Verdict: 46 tested fundraising game formats for kids, from $1 carnival plays to pledge-based obstacle courses, organized by category, age group, and setup complexity.
What works: Carnival booths, 50/50 raffles, trivia nights, and pledge-run outdoor events. These four formats produce the most revenue per hour of volunteer effort.
What doesn't: Unsupported bake sales without a competition or vote mechanic. Flat entry-fee-only events with no raffle or pledge layer leave significant revenue on the table.
Best for: PTOs, youth groups, church organizations, and school booster clubs running game-day fundraisers for kids ages 5 to 18.
Worth considering if: You want a zero-fee platform so every $1 a kid earns stays with the cause, no platform fee, no transaction fee, no credit card fee.
Table of contents
Game-based kid fundraisers live or die on small transactions. A $1 ring-toss play. A $5 trivia entry. A $2 raffle ticket. That is exactly the price point where every other ticketing and raffle platform's per-transaction fee quietly eats 6 to 15% of every dollar a kid hustles to raise. Zeffy is the only fundraising platform with no platform fee, no transaction fee, no credit card fee. Ever. So a $1 carnival-game play actually nets the school $1, and every trivia-night ticket and 50/50 raffle ticket goes to the cause instead of the processor.
Below: 46 fundraising ideas for kids organized the way PTO leaders and youth group organizers actually run them. Games first (carnival, trivia and board, raffle, outdoor, esports, virtual), then food fundraisers reframed as competition games, then a quick age-group cross-reference, then a how-to-set-up checklist. Kids do the work. Adults coordinate.
Best carnival and lawn games for kid fundraisers
Carnival booths are the most reliable revenue engine at a school fair or church festival because the unit economics are simple: small per-play fees, high volume, low overhead. Kids run the booths. Adults swipe payments. Here are six classics worth standing up.
1. Hook-a-Duck
Float numbered rubber ducks in a kiddie pool. Players hook one with a wooden dowel. The number underneath wins a small prize tier (candy, sticker, plush). Materials: kiddie pool, 30 to 50 ducks, plastic hooks. Common pricing pattern: a small per-play fee or a wristband for unlimited play. Best for ages 5 to 9.
2. Ring Toss
Three rings, one shot at a row of bottles or cones. Cheap to build, easy to volunteer-staff. Materials: 6 to 10 glass bottles or weighted cones, 3 plastic rings per play. Common pricing pattern: small per-play fee for three throws. Best for ages 6+.
3. Target Golf
Putt a golf ball into a numbered target hole. Big hit at older-kid and parent-included events. Materials: putting mat or carpet square, target board with holes, golf balls and a putter. Common pricing pattern: small fee per round of three putts. Best for ages 8+.
4. Balloon Darts
Pop balloons pinned to a corkboard with a numbered prize underneath. Loud, satisfying, draws a crowd. Materials: corkboard, balloons, 3 darts per play, supervised dart station. Common pricing pattern: small per-play fee for three darts. Best for ages 10+ with adult supervision.
5. Bean Bag Toss (Cornhole)
Standard cornhole boards. Bonus: most PTOs already own a set. Materials: 2 cornhole boards, 8 bean bags. Common pricing pattern: small per-game fee for one round, or a team tournament with a per-team entry fee. Best for all ages.
6. Prize Wheel
A spin-the-wheel mechanic that converts almost everyone who walks past. Slice the wheel into 8 to 12 wedges with prize tiers. Materials: prize wheel (rent or buy), prize tiers. Common pricing pattern: small per-spin fee. Best for all ages.
At the booth, you do not need a card terminal. With Tap to Pay on iPhone, volunteers collect $1 to $2 game plays and wristband sales directly on a phone. No reader, no platform fee, no transaction fee. The full play fee lands with the cause.
Board game and trivia night fundraisers
Trivia and board game nights work because they pull adults in alongside kids and they monetize cleanly through per-team or per-person entry fees. Plan for $5 to $10 per person or a bundled team rate.
