers to make the invitation look like a golf ball. Inside the card, write

• Where: (teacher/classroom's name) Golf Course
  
• Address: (classroom/cafeteria/playground)
  
• Date: (date of the party)
  
• Tee time: (time the party begins)
  (Party ends at ____ o'clock.)
  
• Refreshments will be served.
  
• Please reply: (optional)

Decorations
Cut out a large poster-board circle, and decorate it to look like the golf-ball invitation, and hang it on your classroom door. Decorate a table with a white tablecloth and green paper plates. At each place setting, draw a "green" with a green crayon and provide a plastic spoon and green napkin. Make small flags from paper and tape them near the tops of straws (leaving room for your students to drink). Place one in each student's drink cup. Write students' names on the flags to use them as placecards. Decorate the room with small white balloons and green crepe-paper streamers.

Preparing the Golf Course
You'll need an open area, such as a playground, classroom, or cafeteria. The ideas for creating a homemade miniature-golf course are nearly endless. Use your imagination and available materials to design your own. Here are some ideas.

Collect materials ahead of time so that each student can make and decorate a golf club at the party. Use a long cardboard tube for each club. To add the club head, cut a piece of heavy cardboard about 3 inches wide and 10 inches long. Fold it in half and tape it to the bottom of the club. Paint the club.

Provide one plastic golf ball or table-tennis ball for each student. Use a permanent marker to write students' names on the balls.

To make the golf "holes," use various containers, such as buckets, plastic flowerpots, or well-rinsed milk cartons. Lay the containers on their sides so the golf balls will roll into them easily. Secure them by placing bricks or rocks alongside.

Make ramps by propping one end of a piece of thin wood or thick cardboard on a brick. You can fold up the edges of the cardboard to make a rim so balls won't fall off the sides. Other possible ramp materials include rubber doormats, or bathmats, and pieces of plastic racetrack. Place a container upright under the high end of the ramp.

To make tunnels, cut cardboard containers or plastic bottles in half lengthwise, remove the tops and bottoms, and line up the middle sections from end to end.

A sandbox can become a "sand trap." Or you might require students to putt up a ramp and over a short jump to
another ramp.

Short on space? Build your course in a smaller area. Tee off with "golf ball" marbles and "golf club" rulers. Sink putts into yogurt tubs and paper cups and through cardboard-tube tunnels.

Activities
Golf-Ball Guess
Fill a large clear-plastic jar with miniature marshmallows. (Count them as you put them in.) Have students guess the number of "golf balls" in the jar. Give a small prize to the child whose guess is closest.

Mini-Golf Game
When all students have arrived, it's tee-off time! Make sure holes are clearly marked so players can follow your course. Have everyone go through the course together. For a large group, split into teams. Give students paper and pencils to keep track of their strokes. The player or team to get through the course with the lowest number of strokes wins.

Golf Buddies
Provide students with scissors, glue, felt, markers, fabric, and yarn. Give each student a plastic golf ball, tee, and some modeling clay. Have them create a face on the golf ball, then glue the "head" onto a golf-tee "body" and stand their creation in a small, shaped mound of clay.

Tee-Tin Toss
One at a time, players stand behind a line and try to toss seven golf tees into a muffin tin about five feet away. The student who gets in the most tees wins.

One Fell into the Water Trap
Arrange several objects on a tray. Show the tray to the students for one minute. After taking the tray out of sight, remove one object. Have students guess which item has disappeared.

Refreshments
Let golfers assemble their own "club" sandwiches from bread, luncheon meat, tuna or egg salad, cheese and tomato slices, lettuce, and mayonnaise or mustard. Serve fruit juice with ice cubes that have mini-marshmallow "golf balls" frozen inside them.

For dessert, crush tan-colored cookies into a small bowl (the sand trap) for each student, and put small balls of ice cream on top.

As students leave, give them their hand-made golf clubs and golf buddies to take home -— and thank each child for spending a day of golf and fun with you!