I am an aged care nurse in a care home and I also cover the position of the activities officer when she goes on holiday.  Because I knew I was going to be doing it for a month, I wanted to try and make a new game for them to play that was interactive as well as fun. That is where the idea came for the horse racing game.

I have made a target shooting game in the past and they love to play it. The great thing about this horse racing game is that it can be adapted in size to be played on a table. The residents can sit around a long table with the track was down the middle. This version will be a large track so the residents can stay in their comfortable chairs while they play.

How to make a Horse Racing Game

Making the horses

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This project was made from all recycled wood from my scrap heap which is why all the wood is different. To make the horses you will need to find a silhouette of a horse, I found this design doing a search for free images. Try to keep the design plain so it is easier to cut.  It is not ideal to have lots of small thin bits of wood sticking out like the tails.  The reason for this is there is a good chance the horses at one time or other will be knocked over and those pieces will break off.

Print the images onto paper to the size that you want, large for a big game small for the table game.  Use a spray adhesive to glue the images to the wood so they doing move during the cutting process. Cut out the design with a jigsaw or scroll saw depending on how intricate your design is.

Making the base for the horse

For the base, the wood was cut as follows 6 x 200mm (L) x 120mm (W) x 20mm thick.  Next, you will need to add a support block, this should be deep enough so the support dowel and heavy enough to stop the top-heavy horse from falling over.  Alternatively, you can just cut one large chunk of wood but I wanted mine to look good too.

The smaller blocks were cut to 6 x 100mm (L) x 70mm (w) and 60mm wide. The dowel used was 16mm and cut to a length of 800mm.  I know this does sound long, but it will prevent back pain because you will not have to keep bending over to move the horse.

Using a spade bit or drill bit if you have one of the correct size, drill a hole in the centre of the smaller chunk of wood.

Assemble the base

You can now paint or stain your wood. Next, attach the base to the support block, add wood glue and screw the two blocks together from below. You will need to countersink the screws so that the horse sits flat.

Next, you can glue the dowel into the block of wood with suitable wood glue. 

Making the horse numbers

Each horse needs to have a number that will match up with the number on the race track.  I used scrap wood to make these. Draw a circle the size you want, mine was big so the resident could see them from their chairs. Cut the circles out with a jigsaw.

Attaching the horse and number

I needed a way to attach the numbers to the dowel at the top of the horse. This is a very basic way to do it, but it works.  Place the dowel flat against the circle and drill a hole on either side of the dowel. The holes must be big enough for a cable tie to pass through.

To attach the horse to the dowel, you will need to drill a 16mm hole underneath the horse. This was where I picked up that my horse was the wrong shape.  I needed a flat section to cut out my hole, so our horses had to lose a leg. So we now have 3 legged horses.

Painting the horses

You will need to paint each horse a different colour so they are easy to identify. I used a scrap piece of dowel to hold my horse in place while I painted both sides at once to save time. I used a mixture of Unicorn Spit stain and glaze and acrylic paints to paint the horses. The number disc needs to be painted in the same colour as the matching horse.

Numbering the horses

Each horse needs a number that will match up with a number on the track.  I used a large stencil and a permanent marker pen to add mine.  It is a good idea to put the numbers on both sides of the horses so people on both sides of the track can see them.

Seal the horse with some oil-based polyurethane.  The horses and numbers can now be attached to the top of the dowels. The numbers were attached with a cable tie to the dowel. Please ignore my wood scrap heap in the background.

Making the track

I was given this big roll of thick paper from the local paper mill.  You can use astroturf or kraft paper or even green felt carpet. If you are making a large game like this one your track size will be10 m long and 1.4m wide. For cosmetic purposes, the track was painted green to resemble grass.  You can use poster paint and a large foam roller to paint the track quicker.

You will need to support the edges with duct tape if you are going to be using your game on a regular basis.

Marking out the track

Using a straight long piece of wood works well for this step. Divide the track into eight sections across the width, this is the lanes for the horses. Next, divide out the length slightly bigger than the base of the horse. You will need 2 extra lines, one for the finish line and one for the track number. Draw in the lines using a black sharpie pen. I used the stencil and sharpie again to add the numbers to the track.

How to make large foam dice

I looked on the internet for large foam dice but I was unable to find a suitable one, so I made my own. Find some suitable sized foam like a mattress or a recycled couch cushion like mine.  Cut 2 pieces of foam 10 cm square, an electric carving knife works great to do this. 

Cover the dice in a suitable fabric, mine was a stretch velvet. To make the dots on the dice you will need two different colours of felt. One for the number of the horse and one for the number of moves the horse will make. Each dice is made up of 21 felt dots, which you can glue to the fabric with suitable glue.

I had no idea how to configure the dice, so here is one I found on the internet as a reference.  (This is not my image)

Making the horse tickets and money

So everyone knows which horse they have picked you will need to make some horse tickets. Using Microsoft word, type up a design with the horse number on like the image about.  You will also need to make one for your prize money if that horse wins the race. If you are going to be using the game on a regular basis it is a good idea to laminate these tickets.

How to play the game

At the start of the game, each resident picks two different horses, which they have for the whole session. To get everyone in the mood and to announce the start of the game you can play the Lone Ranger theme song during the game. The first person to play thrown the first dice which picks the horse.  Then they throw the second dice which is the number of moves that the horse gets to move. The horse that gets to the end first gets 1 horse dollar.

To make this game last a little longer you can only go out with the correct number of moves on your final dice. Meaning, if the horse is 3 away from the end the dice must be a 3, if they throw a 4 the horse stays where it is.

To make the game more exciting you can add Hurdle cards to each track. An example of hurdle cards is, go back 2 spaces, move on 3 spaces, go back to the beginning and so forth. You can make up your own.

The person with the most horse dollars at the end of the session which is an hour can pick first from the prize table. The second-highest picks next and so forth until the prizes are all gone.

More great projects

If you are making this game for a nursing home you might also be interested in this perpetual wall calendar.  This is a great project so everyone can clearly see what day and month it is.

Or another game you may like to build is this velcro target shooting game.

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