How to make a DIY Nerf target

Posted on April 23, 2018

My children love their Nerf blasters. They have so much fun with them but needed some kind of target to get more from them. With my son’s birthday party coming up, and a whole bunch of boys running around our house, I knew it was time to make a DIY Nerf target to use at home. I’m going to tell you how we made ours.

There are loads of ideas out there for spinning Nerf targets but we wanted to make something a little more substantial. Most can be whipped up in 30 minutes if using cardboard but we really wanted to create a Nerf target that would stand up to a lot of use (and abuse by my kids). Nerf blasters are so popular with my son and daughter right now, and I love to see them playing outside in the garden.

How to make a DIY Nerf target

We decided to make a wooden Nerf gun target, cutting out round targets of different sizes, with different points for decreasing sizes. We made a quick trip to B&Q to buy the wood and paint, buying a piece of OSB wood and pressure treated pine rods, and paint suitable for outdoor use.

The wood was already the perfect size, it just need some simple legs to stabilise it. We used a Compound Mitre Saw to cut the wood to the required lengths.

They were pretty simple legs, but wide enough to bear the weight of the board.

When the wooden legs were made and screwed in place it was time to cut the targets out. Using a selection of hole saws we cut 10 circles out of the Nerf target, all of varying sizes to make it difficult. Some of the circles were really small but there was a wide range for all abilities.

As yo can see it was quite big! It was brought indoors as it kept snowing and we wanted to ensure the paint dried properly. I gave it three coats of Cuprinol Beach Blue.

The wood was pretty porous and it needed all three coats to make it look evenly covered.

To make each target really stand out a ring was painted around each cut out in contrasting Cuprinol Honey Mango (picked by my children!). This also needed a couple of coats for an even finish.

The final step was to add the score next to each target. The homemade Nerf target was left to dry before being carried outside so it could be played with. It had a lot of use during my son’s birthday party and ever since.

It took a few hours to make, and cost about £30 for the wood and paint. But I think it represents great value as it was simple to make but is providing hours of fun. We even took it to Beavers Scouts for them to use!

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