7. Trivia Night
Five to seven rounds, ten questions each, themed by category: general knowledge, music, sports, movies, school history, current events, and a "kids choose" round. Teams of four to six. Charge a per-person entry fee or a flat per-team rate. Sell raffle tickets between rounds to lift revenue per attendee. Best for ages 12+ (parents on the team).
8. Bingo Fundraiser
Source prizes through local-business donations (gift cards, restaurant vouchers, salon services) so your prize cost is zero. Charge for bingo cards on entry. Run multiple rounds with escalating prize tiers. Best for all ages with adult support.
9. Board Game Tournament
Pick one game families know (Monopoly, Scrabble, Settlers of Catan, Uno). Run a single-elimination bracket. Charge a per-player entry fee. Best for ages 8+.
10. Card Game Competition
Same mechanic as the board game tournament, but with Magic: The Gathering, Pokmon TCG, or Spades. Teen-heavy. Charge a per-player entry fee. Best for ages 10+.
11. Family Game Night
The simplest version: charge a per-family entry fee, set up tables stocked with board games, sell concessions, award a trophy to the winning family. Encourage families to run peer-to-peer fundraising pages in the lead-up to drive pre-event donations on top of the entry fee.
Use free event ticketing to collect entry fees online before the event so you know exactly how many tables to set up and how much pizza to order. With Zeffy, ticket revenue is the cause's revenue.
Raffle and lottery games kids can run
Raffles are the single highest-leverage game-night add-on. A $2 ticket sale takes 15 seconds. Quick note before you start: raffle laws vary by state and province, so check your local regulations before running any raffle.
12. Teddy Bear Raffle
Collect donated teddy bears from community kids and local gift shops. Name each bear. Pin one ticket to the bear; drop the matching ticket in a jar. Donors pull tickets and win the matching bear. A few blank tickets in the jar keep play going. Sell tickets online and at the door with Zeffy's free online raffle platform: numbered tickets, automatic draws, online and in-person sales tracked in one dashboard.
13. 50/50 Draw
Sell numbered tickets at the door. At the end of the event, draw one. Winner takes half the pot; the cause keeps the other half. This is the most popular raffle format in North American school fundraising because the math is transparent and the prize scales with attendance. Run it through the same raffle platform you used for the teddy bear draw.
14. Prize Wheel Raffle
A hybrid. Buyers purchase a ticket and spin a wheel for tiered prizes (small, medium, grand). Higher engagement than a flat raffle, similar take-rate per ticket.
15. Scratch Card Fundraiser
Pre-printed scratch cards with random small prizes (free coffee from the donating coffee shop, $5 off at the donating pizzeria, candy). Sell at school pickup, sports games, and grocery-store front entrances with permission.
16. Themed Basket Raffle
Three to six themed baskets (movie night, sports fan, spa day, family game night). Each basket has its own ticket bowl. Donors choose which basket to enter. Higher conversion than one giant raffle because donors self-select what they actually want.
Prize sourcing is the lever. Walk into 10 local businesses with a one-page sponsorship sheet. Six will donate. The prize cost falls to near zero and the raffle is pure margin.
Active outdoor games and competitions
Outdoor competitions monetize through entry fees, pledges, or both. Pledges scale the best. A kid who collects $1 per lap from ten relatives ends the day having raised more than the entry fee ever would.
17. Obstacle Course
Age-appropriate stations (tire run, balance beam, crawl tunnel, rope wall, water sponge toss). Charge an entry fee per kid. Layer pledges on top: supporters pledge per obstacle completed. Peer-to-peer fundraising pages are made for this. Each kid gets their own page, shares it with family, and pledges roll in automatically.
18. 5K Race and Color Run
The flagship outdoor PTO fundraiser. Pick a date, plot a course, charge a registration fee. Add a color-powder finish for an instant social-media moment.
FRSD PTO ran exactly this play. They threw a color dance party at the finish line, partnered with Zeffy, raised $35,500, and saved $1,775 in fees.
