This quick and easy craft combines two of their favourite things…Nature’s minibeasts and a fun game they can play out in the garden or inside on a rainy day.
Tic-tac-toe is a classic and when your child makes their own game set they will be even more proud of it and pleased to play with it.
And with our bug theme for this tic tac toe craft game, you can see will the spiders beat the butterflies? Who will come out on top – the red or yellow ladybirds?
You could end up with a different winner every time.
Summary:
Time: 10 minutes
Age: Little kids to big kids
Difficulty: Easy peasy
You will need:
- Wood or a piece of card – for your board.
- Round pebbles or dried white broad beans.
- White acrylic paint (optional – if using pebbles which are not white)
- Sharpie pens in different colours – we used red, black and yellow
Step 1: Make your playing pieces
Start with a bag of round, white pebbles. You can get these from a flower store or you can search for your own selection from your garden or a local beach.
If pebbles are too tricky to find, you can also play this game using dry white broad beans instead.
If you’re using pebbles but they’re not white, then take the white acrylic paint and cover the pebbles in paint. We recommend painting on two layers and letting them dry before starting.
Then take your Sharpie pens and draw little bugs onto your pebbles or broad beans.
You will need to choose at least 2 different bugs (one for each player) and decorate 6 pebbles for each minibeast type that you make.
Step 2: Draw out your game board
We used a slice of wood for our game board.
However you could use a piece of card, felt or even a tile instead.
Using a Sharpie draw two vertical lines and two horizontal lines to make the Tic tac toe board.
Step 3: Ready to play
Your tic tac toe game is all ready to play.
One player chooses one set of bugs and the other player has the other.
Take turns placing a minibeast pebble onto a square on the board. The player to make a line of three bugs wins.
If you want to make the game a little harder you can draw lines to make a 4 by 4 grid instead of 3 by 3.
To play with a larger grid, you play in the same way, except the player who makes a line of four bugs first wins.
Either way you’ll all have great fun making and playing this firm family favourite of Tic tac toe!
