Air Ping Pong

Continuing on the theme of party games – here’s a fuss-free one that Athos likes a lot.

What you need:

• A ping pong ball
• A decent-sized table, marked in half (use masking tape or eraseable whiteboard marker)

How it works:

• Get the kids to pair up. For a fairer tournament, match the boys against boys and girls and girls.
• The aim is to blow the ping pong ball off their opponent’s half of the table. At all times, their hands must be behind their backs and their bodies must not touch the table.
• The longer/larger the table, the larger the perimeter each player must defend. To minimise frustration, you can play the game in doubles, or else stick cardboard barriers to parts of the table to reduce the perimeter.

Athos played it at last year’s birthday party too, and liked it enough that we continued playing it after the party was over! Here are some pictures of the game in progress.

Singles match played on a long rectangular table

Doubles match played on round table