19. Color Obstacle Fun Run
Hybrid of the obstacle course and the color run. BTC Area Youth Benefit Corporation (BTC AYBC) ran their 2024 Color Obstacle Fun Run on Zeffy's ticketing platform, raised $4,055, and saved $203 in fees that would have otherwise gone to a processor. That $203 funded one extra youth-program slot.
20. Field Day
The classic PTO event. Tug-of-war, kickball, water balloon toss, three-legged race, sack race. Charge per-family admission. Run a shoe drive on the side.
21. Mini Olympics
Sack races, three-legged races, hula hoop contests, relay races. Assign kids to country teams with mini flags. Medals or ribbons for top performers. Per-participant entry fee, concession-stand revenue from spectators.
22. Dodgeball Tournament
Kids form teams of six and run a single-elimination bracket. Charge per team. Secure local corporate sponsorships for jerseys and prize money in exchange for logo placement.
23. Scavenger Hunt
Pick a kid-friendly theme. Plot a safe neighborhood route. Write 10 to 15 clues. Run teams of four. Charge a per-team entry fee. Pair with a concession stand at the finish point for additional revenue.
24. Sports Camp
One- or two-day skills camp run by older student-athletes or volunteer coaches. Soccer, basketball, volleyball: pick what your community plays. Charge a registration fee. End with a mini-tournament and award ceremony.
25. Talent Show (performance game)
A talent show is a performance-game format that runs the same revenue mechanics as a tournament: ticketed audience, per-performer entry fee, concessions, branded merch. Liberty Elementary PTC sold tickets to its talent show through Zeffy's ticketing system, raised $1,600, and saved $80 in fees.
26. Movie Night
Set up a large screen in a school field or community park (with permissions). Sell tickets and concessions. Outdoor blankets-and-popcorn version works best from May through September.
Video game tournaments and esports fundraisers
Esports unlocks the 12-to-18 audience who will not show up for a bake sale but will absolutely show up for a Mario Kart bracket. Position Zeffy as the registration, ticketing, and donation layer. Pair it with external streaming and bracket tools.
27. Console Tournament (Mario Kart, FIFA, Super Smash Bros)
Bring three or four TVs and consoles into a school cafeteria or community room. Run a single-elimination bracket. Charge a per-player entry fee. Award a small prize to the winner and donate the rest to the cause.
28. PC Gaming Event
BYO laptop tournament for games kids already play. Same bracket mechanic as console. Same per-player entry fee. Sell concessions.
29. Streaming Fundraiser
Older kids and teen volunteers stream gameplay on platforms like Twitch and direct viewers to a peer-to-peer donation page. Pledge-per-win, pledge-per-kill, or flat donations during a multi-hour stream. Streaming platform policies and flows change often; check the current rules on whichever platform your kids use before launch.
30. Minecraft Build Competition
Theme (medieval castle, dream school, underwater city), time limit, judging by a panel of teachers and parents. Per-participant entry fee, spectator tickets for the live judging event.
For all four, kids can collect pledges per win or per round through peer-to-peer fundraising pages. Friends and family pledge $1 per match win. A kid who wins 15 matches over a weekend tournament raises $15 from each pledger automatically.
Virtual and hybrid game options
Virtual game options matter when half the extended family lives in another state. They are also the cheapest events to run: no venue, no concessions, no cleanup.
31. Online Trivia via Zoom
Same trivia format as the in-person night. Host on Zoom, run questions through tools like Kahoot, sell tickets online. Best for cross-country extended-family fundraisers and alumni events.
32. Virtual Bingo
Generate bingo cards online, host the draw on a video call, mail prizes to winners. Or run it asynchronously across a week. Per-card ticket sales through online registration.
33. Online Scavenger Hunt
Send participants a list of items to photograph in their own home or neighborhood (something blue, something with the school logo, a baked good). Submit photos to a shared album. Award prizes for fastest completion and most creative photos.
