A Q for Oldmom about M&M tubes About This Page:

[Carousel96]

In another forum there was a thread about mini M&Ms tubes being discontinued and you posted that the scouts used them for travel games. I'm intrigued. Please tell more!
I was going to PM you but I figured I'm not the only one who could "recycle" this idea.

[oldmom]

There are several games that can be played with just dice, like Yatzee and Farkle. You can fit 5 dice in the tube with the regular sized dice (Dollar tree sells packs) more if you get smaller dice. I've seen checker and chess games made. They did a small size game board and laminated it with a light weight laminate. The checker game used paddle-wheel beads in two colors for the pieces. The chess game used small plastic disks that they drew the symbol for the chess piece.

Pass the Pigs games--you can get the pigs. We had a local store that sold them, but you should be able to get them on-line somewhere.

Pick up sticks-- They used colored toothpicks.

I can't remember how they did the battleship game.

Sorry, I can't remember the rest. Basically they took games and thought about replacement parts.

[amymarie78]

wow great ideas thanks for sharing!

[oldmom]

I'm sure that there are more out there. There are numerous GS groups on Yahoo that might be able to help you more or Google it. I remember that there was a small book of ideas on how to use the plastic film canisters out there.

[amymarie78]

we used the tubes to carry out pennies and quarters for the pressed penny machines too!

[Carousel96]

Thanks for the ideas!
I stocked up on M&M tubes the other day in case DD wanted to decorate them for our next trip (old pill bottles may be too pedestrian for her!). Walmart didn't have many the day I looked but had tons two days later. So I think we may be looking for ways to use up the extras. And the travel games sound great for DD's travel backpack.
I also discovered that they will hold the mini gel pens I found in the Target dollar spot before Easter.

[amymarie78]

very cool... I'll have to pick some up too... what is Farkle by the way?

[oldmom]

Its a dice game with simple rules, somewhat like Yatzee. Ours is MIA at the moment (probably in the last suitcase we used) The dice all fit into a holder the size and shape of those plastic film canisters. Its an easy travel game.

[amymarie78]

I'll have to look up directions for that.. sounds interesting.

[oldmom]

Ours is still MIA. I thought it was still in the carryon from the last trip, but no luck. Current has them in their catalog and we bought ours from a teacher store.

[amymarie78]

oh I can check there for one we have a teacher store! Thanks!

[TroianRae]

Originally Posted by amymarie78

we used the tubes to carry out pennies and quarters for the pressed penny machines too!

This year I've added Pressed Penny labels to the tubes and it's really jazzed them up. Someone made the labels and has been kind enough to share with me. They are pretty cool. I think she's made ones like Cinderella, Cars, Peter Pan, HSM, etc.

[amymarie78]

have any pictures to share?

[TroianRae]

Originally Posted by amymarie78

have any pictures to share?

These are some Pressed Penny labels that have been shared with me.

I shrank several down to fit the regular sized mini M&M's tube.

Then I used someone else's suggestion () and put two quarters and a penny together, one after another, filling my tubes, so that I always have 51 cents together for making pressed pennies.

Tinkerbell:


Minnie:


Cinderella:


Cars:


Ariel:


I have also some for the Jumbo-sized mini M&M's containers.

[amymarie78]

Wow those are super cute! And thanks for the tip about staking the coins like that.. that will be so much easier.