Who doesn't love mini golf? It's the perfect game to remind students that you should never give up and that you can enjoy something, even if you aren't perfect at it. With this in mind, our class decided to make our own!

My class is a K-5 life skills classroom, so when starting the project we had to have specific goals and instruction planned for each student and grade level.

Overall goals of project:

±Teach students how to measure

±Teach students how to design

±Give students choice in how they learn

±Give students the option and
ability to apply their learning to a tangible project

±Personalize learning and instruction for each grade K-5 and each student

To compartmentalize the instruction further, here is a breakdown of each learning objective I used for each grade level:

Kindergarten, 1st Grade:

±Students worked on comparing
lengths of two objects using words such as taller or shorter (K.MD.2)

±Measuring length through non-standard units (1.MD.2)

±Designing for the mini golf course

2nd Grade:

±Students worked on measuring
using yard sticks and tape measures. (2.MD.1)

±Measuring and estimating lengths in inches. (2.MD.3)

±Writing sentence stems about golf course and design process. (W.2.5)

3rd & 5th Grade:

±Students worked on measuring
using yard sticks and tape measures and converting inches to feet. (3.MD.4a) (5.MD.1b)

±Writing and discussing ideas for the mini golf course (W.3.1) (W.5.1)

±Creating personalized google slide presentations about the build and design process

We broke our instruction into 3 parts: design, construct, review.

Step 1: Step 1: Design

Students started off drawing their idea of what our mini golf course could look like. For students who were unfamiliar with mini golf, I showed them a video and some pictures online.

From guided discussion, our class decided on some clear outlines for our build.

Our mini golf project needs to be:

small enough to fit in the room
portable
rectangular in shape
able to change, so multiple different holes could be played

From this, we then decided on what materials we would need for the construction.

The class decided on using:

Wood (2x4's, plywood or mdf)

Green felt

Duct Tape

Some addition tools/materials you will need:

Wood Screws to hold the wood together

Drill

Sand paper to smooth wood

Miter Saw or Table Saw to cut wood (cuts could be made at your local hardware store, if you do not have access to these tools)

Jigsaw to cut hole in board

Staple gun to tack felt to board

Scissors

After all this was set, I came up with an outline of the mini golf course and shared it with the class. (please note picture attached)

Step 2: Step 2: Construct

Our class began learning how to measure and match the layout for the mini golf course.

To note: Only an adult should use the power tools i.e. power drill, jig saw, table saw. My elementary students did not use any of the power tools.

I cut the needed wood at home and brought it in to the classroom.

The 2x4's I brought in were cut to length (some correct and some not)

Students then practiced measuring the wood and matching the layout of the 2x4's to the design I provided.

Instruction on measuring and building can be personalized to fit whichever grade level your students are at!

Once you finish your instruction on measuring and students show understanding, go on and build the mini golf course!

(There are many ways this mini golf course could be built; there is no wrong or right way!)

The layout attached will make the mini golf course 5 feet long and 3 feet wide.

I did all the drilling and gluing at home, but I brought the drill and wood glue in to demonstrate how I would use the tools to keep the wood together.

For the green felt, I helped the students staple it to the plywood once I cut the hole out.

From there we added a border made from 2x4's and a few more wood screws and the mini golf course was all put together!

*Our class used a cardboard cut out to go under the hole to catch the golf balls.

Step 3: Step 3: Review

Once our mini golf project was done, we reviewed to make sure it fit our initial goals and outlines.

Our class decided that our mini golf course was:

portable
rectangular
small enough to fit in the room

We then knew that we could fit our last outline by adding small obstacles to our mini golf course. This way, our mini golf course would be able to be played as different holes by moving the different obstacles. In the picture attached, you can see that we used left over 2x4's as obstacles. Have students decorate and make up their own obstacles to be used!

All done--use the mini golf for further lessons. It is used in my classroom to help students with their counting, number writing and turn taking skills.

The possibilities are endless with this project, all you need to do is putt a little effort in! (Please note my attempt at a golf joke.)