34. App-Based Game Challenge
Step-counter challenges, language-app streaks, math-app leaderboards. Kids pledge to hit a target (10,000 steps a day for a week, 100 Spanish lessons) and supporters pledge per milestone hit.
For all four, Zeffy is the registration and donation layer. It does not host streams or run trivia questions. Pair it with whatever virtual tool fits.
Food-based fundraising games
Food works best when there is a competition or vote attached. A bake sale alone sells slowly. A bake sale with a "best decorated cookie" judge's panel and a $2 voting fee suddenly has two revenue streams.
35. Cupcake Wars
Kids bake and decorate cupcakes. Supporters pay a small voting fee per ballot. Category by age group for fair competition. The kid with the most votes wins. Charge a small per-participant baking entry fee on top.
36. Chili Cook-off
Teams bring their best chili. Charge a per-team entry fee. Sell tasting tickets to attendees, each ticket good for one sample. Attendees vote for their favorite. Award prizes for winning chili, people's choice, and most creative recipe.
37. Cookie Decorating Contest
Setup steps for a clean run:
- Pick a venue (school gym, community park).
- Promote a week in advance so families can plan.
- Use event ticketing or online registration to pre-sell entries.
- Create separate peer-to-peer campaigns for each kid so supporters can donate to their favorite decorator.
- Offer cookies and decoration supplies for a small fee, or partner with a local bakery for in-kind supply donations.
- Award prizes for best-decorated cookies and for the kid who raises the most.
38. Bake Sale (with a competition twist)
The classic bake sale, upgraded. Run a pancake breakfast or themed bake competition and pre-sell event tickets online. Crocker/Riverside Elementary PTO ran a pancake breakfast on Zeffy and raised $7,900 while saving $395 in fees that would have gone to a processor.
39. Lemonade Stand
The easiest of the easy. Jars, glasses, lemonade ingredients (often donated by a local grocer). Let the kids decorate the stall. Pair with another event for higher foot traffic. See more summer fundraising ideas that pair well with a lemonade stand.
Fundraising games by age group
A quick cross-reference. The full setup details for each game are in the category sections above; the lists below tell you which game fits which age.
Ages 5 to 7
- Hook-a-Duck: simple hand-eye coordination, no reading required.
- Ring Toss: easy mechanic, instant feedback.
- Prize Wheel: low skill, high engagement.
- Face Painting: ideal for the youngest at any school fair.
- Cookie Decorating Contest: hands-on creative play.
Ages 8 to 12
- Trivia Night and Bingo: family-team format works.
- Scavenger Hunt: pairs with a community event.
- Field Day, Mini Olympics, Dodgeball Tournament: high energy, clear teams.
- Console Tournament (Mario Kart, FIFA): age-appropriate competitive gaming.
- Cupcake Wars and Chili Cook-off: kids cook with adult supervision.
Teens (13+)
- PC Gaming Events, Streaming Fundraisers, Minecraft Build Competitions: teen-native formats.
- 5K Race / Color Run: teens can run pledge campaigns themselves.
- Obstacle Course with pledge-per-obstacle: peer-to-peer fundraising fits this age cleanly.
- Kid-Friendly Escape Room: works for teen birthday-fundraiser hybrids.
- Virtual Trivia with extended family: teens can host on Zoom independently.
How to set up your fundraising game event
Every game-event setup runs on the same six-step backbone. Use this as your checklist.
1. Pick the venue
School gym, cafeteria, community park, church hall. Confirm permissions, insurance requirements, and capacity. Outdoor events need a rain-date plan.
2. Source materials
Walk into 8 to 12 local businesses with a one-page sponsorship sheet. Ask for in-kind donations (prizes, food, supplies) in exchange for logo placement on signage. Most will say yes.
3. Coordinate volunteers
Two volunteers per booth, minimum. Assign a setup lead, a teardown lead, and a payment lead. Brief everyone the day before.
