Make Your Own Board Game

As I continue my time out on disability, I find myself longing, not only to go to work, but to go basically anywhere that's not my house. So here's another program from the past to help me get my mind off being stir crazy: Make Your Own Board Game!

This is one of those programs where I put out a lot of cool stuff and let the kids just sit down and get creative. Programs like this are easy to actually run but the challenge is in purchasing the perfect supplies. I had a bunch of board game making stuff out when the kids came in: oak tag for the boards, blank dice, index cards (in case their game involved cards), game pawns, regular markers, and Sharpies to write on the dice.

 

I also had a print-out with tips for board game making on it to give the kids some guidelines. (This, of course, is saved on my computer at work.) One tip I remember is to make sure you have an equal number of "good cards" or "good spaces" as "bad" ones. That way the game isn't too easy or too hard. I think some of the kids actually enjoyed making almost all "bad spaces" because, at that age, I mean, who wouldn't? I would have done that too. It was all in good fun.

The program was an hour long and pretty unstructured. Everyone had a good time. Here are some finished products:

What worked best: The kids really liked the cool, actual board game stuff like the pawns and dice.

What worked least: I think it's hard to make a board game in an hour, although how much time could we really have provided? Also, I overbought index cards.

What else can I dig up from my archive? Stay tuned.