It’s a Total Pigsty

Where there’s rubbish, disorganization, and debris, you will find a happy herd of piggies, ready to roll! The perfect indoor game to combat the winter blahs…it’s trash time!

We read Pigsty by Mark Teague (Scholastic, 1994). Wendell Fultz’s bedroom is a total pigsty. Ordered by his mother to clean it, Wendell is shocked to find an actual pig on his bed. As the mess in his room grows, so does the number of pigs, until finally Wendell is overwhelmed. He asks the pigs to pitch in and clean up. They do – and then depart for dirtier climes. One of my favorite books, and so fun to read aloud!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large oatmeal container
  • 1 paper cup
  • Pink construction paper
  • 3 paper towel tubes
  • A selection of colored tape
  • Scissors and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating

First, the pig! Wrap a large oatmeal container in pink paper, then add a circle of pink paper to the lid as well. Next, cut a paper cup down to approximately 1.75″ and cover it with pink paper. This is your pig’s snout. Use extra paper for the ears, and a curl of paper (or corkscrewed craft stem) for a tail. Draw the eyes and nostrils on with markers. Finally, tape 3 paper towel rolls together to create the “steering stick” for your pig. You can color it with markers, or fancy it up with colored tape. You’re ready to race!

We also highly recommend decorating a jersey number from this numbers 1-16 template. The paper number gets taped to your back, and the matching number gets drawn on your pig. The pig race gets chaotic, and you want to be able to find your pig quickly if it gets bumped, kicked, or otherwise separated from you.

Time for the race! Scatter “rubbish” in a large area (we used plastic eggs, old film canisters, and toilet paper tubes because they rolled smoothly). Have all the contestants line up, standing behind their pigs with the steering stick. On the shout of “Go!” players push their pigs forward, zero in on a piece of rubbish, and push it across the finish line.

A less competitive version is to turn a table into the “goal,” and have kids roll the rubbish underneath it. When all the garbage is under the table, everyone wins!

Go Snail Racer Go!

Who says a snail can’t be speedy? Start your engines, we’re putting it in 5th gear with a remote control snail racer rally!

We read Snail Crossing by Corey R. Tabor (Balzer + Bray, 2020). When Snail spots a delicious cabbage field across the road, he decides to motor over. However, many obstacles (birds, cars, rain, his own sense of direction) deter him from his goal. Thankfully, with the help of some new friends, it’s cabbage soup and tea for all! This book is hilarious and SO much fun to read aloud. Lots of laughter at story time! Highly recommend!

You’ll need:

  • 1 box (ours was 4” x 4” x 4”, but a small tissue box works too)
  • Poster board
  • 1 wheel assembly (more on that below)
  • 1 RC car or pull string
  • Scissors, tape and/or glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

The snail part of this project is very simple. Decorate 2 poster board snail shells and attach them to both sides of a small box. To make the snail’s head and neck, round one end of an 8″ strip of poster board, then fold to create a head. Don’t forget the eye stalks! We also added a paper racing helmet, but that is optional. Tab the other end of the strip and attach it to the underside of the box.

If you are going to eventually make this a pull string snail like we did, you will find the wheel assembly instructions here. Finish the whole look off with color masking tape stripes and star stickers, or just use markers to decorate. We added red dot sticker taillights and a sticker license plate as well.

Now to get your snail moving! We thought an RC snail rally would be super awesome, so I made a quick trip to Jazams, our local toy store. I found these RC trucks for $17.

One quick note: You’ll notice that the RC truck in the picture above has a nose that sticks out. There was another box, exact same recycling truck, except it had a flat front (see below). Turns out the truck with the flat front held the snail box MUCH better. So aim to find a flat front truck if at all possible!

I removed the green recycle section from the back of the truck, cut a hole in the bottom of each snail box, and then slid the snail onto the cab of the truck like so:

Then we headed out to the big lobby to race our snails! As you can imagine, it super chaotic (we had four running at once). So we waited until a slightly calmer time to video these two racers in action!

Pancake Power

pancake power

We’re serving up fast flapjacks in this fun duel-player racing game! But who will take home the golden syrup pitcher trophy? Check out our high-action video at the end of the post!

We read Hey, Pancakes! written by Tamson Weston, and illustrated by Stephen Gammell (Harcourt, 2003). Mom and Dad are sleeping in, so the kids (and the dog) head to the kitchen to cook up some amazing, sticky, super yummy pancakes! Yes, it’s a mess, but a little maple syrup never hurt anyone!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large tissue box
  • 1 corrugated cardboard rectangle
  • 4 small paper plates
  • 3 paper cups
  • 2 jumbo craft sticks (ours were 8″ long)
  • Tin foil
  • 1 knives and forks template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • 2 corrugated cardboard circles
  • Scissors and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

To make your pancake game table, hot glue a large tissue box to the bottom of a corrugated cardboard rectangle (we used a 10″ x 14″ cake pad).

pancake tableSet the tabletop with 2 small paper plates, 2 paper cups cut down to 2.25″, and the knifes and forks from the template. Optional: adding cotton ball “liquids” inside the cups, paper napkins, and decorating everything with construction paper, color masking tape and patterned tape.

top of pancake tableWe recommend NOT attaching anything directly to the tabletop. Later, when you’re playing your race game, it’s much funnier when things go flying off the table!

To make your pancake skillets, hot glue jumbo craft sticks to the backs 2 small paper plates, then cover everything with tin foil. The pancakes are 5″ diameter corrugated cardboard circles. Definitely use cardboard. Poster board and construction paper pancakes don’t fly through the air – they just flutter disappointingly. Add a self-adhesive foam foam pat of butter if you so desire:

pancake skillet Finally, the golden syrup pitcher trophy! This is a paper cup. We added a gold mirror board handle and spout as well. And a gold embossed foil seal for extra bling.

golden syrup pitcher trophyTo play the race game, set the table, then have the two players sit some distance on opposite ends. On “Go!” both players must attempt to toss their pancakes to the plates. Keep tossing until a pancake lands on a plate. First one to the plate wins the trophy!


Many thanks to Franny Zawadzki, our new office jill-of-all-trades, for shooting the video. We are delighted to have your talents at Cotsen, including your previously untapped sports announcer skills!