Do have any ideas or suggestions for Candyland?

Question

We are doing a life-size Candyland for the community this October 31st. This will be our 3rd year doing this. This year will be the biggest yet. We are holding it at community gym. I need ideas or suggestions of how to make the floor pieces and life-size gumdrops. In the past, for the floor pieces we used floor tiles (ppl would trip over them, some cracked, and because we painted them, the paint would peel off) and cardboard (after the paint dries, the board warps. We taped them to the floor to prevent slipping. The taped ruins the floor). As for gumdrops, we just never used any. So does anyone have ideas or suggestions? We want to try and make the props ourselves.

Answer 1

I like mliz55's ideas about painting thick fabric or a sheet of vinyl flooring (check out what type of paint you'd need to hold well on vinyl, or on fabric ... or you could apply squares of glued-on colored paper to either of those.

For gumdrops, would they be on people who were acting as the pieces, or would they be stand-alone?
If you want to use these pieces more than once, storing them would be a problem unless you could stack them or collapse them, etc.

If there were gumdrop people, each could just wear a sparkly pastel fabric, gathered around the neck, then billowed out to hips or to the floor.
The billow could come from wadded paper (warning: wadding that many takes a long time... BTDT), or plastic bags, or from blown up balloons, or foam, or even from a metal tomato cage or other lightweight wire structure made from chicken wire --or made the way they used to do the undergarment part of "hoop" skirts** (these would collapse nicely for storage.

If the gum drops are to be stand-alone and moved around, you could go with papier mache*** over a wire form or tomato cage or a pillow or a cardboard cylinder cut and tapered at the top end, etc.... it might be good to place a small handle or hand-hold for people to move these around so they won't get easily damaged. Then cover with sparkly fabric or pastel paint then a coat of diluted white glue with lots of cheap glitter in it. Make sure the shapes are pretty much the same so they could be stacked nicely for storage.


** for the hoop-skirt undergarment shape, the top of it would be a strong-fabric strip or draw string, etc. (around neck)... then from that would hang several ever-larger wire hoops (or stiff "boning" strips) which would be hung from the previous hoop by vertical strings or other strips of fabric
...here are a few examples to give you the general idea, but you would NOT have to use as many "rings" and would NOT have use *fabric between* the hoops (just tape or string, etc.)
http://www.agelesspatterns.com/images/1515.gif
http://www.5cense.com/Mermarade/06_drummer_boy_hoop_skirt_g.jpg
http://www.pba.org/dictator/images/772/hoopskirt.jpg
http://www.tuxedoman.com/slips/dd.htm
http://www.blockaderunner.com/images/no3hoop.jpg

***for a stronger and quicker papier mache material than strips of paper, you could use the larger clothlike "shop towels" on a roll (look like paper towels, but they're blue and thicker) that you can buy in automotive depts or stores.
Those soak up the glue well, drape well, and a single pieces can cover a lot of space at one time . . . or you could just use a large piece of porous fabric soaked in the diluted white glue (like Elmer's GlueAll)


Diane B.

Answer 2

Candyland Floor Game

Answer 3

When I was in high school the gym floor was always covered for non-sport events like dances and pep rallys. Maybe you could find either a very larger drop cloths (sewen together to cover the whole floor) or purchase a cloth that is made for covering a gym floor and paint the game board right on top. Next year that part of the work will already be done, it's less of a trip hazard, and hopfully it will be easier to store.

I think the suggestions about using paper mache' for the gum drops is great. It's fun, easy to do, and if you have kids helping they'll love it.

Hope this helps. Life size Candyland sounds awesome!!!

Answer 4

A life size Candyland!! How absolutely cool!!! I have an original Candyland game from the late 50's /early 60's, it was my absolute favourite board game as a child & very possibly has a great deal to do w/ my lifelong addiction to sugar (cakescandycookiespiesdoughnutspastriesicecream). I'm afraid I have no suggestions to offer, although so many folks sent in a great many good ones, but I would LOVE to see this undertaking. You're probably not in New England, are you?

Answer 5

A life-size Candyland sounds AWESOME! What a great alternative to the traditional Halloween type stuff that communities normally do. KUDOS!

I don't really have any suggestions to offer, but I think a lot of the ideas people gave you seem doable. I know you will think of something!

Good luck! I hope it goes well! I wish I could see a pic of your finished product.

Answer 6

For the floor, you might go to a carpet and flooring place, and buy some vinyl flooring, You can paint the back, making floor cloths. You could also make floor cloths using canvas, perhaps painted drop clothes. to keep the canvas from slipping you can paint the back with latex paint, and use anti slip mats for rugs to keep the cloths in place. There are other options, try google for floor cloths.
for the gumdrops, you can build a frame using chicken wire, cover the chicken wire with paper mache,and paint, or with brightly colored fabric. You can also try stuffing garbage bags with loosely crumpled newspaper, then cover in felt. You can maybe create the shape with a wire framework.
remember the original star trek, those rocks were mostly paper mache. paper mache is made using newspaper strips, and a paste made of flour, water, and a squeeze of elmers glue. This would be alot of work, however, and messy, so get lots of help.I love the idea!

Answer 7

hmmm......I imagine that for the tiles the best thing would be colored contact paper. It comes in all colors now and is a peel and stick solution. I dont know about it ruining the floors though. I didnt think the stickiness was that strong. Also, maybe that window paint? When it dries it can just be peeled up and would probubly work on the gym floor (test first). As for the gumdrop I would think paper mache. You could use ballons and cover half with it then paint and sparkle (for sugar). That would be lots of fun to do...hope it goes well.

Answer 8

google search for theater props for rent. you can paper mache the gumdrops, and paint them, then use spray glitter (local costume shop should have some). as for the floor pieces, try shelf paper. it comes in colors, and its pretty grippy. you can also pick up foam pieces from the local fabric store (buy by the yard, and cut yourself, so much cheaper!!) and either paint or cover them in fabric...just make giant pillow cases for them. have you thought about velcroing the tiles to the floor? self adhesive velcro peels right off of any surface, so that might work. good luck!

Answer 9

maybe you can use like felt or something.. and use double sided tape to stick them to the ground? you can go to a craft shop and buy felt liek big peices. or jus any kind of fabric. life size gum drops.... hmmm no idea for this lol. and i thought hard and long. maybe skip the gum drops and use like candy canes lol.. which would be easier to make.... but good luck

Answer 10

for the tiles how about those play area linking together rubberized mat things ... you can buy them at Menard's. for the gumdrops you could just set up tables and cover them in brightly covered table cloths. good luck