Make Your Own Game Boards?

To make a checker/chess board use an exacto knife and a ruler to make even lines in the wood you want to use. If you want to get realy fancy, sand down an old end table/night stand for it. With the lines cut in you can easily stain just in the squares with a cloth so you have different colors. Of course comming up with checker pieces will be easy but you may want to check thrift stores for chess sets.
Balsa(sp?) wood is a great crafting wood for such things too. You can find it at hobby shops inexpensivly.

We've also made this same game with a bandana for a portible version. Just use a sharpie for your squares.

And ofcourse kids love to make up games! Have him help you create!

J.,

I just googled "Make your own game boards" and got 5,380,000 hits. There's probably more stuff there than you really need, but that's a place to start to get information.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

Make them out of foam!!! Use large sheets for the background; and then buy the whole sheets with adhesive backing; cut desired pieces, stick them on the large sheet; and embellish with a sharpie! Sky is the limit. Add numbers, have a color theme, develop planning, cutting and artistic skills all at the same time! We have created many game boards this way.

Enjoy

Perhaps a hobby store that sells woodworking supplies would have a book or even a class on woodworking. A wooden game board is wood working.

My uncle made a game board for Chinese Checkers by cutting a piece of plywood to size and then drilling holes that the marble would fit in but not go thru. Then he varnished it. It was very basic. ie; nothing fancy like illustrations and
molding.

I think you could copy the surface of a commercial gameboard and then either use that as a pattern to draw one on a piece of plywook or even past it down and shellac or varnish over it.