patriotic tic-tac-toe

If we’re being real honest, I wasn’t what you call a model student when I was younger…

Or a model pew-sitter in church.

They didn’t have such a thing as children’s worship like they do now. After Sunday School, when the sugar highs for Bible Verse memorization bribery were dwindling down, we were expected to go the distance. And that meant hour long sermons on borderline uncomfortable pews.

I do realize that in the 70’s and 80’s they’d come a long way from say, the Puritan days. For starters, we had backs and cushions. And I didn’t get whipped with a belt for my lapse of concentration. I’m not an ingrate. But we were supposed to sit still and listen.

Unless we fell asleep. Or sat with our friends so we could discreetly play games.

And that was if we didn’t get caught.

So go the distance we did… on the church program right in between who was leading the worship, and sermon notes. It was the staple of American paper pastimes, probably perfected by a pew sitting kid: Hangman, S.O.S, or Tic Tac Toe.

And I was a champion.

So if I’m being really honest, these were the things my Sundays were made of. And that usually included naps, and games on paper to keep us entertained.

Ahhhh… Church kid nostalgia at it’s finest.

And now, they’re the things our rainy day sanity savers at home are made of.

Because it’s nice to have a lot of options in your house for something to play, other than video games.

So today we want to share with you a super simple way to make your own oversized tic tac toe board with a Fourth of July flare.

(That, and trying to create a hangman game had our lawyers nervous.)

Here is what we used:

• (1) 1 x 12 x 6 • Band clamp • wood glue

First, we used our RYOBI miter saw to cut (2) 22 1/4 inch pieces off of our our 1 x 12. Because 1 x 12 can sometimes be a little wonky, look for the best sections and cut from there.

Then we glued the two pieces together and clamped them with our band clamp. (If you don’t have one, you need to get one… they are amazing.)

While that was drying, we cut the edges of our game board.

{Ignore the grooves in this photo – sometimes we think of a way to make it, and then change our minds. This was us, changing our minds.}

Again with the miter saw, we cut a piece at 23 3/4 inches.

Then we fed it through our RYOBI table saw to cut (4) 1 1/2 inches strips and (4) 3/4 inch strips.

We simply cut (2) of the 3/4 inch strips down to 6 7/8 inch pieces and the other (2) down to 22 1/4 strips.

Then we cut a 45 degree angle on our (4) 1 1/2 pieces.

(The pieces were laying on their skinny side when we made the angled cut.)

Next, we used a template to draw out our stars and circles.

Then cut them with our RYOBI jig saw.

And sanded them with our RYOBI orbit sander.

Then stacked them neatly for this photo. Once we were pleased with the artistic effect of this photo, we painted the wood.

The stars were painted a simple gold and the circles a classic white.

Next we glued our 22 1/4 and 6 7/8 inch strip into place on the board.

While the glue was drying, we decided to add some strips to the circles using a little painters tape.

And distress them using a paper towel to wipe back across the blue paint while they were still wet.

While those were drying and being all cute, we went back and stained our board with Minwax’s early American, because it’s for the Fourth of July and all.

Once everything was dry, we broke it out for the kids.

And they love it.

I think it’s the clanking sound it makes when they get to put down a piece. It’s big and sturdy and important.

It reminds me of the sounds from the old The Price is Right.

We had a tourney the other day, and they’re perfecting their strategies.

We love the fact that it’s reusable, and we don’t find a lot of used paper lying around the house. It also makes a fun decoration when not in use!

A great little party game, festive for the Fourth!

As always, let us know if you try it. We’d love to hear!