Giant lawn Twister: how to make one

What you need

• Turf marking paint in red, yellow, blue and green. Look for cans labeled for grass or field marking, which spray upside down. Regular spray paint can damage grass.
• Or temporary spray chalk, if you want the board gone after the next rain.
• A circle stencil cut from a big cardboard box. A pizza box works for smaller circles.
• A tape measure, a ball of string and a few tent pegs or sticks to keep your rows straight.
• Gloves and old shoes, because overspray happens.

One can per color is usually enough if you outline the circles. If you fill them in solid, buy two of each.

How big to make it

A classic Twister mat is four rows of six circles. Keep that layout and scale it up. These sizes are our recommendations, not official measurements.

Leave a few feet of clear grass around the board so players can sprawl and fall safely.

Painting the board

1. Pick and mow the spot

   Choose flat, soft grass. Mow a day before, then walk the area and pull out rocks, sticks and anything else you wouldn't want to land on.

2. Make the stencil

   Tie a pencil to a piece of string half your circle size long, pin the other end to the cardboard and draw a circle. Cut out the middle so you are left with a ring to spray inside.

3. Mark straight rows

   Stretch string between two pegs for each of the four rows, spaced one circle plus one gap apart. Measure along the strings and mark each circle's center.

4. Paint one color at a time

   Paint the red row, then yellow, blue and green. Hold the can close to the ground and spray in short bursts inside the stencil.

5. Let it dry

   Check the drying time on the can. It is usually under an hour. Then take up the strings and pegs.

Green circles on green grass

Green paint on a green lawn is hard to see, especially from a few feet away. Two easy fixes:

• Outline it. Spray a thin white ring around each green circle so it stands out.
• Swap the color. Paint that row white instead. Then, in the online spinner, open Edit wheel and rename "Green" to "White" and change its color, so the spinner calls the colors on your lawn.

The same trick works for any theme. Paint pink, orange, purple and gold for a birthday, or school colors for a field day, and set the spinner to match.

Make it bigger

For a big crowd, make the rows longer instead of making the circles huge. Four rows of eight to ten circles gives teams of three room to spread out, and the spinner still calls the same four colors. Keep the circle size comfortable for the smallest player: if a child can't reach between circles, the game stops being fun.

How long it lasts and cleaning up

Turf marking paint usually lasts from a week to a few weeks, depending on rain and how fast your grass grows. Every mowing takes some of it off, so paint a day or two before the party. Spray chalk washes away with a hose or the next good rain.

No lawn? Try one of these

• Paper plates. Color them or buy colored ones, then tape every edge down on carpet so nothing slides.
• Felt circles on a bedsheet. Glue or sew felt circles onto a flat queen sheet. It folds away and goes in the wash.
• Dot stickers on a shower curtain. A plain plastic curtain and large vinyl dots make a wipeable mat for kids.
• Painter's tape outlines. Tape circles or squares onto carpet. Avoid hard floors, where players slip.
• Sidewalk chalk. Good for a quick kids' game on a driveway, as long as everyone plays gently.

Playing at weddings, graduations and field days

Lawn Twister works best when nobody has to stand there spinning. Open the online Twister spinner on a phone, pair it with a Bluetooth speaker and turn on Auto spin. Six to eight seconds between calls suits a mixed crowd.

• Turn on party mode and prop the phone up where players can see it. The screen fills with the called color and stays on.
• Add player names in the Players panel so the spinner calls turns and announces the winner.
• Paint two boards side by side for a tournament, or one big board for teams.
• Put out water and sunscreen. A few rounds in the sun wear people out quickly.

Play safely

• Only play on soft grass, and check for sprinkler heads, holes and roots first.
• Skip it when the grass is wet. Painted grass gets slippery.
• Run separate games for small kids and adults.
• Keep an eye on anyone stretching too far to stay in.