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Soft-Target Tower

Players stack empty cardboard tubes and small cartons into a low tower, take turns gently tossing one soft ball at it, and compare which arrangements fall easily and which hold.

• AgesEarly school age, Older child
• Players2 to 5 players
• Time5 min setup, 15 min play
• WhereBackyard, Indoors, Park

Who it is for

Two to five school-age children with an adult who sets the tossing line, keeps the area behind the tower clear and stays for the whole game. This is not a game for toddlers, and younger siblings watch from behind the tossing line with an adult.

School-age children are a suggested starting point because the game involves tossing toward a target: the supervising adult decides whether it suits the group.

What you need

• Six to ten light, empty cardboard pieces: paper towel tubes, oatmeal canisters, small cartons, tissue boxes. Save them from the recycling for a few days.
• No tubes? Roll sheets of scrap paper into wide cylinders and tape the seam.
• Two or three large, soft throwable items: foam balls, cloth balls or tightly rolled pairs of socks.
• Painter’s tape or masking tape for the tossing line. Outdoors, a rope or a row of shoes works.
• Optional: paper and a pencil to sketch each tower design before it is tested.

Space and surface

A lane three to four big steps long, ending at a wall, a fence or open empty ground. The tower stands on the floor or on a low, sturdy surface no higher than a step stool. Clear the lane and the space behind and beside the tower of people, pets and breakables.

Set it up

1. Adult job first: check every cardboard piece for staples, metal rims and sharp edges, and remove any plastic lids or wrap.
2. Choose the tower spot with a wall, fence or empty ground behind it. Confirm that nobody can walk through that space.
3. Mark the tossing line three big steps from the tower spot. Younger or newer players may get a closer line.
4. Sort the cardboard pieces by shape so builders can see what they have: tubes, boxes, canisters.
5. Build the first tower together as an example: three pieces on the bottom, two above, one to finish. Keep it below the waist of the shortest player.
6. Everyone steps behind the tossing line before the first toss.

How to play

1. One player builds a tower from any of the pieces, in any arrangement, below waist height. Before the first toss, the builder says one thing about the design, such as “wide base” or “all tubes.”
2. The other players take turns tossing one soft ball each, gently and underhand, from behind the line.
3. After each toss, everyone looks: what moved, what fell, what stayed?
4. When the tower is down, or after every player has tossed twice, the round ends. Count how many tosses the tower survived.
5. An adult calls “collect,” balls are gathered, and the next player becomes the builder.
6. Tosses go toward the tower only, and nobody goes past the line until “collect” is called.

How it ends

Play until everyone has been the builder once. Instead of ranking players, ask the group which design surprised them. For a cooperative version, everyone builds one tower together and the team tries to knock it down completely in fewer total tosses each round, with every player taking the same number of turns.

Make it easier or harder

Easier

• Move the line to two big steps and build the tower from just three large pieces.
• Roll the ball along the floor instead of tossing it.
• Use a single tall piece as the target and simply see who can tip it.

Harder

• Builders must use every piece available.
• Tossers choose a specific piece to hit and name it before the toss.
• Design duel: two builders each make a tower side by side with identical pieces, and the group predicts which will survive more tosses before testing both.
• Step the line back one pace after each round.

Indoors and outdoors

Indoors, rolled socks and paper tubes keep the noise and the risk to furnishings low, and a hallway end makes a tidy backstop. Outdoors, even a light breeze knocks over empty tubes, so build in a sheltered corner against a fence or use heavier cardboard such as small shipping cartons. At a park, pick a spot where the lane points away from paths and other people.

Mixed ages and different abilities

• Mark two tossing lines in different colors and let each player choose one before the round begins.
• Younger school-age players can be builders more often, since building needs no aim.
• An adult or grandparent can serve as the caller for “toss” and “collect” and as the tally keeper.
• Seated option: tossing underhand from a chair or wheelchair at the line works the same way. One way to try this is to raise the tower onto a low, sturdy surface so it sits in an easier line of sight.
• No-throwing variation: roll the ball along the ground or along a cardboard ramp aimed at the tower, or skip the ball and test designs by gently fanning the tower with a piece of cardboard.
• Lower-movement option: a player can be the designer who directs a partner to build, then predicts what will happen before each toss.
• For players sensitive to sudden noise, use paper cylinders and socks, which fall almost silently.

When it goes wrong, and how to reset

The common failure is a tower that falls before anyone tosses, usually because tubes were stood on a soft or uneven surface. Move the tower to hard, level ground, put the widest pieces on the bottom layer and try again. If rounds end on the first toss every time, move the line back a step rather than asking anyone to toss more softly.

By TeeterTop editorial. Updated October 11, 2026.

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