Quick and Fun Games for Pioneer Day
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Get ready to celebrate Pioneer Day! Dive into a whole new level of fun with our exciting pioneer-themed games. These quick and fun activities are perfect for bringing joy to your family or church group. With a playful twist on pioneer traditions, everyone will be laughing and having a blast in no time. Gather around and let the fun begin!
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These games require a few supplies that you should have around your house. If not, we’ve got some recommendations, don’t worry.
- Plastic cups like the red solo ones. We love the Hefty ones with multiple colors though as they come in handy when you play some of our other games like our Ping Pong Games Gospel Fun Kit.
- Dice
- Chopstick (or go search the neighborhood for a thin stick)
- Ping pong balls- we use these balls as they bounce well and are easy to find with their bright orange color.
- Measuring tape that can lock
- Yarn or string
- Masking tape
- Can of food
- Prizes
- Our free printables (go the bottom of this post)
Now on to the games! (Looking for more traditional pioneer games instead?)
Trailblazer’s Toss
Traveling across the United States was no easy feat. Trailblazer’s Toss represents some of the hardships the pioneers had to overcome as they traveled in wagons and handcarts. The goal in this game is to bounce the ball under the bridge and into the cup.
Set Up
Place two cups upside down, then put a chopstick across them to form a bridge. Next, place the last cup behind the bridge, about a chopstick length away. See the image above for an example. You want to weigh the last cup down with something. You can add a couple extra ping pong balls or fill it a little with water. If you don’t, it will tip over very easily making it frustrating to play.
How to Play
Stand or sit in front of your cup formation with the bridge in front.
Bounce a ping pong ball under the bridge and into the cup.
Note: This is harder challenge! Give each person 3-10 tries. See it in action on our Instagram page.
Prairie Pitch and Catch
This is a twist on the classic ball in a cup game.
Set Up
Make your toy by cutting a piece of yarn and taping a ping pong ball to one end and a plastic cup on the other end. Start with about an arms length of yarn. The length of yarn will change the difficulty.
How to Play
See how many times you can catch the ball in your cup in 60 seconds.
The ball must be all the way down before you can start flipping it back up to catch in your cup.
The person who gets the ball into their cup the most wins.
Gather the Herd
Calm things down a little with this chill game where we pretend the ping pong balls are the animals the pioneers took with them across the plains. These livestock animals could be oxen, horses, cows, and mules.
Set Up
Tape cups on to the edge of your table so that the balls can easily roll in. Your table should be flat, no need for any tilting. The amount of cups you add will change the difficulty level. We taped on 10 for an easier game.
How to Play
Each person gets a bowl of 10 ping pong balls. You’ll need a way to distinguish the two team’s balls from each other- use different colors or draw stars on some of them like we did.
Whoever gets the most balls in the cups wins. Everyone can go at any time. The more people that play, the crazier it gets. They can choose to use their balls to hit another’s off course or try to wait to go when no one else is going.
Set a time limit to make it more difficult.
Wagon Wheel Winnings
We always add in a prize game to thank people for playing. We gather whatever is around the house or head to the dollar store for prizes. These prizes can range from awesome to ridiculous. You can see the beard my son won in the picture above.
Set up
Block off sections of your table for the various different prizes using masking tape. Place the pioneer people from our free printable Find a Pioneer game in each section to decorate or keep the prizes a surprise. Place a matching picture on a box or bucket with the prize hidden underneath. The reveal is half the fun.
How to Play
Take turns rolling a can of beans (or whatever you have) down the table.
Where it stops is the prize you get.
If it lands on a line you can either let the person pick which prize, give them both, or give them a reroll.
If it rolls off the table, they don’t get anything.
Frontier Fortress
Time to build the town! This game is a race to see who can build the fastest.
Set Up
Each person gets a stack of five cups, two dice, and two ping pong balls.
How to Play
On “Go” they race to build their towers. The five cups make the base of the pyramid with two cups on top as shown above. Next a die goes on top of each cup on the top of the tower then lastly, the balls on top of the dice.
The balls are obviously, the tricky part! Be careful not to knock your tower down as you try to balance the balls. If you do knock them down, just build again until someone completes their tower.
Everything must stay standing for at least 5 seconds to be declared the winner.
Settler's Supply Snag
As the pioneers traveled over all those bumpy roads, precarious ridges, and across rivers, it wasn’t unusual to lose things. This game is all about catching those loose supplies that are about to fall out of your wagon.
Set Up
Grab two plastic cups and head to an area where you have some space.
How to Play
One person plays at a time in this game. Their goal is to catch another cup inside the cup they are holding.
Another person throws a cup at them (underhanded). They can use their other arm to hit the cup back up but must catch the cup thrown at them in their cup, not their hand.
Once the cup hits the floor or they accidentally catch it, their turn is over.
Each person has three tries.
Trek to the Salt Lake Valley
Load up your wagon and see if you can make it to the Salt Lake Valley. Check out this interactive map of the trails the pioneers took to learn more about the places referenced on our free printable.
Set Up
Print our free pioneer trek pages to play this game. Place the two printed sheets so the Salt Lake Valley is at the bottom and your Hometown is at the top. You will also need some ping pong balls, six plastic cups, a pair of dice, and a measuring tape.
Place the cups on the printable as indicated. Weigh the last cup down with either some water or extra ping pong balls. The first five cups are upside down. The last cup is right side up.
How to Play
Everyone starts with 12 inches on the measuring tape. Then each person rolls the dice to see how many inches to add on to their measuring tape for the total distance. Be sure to lock the distance in place on your measuring tape for ease of play.
Roll the ball down the measuring tape to the line of cups. The goal is to get your ball to go into the Salt Lake Valley cup.
If it detours off, keep track of how far you got. The person who gets the furthest or to the Valley in the least amount of tries, wins.
Looking for more traditional pioneer games instead? We’ve got those too.
