March is Reading Month, Tip #30: Make a Board Game!

Make a Board Game!

At first, this post was just going to be about playing board games. Board games are a fabulous developmental tool: counting, matching, reading, strategy, luck, taking turns. But in light of Fran's recent creation, the "Who Let the Dogs Out" Game, I thought I would share his project.

Fran asks that important question...
Photo by Mary Roderique

Fran really wanted to make up a game. So we talked about what it could be: he decided that it would be a game where dogs would leave their homes and go to a potty spot. He sketched out two possible game boards on easel paper and wrote out directions. Next, we got an old game at the PTO Thrift Shop. I spray painted the game board and box white. I also ordered tiny plastic toy dogs (after I promised him dogs and then learned that Michaels had every tiny plastic animal except dogs) to be used as pawns. Once the paint was dry, he traced little houses for the start and then used post-its to mark the places on the board and traced around them. Next, we colored in the board. The final step was typing the directions and decorating the box. It looked glorious.

When it was done, we played.  And it was fun.

We only had one misunderstanding in the whole process, when I suggested in the very early planning stages that maybe the potty spot wasn't the best ending place, at which point Fran turned to me and yelled, "No!  They go to the potty spot.  And hey- I'm the one who thought of who let the dogs out in the first place." So now you know- you know who thought of WLTDO first...