Easy Lawn Tic-Tac-Toe Game

How to Make a Lawn Tic-Tac-Toe Game

Kids will LOVE this lawn tic-tac-toe game, and it’s so easy to make. An added bonus is that you can take this game on the go since it all fits in a zippered bag!

We made these lawn tic-tac-toe games with kids ages 6 – 10 at a summer camp last week, and it was a huge success. Even the 6 year olds were able to sand the wood pieces and paint X’s and O’s.

I found these zipper bags at Hobby Lobby, and they are just perfect for holding all the pieces of the tic-tac-toe game.

I wouldn’t exactly call this a travel game. It’s too big to play in the car, for example. However, it’s lightweight and easy to take places like a picnic or backyard party!

Use rope for the game board. Then you just need wood squares for the game pieces!

Supplies Needed for Lawn Tic-Tac-Toe

1″ x 4″ pine board – you’ll need 3 feet for each game
72 inches of rope for each game
Acrylic paint – two colors per game
Paint brush
Scissors
Sand paper
Wood saw
Canvas zipper bag – the ones we used are 10.5″ x 8.5″

For the rope, I used a clothesline from Walmart. It’s PERFECT! The rope is just the right thickness, and it has some stiffness to it that helps it keep its shape for this game.

Step 1: Cut and sand your boards.

You’ll need 10 wood squares for each board. A 1 x 4 board is actually 3.5 inches wide. We cut our board into 3.5″ x 3.5″ squares.

Sand each square to get rid of any rough spots.

Step 2: Paint X’s and O’s.

To get nice round O’s, I traced the bottom of a paper cup.

When we did this with kids, some of them chose to draw the X’s and O’s with a pencil before painting. Others chose to jump right in. But they all turned out great!

Notice the size of the paint brush in the picture. That’s what I gave the kids also. If your paintbrush is too big (and most kid’s paintbrushes are) it will be a mess!