4. Set pricing
Small games: $1 to $2 per play, or a wristband for unlimited play. Tournaments: $5 to $10 per person or per team. Raffles: $1 to $5 per ticket. Mix unit-price games (high volume) with bundled wristbands (high ticket).
5. Collect payments cleanly
Pre-sell entries online with free event ticketing so you know attendance before the day. At the booth, accept payments on a phone with Tap to Pay so volunteers do not handle cash. No card terminal needed, and no fees taken from each transaction with Zeffy.
6. Day-of logistics
Signage at every booth showing the price. A central info table. A volunteer with a megaphone calling out the raffle draws and tournament brackets. A first-aid kit.
Shrewsbury Elementary PTO ran exactly this kind of well-coordinated game-event setup for their "Breakfast with Santa," pre-sold tickets online through Zeffy, raised $3,040, and saved $152 in fees.
One more tip: pair carnival games with a silent auction of kid-made art or themed baskets for a parallel revenue stream that runs all night without any extra volunteer effort. For broader event planning context, see our guide on school fundraising ideas.
The Zeffy difference for kid-run game fundraisers
Most ticketing and raffle platforms charge around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, often layered with added service fees. On a $1 carnival-game play, that combination eats $0.33 of every dollar raised. On a $5 trivia ticket, it takes $0.45 before the cause sees a cent. Across a 200-attendee game night with 15 small purchases per family, those processor costs quietly drain hundreds of dollars from the total.
Zeffy is 100% free for nonprofits. Always. Every dollar a kid raises from a ring-toss play, a trivia ticket, or a raffle entry goes directly to the cause. Trusted by 100K+ nonprofits and built on $2B+ raised.
What are the most profitable fundraising games for kids?
Raffles (especially 50/50 draws and themed basket raffles) and ticketed game nights (trivia, bingo, board game tournaments) typically generate the most revenue per hour of volunteer effort. Carnival booths produce strong totals when stacked at a school fair because they convert near-100% of foot traffic at $1 to $2 per play. Outdoor pledge events like color runs and obstacle courses scale the highest when paired with peer-to-peer pages.
How do you run a game night fundraiser?
Pick one anchor game (trivia, bingo, or a board game tournament). Pre-sell tickets online for $5 to $10 per person. Source prizes through local-business donations. Layer a raffle or 50/50 draw alongside the anchor game for a second revenue stream. Recruit two volunteers per role: ticketing, MC, scorekeeping, concessions. Plan for 90 to 120 minutes of play plus 30 minutes of setup and teardown.
What games work best for elementary school fundraisers?
Carnival booths (hook-a-duck, ring toss, prize wheel), family game nights, cookie decorating contests, and field days. Kids ages 5 to 10 engage best with short, repeatable game loops and tangible small prizes. Save the longer tournament formats (dodgeball, esports, escape rooms) for ages 10+.
How much should we charge for carnival games?
The common pattern in school fundraising is a small per-play fee (often around $1 to $2 for three throws or one spin) or a wristband bundle for unlimited play across all booths. Wristbands convert better with families who plan to stay for the full event; per-play pricing converts better with walk-by traffic.
Do we need to worry about raffle laws?
Raffle laws vary by state and province, so check your local regulations before running any raffle. Some states require a nonprofit registration; others have ticket-price caps. Confirm with your state attorney general's office or a local attorney before selling tickets.
How do we handle payments at a kid-run booth?
Use Tap to Pay on a smartphone instead of a card terminal. A parent volunteer holds the phone, taps the donor's card or phone, and the payment lands in your nonprofit's account. No reader, no monthly subscription, no fees taken per transaction with Zeffy. For pre-event ticket sales, online registration handles it.
How do we get kids excited about the fundraiser?
Give them ownership. Each kid runs their own booth, hosts their own raffle bear, or runs their own peer-to-peer page with a personal goal. Award two prize tiers: one for the kid who raises the most and one for the kid who recruits the most participants. The leaderboard does most of the motivation work for you.
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