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All you need is an old (already read) newspaper and a friend or two … or 20!
Games aren’t just about playing organized sports. They’re about making up your own. Bernie DeKoven, author of Junkyard Sports , shows us how we can make up whole new sports with an old newspaper, a little imagination, and a few good friends.
At least 2 (for two teams).
Gyms, hallways, anywhere flat, smooth
and a little slippery.
To make a polo mallet, roll several sheets of newspaper diagonally into a tube. Make the mallet head by either bending or tearing and creasing one end. Roll a sheet of newspaper into a ball. For goals, make two giant paper cones, each from one whole piece of newspaper, and place them mouth-down.
How many di erences can you spot between these two pictures?
Mallet
Goal
Ball
Knock over the other team’s paper cone, using only paper mallets to move the ball, while standing on two sheets of newspaper. Divide into two teams, and give each player a paper polo mallet. Set the big paper cones at either end of the playing area, with their points standing up. Players whack the paper ball with their mallets, trying to get the ball to hit the opponents’ cone. All the while, each player stands on two pieces of newspaper, one for each foot. Players must shuffle around, keeping their feet on their newspapers for the whole game.
This is one idea for a newspaper game. Can you invent more?
Standards Link: Reading Comprehension: Follow multiple-step written directions.
The activities on this page are adapted from the book Junkyard Sports by Bernie DeKoven. For more ideas, visit www.junkyardsports.com
© Vicki Whiting September 2025
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