Make Your Own Garden Tic Tac Toe

We love being outside with the sun on our face and the wind in our hair, especially on some lovely summer days. We also love playing games. We have plenty of ball games to keep us amused, but how about a board game for the great outdoors?

When my children asked if they could paint stones, I thought it was a fantastic way we could make our own garden tic tac toe.

To make a Garden Tic Tac Toe you’ll need:

• 10 Stones
• Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Varnish
• Permanent marker
• Sticks
• String

It really is very simple to make, here’s how we did it…

We decided we needed two different pictures to paint on the stones. We have a bit of an obsession at the moment for butterflies, ever since we grew our own, so one set of stones were to be butterflies and the other set were caterpillars.

I drew the butterflies and caterpillars on the stones in permanent marker and they painted them.

Once they were dry, we varnished them, so the paint would be protected outside.

While we were waiting for the varnish to dry, we headed into the woods to collect 4 sticks of roughly the same size.

We trimmed the sticks to the same length, then laid them in a grid formation and used string to secure them.

Then our game began…

I had to teach Pinky and Boo how to play Tic Tac Toe. Once, they got the idea they played together for ages. I did sit with them, prompting them to think before they decided on their next move and suggesting to look at where the other player may get 3 in a row etc. They gave Grandad a game and even beat him!

It turned out to be a fantastic game for learning, thinking, problem solving and strategies.

They really did enjoy this Tic Tac Toe and I think it was loved even more because it was physical, it was outside and they made it themselves out of stuff we found. I am looking forward to playing this a lot more over the summer…lets see who wins!