Make Your Own Board Game

Board games can provide lots of creative playtime fun, but they can also be expensive. So why not make your own board game? We found it was much cheaper and a lot more fun to create our own using common recycled materials. You may be able to find very cheap old board games (especially ones with missing pieces) at yard sales or flea markets that would be perfect for this project!

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Make Your Own Board Game

Board games are great for working on developing social skills (taking turns, teamwork, winning and losing gracefully), fine motor skills (placing game pieces on the board, using a spinner), and early life skills (putting the game away when finished). Plus, they are lots of fun to play!

To make your own board game you will need:

• Tri-fold foam poster board OR an old game board
• Clear Self-Adhesive Shelf Liner
• Dry Erase Markers or Dry Erase Crayons
• Blank Index Cards
• Old Board Game Bits — Dice, Spinner, Timer, etc.
• Old Board Game Pieces, Painted Corks, or Colored Paper Clips

Begin by cutting a trifold poster board into quarters to make four smaller game boards that each fold in half. If desired, cover the board with clear self-adhesive shelf liner to create a wipe-off surface. This way, students can draw with dry erase markers to re-create their own layouts over and over again!

If re-purposing an older board game, wrap the game board with solid colored wrapping paper. Apply the clear self-adhesive shelf liner, if desired.

RELATED RESOURCE: Roll & Color/Roll & Trace Dice Math Games for the Year

Divide students into small groups or pairs and invite them to create their own board games! After a while, students can switch games with another group, or present their games to the class, and explain how to play.

If desired, have students vote and later present awards for the most creative game, most interactive game, most imaginative game, most artistic game, etc.

You will find that engagement will shoot up and learning will take off when you can get the kids actively involved. For example, you could even make an assignment to make a board game about the alphabet or other related skills and let them have fun with it!

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