Crafts with Kids: How to Make a Dart Board with Hook and Loop Tape

Darts can be a lot of fun to play, but unfortunately, it’s not exactly a kid-friendly sport, especially for the very little ones. But you can help young kids join in on the fun with this do-it-yourself, safe version of the game.

Read on to learn how to make a dart board that’s safe for the whole family and fun for kids to make. All you need are a few materials and about a half-hour of time to create this colorful homemade dart board.

How to Make a Dart Board

Here is what you’ll need to make this project happen:

1. Craft felt sheets at least 2′ wide in about five different colors, plus a smaller piece in black.
2. A drawing compass or different size bowls (for making perfect circles).
3. A pair of shears for cutting fabric.
4. Sharpie or another pen that will show up on felt fabric.
5. Several ping pong balls.
6. Hook and loop adhesive backed tape. 
7. Number stickers that will stick to felt.
8. Glue (preferably one made for fabric, such as Tacky Glue)

All of these products can be found in any major supermarket store and online. There is a list of a few stores where you can find everything that you’ll need so don’t waste your time searching and get to crafting! If you are starting from 0 and don’t have any of the listed supplies, you can expect to spend just under $80 to get you started. Once you are done with the project, you should have a lot of leftover material for your next craft adventures.

You can create a simple dart board for kids to play, but you can also add some numbers to it to help them learn addition, subtraction, or multiplication. One great game to get you started is the “100 game.” The score starts at 0 and after each turn, the child will need to add his or her numbers together. The first to reach 100 wins. This method is a more creative way to get the kids involved and who said that crafting can’t be fun and educational?

Step 1: Make Your Circles

Felt is the best material to use to create a kid-safe dart board. Use bowls or the drawing compass to cut out a circle of felt in each color, with the largest circle being at least two feet wide (or a size of your preference.) Make the other circles progressively smaller. Lastly, create a small black circle for the bullseye center of your dartboard.

Note: if a compass and bowls are not available, you can create circles by tying a piece of string to a sharpie pen and anchoring it with a pushpin in the center of the felt square. Now pull the string taut and draw a circle all the way around it. The distance from the pushpin determines the size of the circle. This method is a bit more tedious but is proven to get the little ones thinking!

Step 2: Glue the Circles

Layer and center the circles on top of each other by size starting with the largest one on the bottom. Glue them together. End by gluing the black circle on the top.

Step 3: Make Your “Darts”

Take the hook and loop tape and cut a strip long enough so it winds around one of the ping pong balls. Peel off the paper so the sticky adhesive backing is exposed and stick it around the ping pong ball. For added grip, add another strip so it crosses the other one perpendicularly.

Step 4: Add Numbers

Stick the numbered stickers onto the bottom of each circle. The black center should have the highest value with each larger circle decreasing in value. For example, you can give a score of 50 to the center and go down by ten points for the other circles.

That’s it! Now you can hang or attach the dart board to the wall and have fun trying to get the highest score with the grippy ping pong “darts.”

See Our Other Hook and Loop Tape Craft Ideas

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to make a dart board that’s safe for kids. If you’re interested to learn about more do-it-yourself ideas that use hook and loop tape, visit our blog.