How to Play Catch With Milk Jugs

All you need to get started are two empty milk jugs, so drink up!

Milk jug catch is a great way to recycle empty milk jugs and encourage your kids to drink milk. This outdoor game is perfect for picnics and barbecues, and the only limit on the number of players is the number of plastic jugs you can find. Not only will this game keep your kids active, outside and entertained for hours, but over time it can dramatically improve eye-hand coordination and a child's ability to succeed in school athletics.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• At least two clean plastic gallon milk jugs
• Scissors
• Permanent markers
• Soft foam ball
• Masking tape

How to Play Catch With Milk Jugs

1. Cut the bottom off the milk jugs. Make the cut at a slight angle to make catching the ball slightly easier.

2. Cover the edge of the scoop with a line of masking tape.Plastic edges can cause scrapes similar to paper cuts if you run your fingers along their edge. The tape will prevent this accident from happening.

3. Decorate the plastic scoops with permanent markers. This is a fun way to stretch out this craft activity and also enables you to personalize your catcher. If you are working with a lot of jugs, you may want to develop distinct team themes so that you can play a type of keep-away with the jugs when you have a large group of players.

4. If you are playing outside you may want to use a whiffle ball instead of a foam ball so that you can throw it farther.

   Pick a partner. If you are playing with more than three people, then you will need to pick teams instead of partners, or if you prefer you can just toss the ball in a circle to whomever you wish.

5. You can make the game harder by not touching the ball with your hands at all, but throwing and catching with the scoops.

   Throw the ball to your partner. They will try to catch it in their scoop. Once they have the ball, they will throw it back to you or to another person who is also playing the game.

Tips & Warnings

• To make the game more challenging, play with plastic quart jugs instead of gallon cartons.

• If you are going to play inside, you must use a foam ball or risk breaking furniture, windows and collectibles.

Resources

• Read about more milk jug games and crafts here.