We enjoy traveling and I’m always looking for compact travel games to take with us when we’re traveling with the grandkids. Tic Tac Toe is a game that is always along for the ride. It’s a game that can be played by kids of all ages.
You can make this Tic Tac Toe board by using wooden popsicle sticks or craft sticks. You can paint them with acrylic paints (like we did) or purchase sticks in a wide variety of colors from your local craft supply store. Game pieces can be just about anything! You can use plastic or metal bottle caps, small seashells, medium sized buttons, painted small river rocks, player pieces from other games, quarters and nickels, etc.
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Popsicle Sticks and Seashells Tic Tac Toe Board Game
8 unfinished wood craft sticks
acrylic craft paint
paint brush, water dish, paper towels
quick-drying craft glue
white acrylic paint pen, medium tip
clear acrylic spray sealer
game pieces (total of 8 with 2 different styles)
quart-size zipper closure freezer bag
Cover your work surface with a plastic drop cloth, old plastic placemat or with a sheet of aluminum foil. Kids can be messy painters!
Paint both sides of the wooden craft or popsicle sticks and all around the sides. We used 2 coats of paint to get the desired coverage, allowing for 40 minutes of drying time between each coat. Once the paint has dried lay sticks out in the patten shown in the photograph and glue them together.
You can use a quick-drying craft glue (inexpensive and safe for kids to use) or have an adult use E6000 Adheisve Glue. It will give you a very strong bond and hold. It has a slight odor to it and takes about 2 hours to firmly dry. Be careful to not get it onto your skin. Again, if you’re using it, have an adult do this portion of the craft.
Once everything is dry use the white acrylic paint pen to make the lines on your board. You need a total of 9 square shaped spaces. Let dry for an hour or until paint no longer is tacky. Take it outside and have an adult spray it with 1-2 light coats of clear acrylic spray sealer. This will protect the paint from chipping and cracking.
Our game pieces are small sized seashells that fit within each square. We travel a lot back and forth to the beach, so it’s the perfect game to take along with us. Store your game board and pieces in a quart-sized zipper closure freezer bag.
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This is such a cute craft to make a game. Kids would love to make their own tic-tac-toe board.
What a neat and fun idea to make your own board. It could be a complete activity with finding the shells and painting the board and then playing the game.
What a fun idea to make and play with kids. Shells from a family trip would make this more special.
We also love playing games together and this is a great one for the kids in the family. I love this as a craft project too so clever.