How I Built A Chicken Egg Toss Game For The Rescue Centre

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Fiona18.08.2026JUMP TO TUTORIAL

Every summer the rescue centre in Stirling asks for a stall game that keeps folk at the table longer than a raffle ticket, and this year I said I'd make one myself rather than order it in. What came off my kitchen table was this chicken egg toss game, built row by coloured row over a wet Tuesday when the track up to the cottage was too claggy for a walk anyway. It costs a fraction of a shop-bought version and, more usefully, you can make it exactly the size your table or easel needs.

Gather Your Materials

Craft supplies laid out for a homemade chicken egg toss game, including coloured egg circles and markers.

I laid everything out on the table the way I used to lay out clippers and combs before a groom — nothing worse than getting halfway through a job and realising the thing you need is in the other room.

The board: one large blank canvas or poster board, sat up on a small wooden easel so it stands proud for a stall.
The eggs: thirty-five coloured paper circles, seven each in pink, blue, yellow, green and purple.
Marking tools: a set of bright markers, a pencil, and a proper wooden ruler, not a bendy plastic one that lies to you.
Fixing and finishing: a glue stick, scissors, and three printed price cards reading $1, Big Prize and $5.

Buy the circles in bulk if you're doing this for a fete rather than a family do — I got mine cut from craft foam at the same shop where I pick up Tam's chew toys, and there was plenty left for a second board.

Mark the Layout

Marking a pencil grid on blank poster board before building a chicken egg toss game display.

This is the step people rush, and it's the one that decides whether your finished board looks crisp or wonky from three feet away. I measured the blank canvas into an even grid with the ruler and a soft pencil, marking light lines I could rub out later, five rows deep and seven columns across to match my circle count exactly.

Measure the whole grid before you glue a single egg down — a board that's slightly off in row one is badly off by row five, and there's no fixing it after the glue's dry.

Rab, watching from the doorway with his tea, offered to fetch his spirit level. I didn't need it, but the instinct wasn't wrong — a grid that drifts even a centimetre per row will leave your bottom row crowded or gappy by the time you reach it. Take the ten minutes here. It's the least exciting step and the one that saves you the most grief.

Add the Title and Top Row

Adding the Cash or Hatch title and top pink row while assembling this chicken egg toss game.

Once the grid's marked, the board finally starts to look like something rather than a piece of homework. I lettered Cash or Hatch across the top in bold colour-matched pens, then began gluing down the first row — seven pink eggs, each carrying the smallest numbers on the board.

Why the smallest numbers go up top

Every prize board I've ever seen at a fete works on the same logic: the values climb as you move down, so the top row is deliberately modest and the bottom row is where the excitement lives. Get the low numbers glued in cleanly here and the rest of the board follows the same rhythm without you having to think about it row by row.

I use a glue stick rather than wet glue for this — foam circles buckle if you're heavy-handed with liquid adhesive, and a buckled egg never sits flat under a laminate sheet later.

Add the Blue and Yellow Rows

Gluing blue and yellow number rows onto the growing chicken egg toss game board.

Blue row: values step up noticeably from the pink row — nothing dramatic, just enough that a player feels they're moving somewhere.
Yellow row: a proper jump this time, values well into the mid-teens and twenties across the row.
Spacing check: line each new row up against the pencil grid from step two before the glue touches the board.

I worked both rows in one sitting rather than stretching it over two days, mainly because the glue stick dries out if you leave the lid off between sessions — small practical thing, but it matters when you're doing thirty-five of these. By the time the yellow row was down, the board had real presence propped up on the easel, balloons bobbing behind it in the window light.

Add the Green Row

Placing the green row of numbered eggs on the chicken egg toss game before the final row.

Lay the remaining green circles along the fourth row of your pencil grid without gluing yet, checking the spacing against the rows above.
Write the numbers first if you haven't already, before the circle is fixed — much easier to correct a wobbly digit on a loose piece of foam than on a glued one.
Press each egg firmly from the centre outward so the edges don't lift once the board's handled at a stall all afternoon.

This row pushed the top value on the board to thirty, and you can feel the game tightening up as you go — fewer eggs left, higher stakes written on each one. I've six purple circles left on the table at this point, patient as anything, waiting for the last and biggest row.

Finish the Board

The finished number board for a chicken egg toss game, with all five coloured rows in place.

The purple row carries the highest numbers on the whole board, climbing as far as thirty-five, and finishing it is genuinely satisfying — five full rows, thirty-five numbered eggs, the whole grid finally earning its keep.

A few finishing checks before you call it done:

Run a hand lightly across every row — any circle that lifts at the edge gets an extra dab of glue now, not after it's rained on at the fete.
Stand back six feet and read the numbers from a distance, the way a guest walking past a stall would.
Confirm the price cards ($1, Big Prize, $5) still sit where guests will actually see them, not tucked under the easel's legs.

Mine sat up on the easel looking properly finished for the first time — no bunting yet, no balloons, just thirty-five honest coloured circles doing their job.

Decorate and Set Up

Decorating the chicken egg toss game with pastel bunting and balloons for party day.

This is the step that turns a craft project into a party stall. I ran pastel bunting along the front edge of the easel, patterned in the same pink, blue and yellow the board already used, and gathered balloons in matching shades either side.

Bunting placement: low across the front of the easel, at the height a child walking past would actually notice it.
Balloons: a loose cluster rather than a symmetrical arrangement — it reads as more festive and forgives a slightly lopsided knot.
Weather sense: if this is going outdoors, a laminate sheet over the whole board is worth the fiver it costs, because Trossachs weather does not care about your fundraiser.

I've learned that lesson the damp way more than once running things off the cottage in changeable weather — decorate last, and decorate for the venue you're actually standing in.

The Finished Game

The finished chicken egg toss game on its easel, ready for guests at the fundraiser.

And there it is — the finished chicken egg toss game, standing on its easel with the bunting strung and balloons either side, exactly the picture I'd had in my head back at step one with a table full of loose paper circles.

Set entry at $1 or $5 per turn using the price cards, whichever suits your event.
Let each guest choose a numbered egg rather than throwing anything at the board — it keeps the game gentle for younger visitors and older ones alike.
Reveal the matching prize against your own ticket system, with one lucky number hiding the Big Prize.

It's stood up to two fetes and a birthday party since, and it still comes out looking sharp — proof that an afternoon with a glue stick and a decent ruler goes a long way.

It's a simple thing in the end — a grid, some coloured circles, a bit of bunting — but it's earned its keep at more than one stall now, and it packs flat against the cottage wall between events, which is more than I can say for most of Rab's projects.

Hi! I'm Fiona

Hello, I'm Fiona! Registered Veterinary Nurse for nineteen years, home boarding and grooming for six, and thirty-five years of dogs — currently a…

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Common Questions

Can children help make this chicken egg toss game?

Yes, happily — the gluing and colouring stages are ideal for smaller hands. I'd keep the grid-measuring and the scissor work for an adult, simply because a wonky grid is hard to correct once circles are stuck down.

How do I make the board weatherproof for an outdoor fete?

A clear laminate sheet over the whole finished board is the simplest fix, and it's cheap insurance against a passing shower. Trossachs weather has taught me not to trust a forecast further than the next hour.

How long does the finished board actually last?

Mine has been through two outdoor fetes and a birthday party and still looks presentable, provided it's laminated and stored flat rather than rolled between events.

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